Beauty is in the eye of ....

A Saudi groom has divorced his bride on their wedding night after seeing her face for the first time when the photographer asked them to pose for pictures.

The couple, from the Western Saudi town of Medinah, had agreed to marry each other despite having not met face to face - a popular custom in certain Middle Eastern countries.

But when the bride removed her veil and smiled for the camera, her new husband leapt to his feet in disgust and declared,

'You are not the one I had imagined. I am sorry, but I divorce you'

According to the local paper, the bride immediately collapsed in a fit of tears as panicked wedding guests stepped in to try to resolve the dispute.

But their efforts were to no avail.

News of the jilting was met with anger on social media, but also some words of encouragement for the jilted bride.

'He should appreciate that beauty is in the character, not the face.’

‘Let’s hope she gets a better husband who will appreciate her for who and what she is.'

What's Up?

A man in Saudi Arabia has been granted a divorce because his wife of two years ignored his WhatsApp messages.

Gulf News reports that the husband, in his 30s, became exasperated because his wife spent so much time on her phone.  Although she was constantly using her cell phone, the wife would not respond to messages from her husband.

He claimed she neglected looking after the home and taking care of their child.

In response, the wife claimed she needed her cell phone to keep in touch with her friends and family.

So, in desperation, the husband used WhatsApp to try and talk to his wife but she ignored his messages claiming that she was too busy talking to her friends.

That was the final straw for the husband who sought and got a divorce.

Go out with a bang?

Given the time of year, it's a good time to mention a fireworks manufacturer in the USA (where else!) who is selling a pack of fireworks called the 'Grounds For Divorce' package.  It's so expensive ($1750, on offer for $1499.99) that they reckon it's 'grounds for divorce'.

Talk about going out with a bang!

One happy customer commented on the site that 'they went up in less than 10 minutes'.

Ooh, that's a bit pricey!  Can I suggest a pack of sparklers might be better value and, um, last a little bit longer??

Tweeting tigers get the lolly...

You may remember my blog back in July about tigers who tweeted...  Now at last a judge has ruled that the wife (