He has just jumped out of a helicopter at 2,400ft and is travelling rapidly towards us over the English countryside.

Parachute? They are for sissies. Mr Connery prefers his sail-like ‘Wingman’ suit, which, everyone hopes, will allow him to steer towards a (relatively) soft landing on a bed of cardboard boxes.

Ah yes, the landing. He admits that’s the tricky bit.So as we wait for him in a sunlit field in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, all eyes are skyward.

Standing nearby is his loyal wife Vivienne, who has spent the last couple of days helping her husband and an army of volunteers arrange a 12ft-deep layer of 18,600 boxes in a 40ft wide strip, about the length of a football pitch.

As he clambered into the helicopter from which he was to make his leap of faith, the ex-paratrooper and veteran film stunt expert was confident he had left nothing to chance in his campaign to become the first man to pull off this death-defying stunt.

Through binoculars, we can see him standing on the skids wearing helmet and neck brace. Then he steps into fresh air.

Like a distant speck on a canvas of blue, he comes gradually into view. He looks like a cross between Superman and a flying squirrel, arms outstretched with the suit spreading out to his fingertips.

To one side, a circling red kite gives him a suspicious glance. Vivienne goes momentarily quiet.

Suddenly, we can make out his face.

Then, with the rather satisfying but seldom-heard percussion of man against cardboard, he cannonballs into the boxes at 50mph – and into the record books. He calls Vivienne on a walkie-talkie before emerging triumphant. Mission accomplished.

Although he had an emergency parachute (the Civil Aviation Authority insisted on it) it would never open in time to save him once he passed a certain altitude. (wrapup)

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The five-year-old, who is autistic and cannot speak, has a rare condition which means he cannot tell the difference between food and inedible objects.

His constant need to chew means he tries to eat absolutely everything, from his school shoes to the plaster on the walls.

Mum Rachel, 32, said that Zach had eaten so much of his blind she’d have to buy a new one as it no longer covered the window at their home in Salford, Gtr Manchester.

Exhausted Rachel, who also has a two-year-old daughter called Isabella, has been keeping a diary of despair on Facebook — posting pictures of items Zach has managed to gobble through each day.

Rachel said: “Zach has pica disorder which means he will eat almost anything.

“He usually has about four hours sleep at night but it does vary, the rest of the time he’s making sounds and bouncing on the spot and eating anything in his room that he can get his hands on!

“Most recently his Grobag — which is like a sleeping bag — he ate the insides of two of them."

She also told the Manchester Evening News: “He loves to climb on his windowsill and eat his black-out blind.

“He likes to have something to chew all the time — normally a wet cloth.”

Zach’s other favourite nibbles include paper, clothes, plaster, thread, mud, moss, stones and hair.

The youngster, who was diagnosed with autism when he was three, likes the texture of the strange snacks rather than the taste.

Rachel tries her best to stop Zach — who she calls her “cheeky monkey” — chomping his way through the house but says it is hard as he is so quick.

She is now desperately trying to raise £15,000 to make Zach a safe bedroom, without anything that the little boy can eat. (The Sun)

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RC Bridges, who is nicknamed The Buffalo Whisperer, and his wife Sherron share their home with Wildthing and his new pal Bullet.

The beasts, who weigh 2,400lb and 900lb respectively, relax in the living room and around the house and even take a ride in the family car.

Buffaloes can be very dangerous animals, with curved sharp horns which grow up to two feet long, and they are able to run as fast as 40mph.

But RC says: “I knew they were crazy animals but it actually turned out way better than I thought it would be.

“I always dreamed of training a buffalo, but I never thought about training two.

“They’re like my buddies. Bullet likes to be with me at all times, she’ll even give up food to be close to me.”

RC, who is a cowboy and horse trainer, has worked with buffaloes most of his life.

After losing an eye in 2004 he had to sell his herd, except for one young male who he decided to keep as a pet.

Wildthing, who is now seven, even acted as best man when his owners renewed their wedding vows in 2006, after five years of marriage.

RC, 63, said: “He carried the rings on his horns and threw them off one at a time for us to catch.”

Bullet, a female who is three-and-a-half, joined the family after her previous owner found her too hard to control.

RC said: “Her owner told me if I could catch her, I could have her. She kept getting out of the pen and the sheriff’s department was mad about it.

“Well, I just caught her, put her in a trailer and brought her home.” (The Sun)

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The monster meat masterpiece took attentive chef Tristan Welch over four hours to create to mark the launch of reality TV programme Man vs Food Nation on Food Network UK.

Standing at a colossal 1.2ft high and spanning 24 inches wide, it’s estimated that it would take anyone hungry enough to take on the challenge over 10 hours to devour.

The heaving sarnie contains a whopping 1.4kg of ham, 2kg of salami, turkey and bacon, 1kg of sausages, 720g of chorizo and just a sprinkling of salad.

Nick Thorogood, from the Food Network, said: ‘The world’s meatiest sandwich is an epic creation.

‘We expect only the very brave will take on the challenge and attempt to eat it.’

The food programme, which sees host Adam Richman taking on a series of outrageous eating challenges, has received a cult following since its launch in 2008.

It also has its critics however, with columnist Charlie Brooker describing it as an ‘an all-out orgy between wobbling gutsos and farmyard animals’.

The recipe for the meat creation is now available online for anyone wanting to take on the challenge themselves. (wrapup)

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The Venezuelan teenager directs an orchestra of between 70 and 80 musicians, half of whom are older than him.

He was recently appointed to the role at the Youth Orchestra of Nueva Esparta, and is the latest success story to come out of his country’s orchestra system El Sistema.

He modestly dismisses the assumption he is the youngest conductor of all time, pointing out that there may be another ‘in some small town somewhere’ in an interview with The Guardian.

Jose joined El Sistema aged eight, and came from a family who had had very little exposure to classical music, let alone formal music training.

He lived with his schoolteacher parents and his grandparents, who he has taken with him on his musical journey.

The young man has been in his new post for just a week, but is too young to earn a wage under Venezuelan law and may need a scholarship or grant.

He plans to study music at university, but also intends to learn German to help him with understanding the classical canon. (wrapup)

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The miniature masterpiece of the Queen’s head is so small it is invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen using a magnifying glass.

The amazing sculpture was made to mark Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee.

British micro-sculptor Willard Wigan created the commemorative tribute by slowing his heartbeat and working between beats to avoid hand tremors.

He used tiny homemade tools and painted with a hair plucked from a housefly’s back to carve the microscopic figures.

It took four painstaking weeks to finish after coffee experts Douwe Egberts decided to collaborate with the sculptor to mark the special occasion.

But Wigan, who has been honoured by the Queen with an MBE for his services to art, said he enjoyed the challenge. (Orange News)

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The squirrel was discovered by eight-year-old Bailee Schultz, who heard the squirrel whimpering a few weeks ago in a wooded area of his grandparents’ property in Bay County’s Bangor Township, Michigan.

Grandmother Stephanie Box told MLive.com Bailee brought her to the squirrel, which was under a nest and less than a week old.

After rescuing the squirrel by picking him up in a coffee can, Ms Box said she placed the squirrel they call Bushytail with her cat, Oreo, who recently gave birth to five kittens.

The next day, Ms Box says the squirrel was nursing side-by-side with the kittens.

They’ve also seen Oreo groom Bushytail, though they say she is a little leery of how Oreo feels about the rodent.

Ms Box says Oreo may not have fully accepted the squirrel, however, since she once moved the kittens but left Bushytail behind.

They want Oreo to keep an eye on Bushytail for a while, but said they’ll give the squirrel all due freedom when he’s old enough.

‘He’ll be free as any of the cats,’ Norwell Box told MLive.com.

‘We’ll try to feed him to keep him around, if we can,’ Ms Box added. (Daily Mail)

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State newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan reported Saturday that Amanda Mochan of the Guinness Book of World Records was on hand for the unveiling of the Ferris wheel, which stands 47 meters (154 feet) high and cost $90 million to construct.

This natural gas-rich nation has developed a fixation for record-breaking. In 2001, it was recognized as having woven the world’s largest carpet. In 2008, it claimed the title for the world’s tallest flagpole, although it has since been overtaken by North Korea, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

The 24-cabin Ferris wheel is enclosed in a glass-fronted snow-white steel structure that also houses the Alem entertainment center. Facilities include a bowling alley, two cinema screens, a restaurant, and a planetarium equipped with star-gazing equipment.

Over two decades, since former Soviet Turkmenistan gained independence, the capital, Ashgabat, has been transformed from a drab provincial backwater into a city packed with grand and idiosyncratic buildings.

The body of the structure housing the Ferris wheel is built in the shape of the eight-sided star of Oguz Khan—a legendary Turkic Khan described as the progenitor of Turkmens—and is decorated in national motifs. The roundness of the building, which is topped by a 17-meter spire, lends it

Turkmenistan has been on something of a record-busting drive for years now.

In 2001, Guinness gave its seal of approval to the largest carpet in the world, which measured 301 square meters and weighed 1,200 kilograms. Then in 2008, it was the turn of a flagpole measuring 133 meters tall.

In 2010, the Oguzkhan 27-hectare (67 acre) fountain complex, which comprised 27 cascades, was recognized as the largest of its kind.

And for another record that few people probably even knew existed, Turkmenistan last year secured the prize for the world’s largest architectural representation of a star, which forms the body of the 211-meter-tall Ashgabat television center. (AP)

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Desmond Hatchet, 33, is currently obliged to hand over half his earnings, but he has insisted that burden makes it hard for him to make ends meet.

And he has asked a court in his native Knoxville Tennessee if a new deal can be struck.

Hatchett, whose youngest kids are toddlers and oldest 14, earns the minimum wage.

He first hit the headlines in 2009 when his tally stood at just 21 children.

But soon after his brood suddenly swelled.

He said: “I had four kids in the same year, twice.”

The mothers of his children are supposed to get anywhere from £15 to £195 a month but some receive as little as 99p. (wrapup)

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A sleepless neighbour told yesterday of his fear a randy couple may seek revenge over him recording the woman’s screams as they made love.

Lee Moore (see the pic) — whose 26-second clip of her ear-splitting ecstasy has had a million hits online — said of the mystery fella: “He sounds like a pretty big guy from the noise she was making.

“He probably wouldn’t be very happy with me.”

Lee had been trying to get to sleep when he used his mobile phone to record the racket from a flat two floors below his in Salford, Gtr Manchester.

The communications worker told how it went on for more than an hour.

He said: “I went on the balcony to see where the screams were coming from. The woman in the apartment below was shouting at them to either shut their windows or shut up.”

Lee later spelt out his own anger in a note he posted in the lift. It was torn down.

He said: “My windows were shut but I could still hear them clear as a bell.” (The Sun)

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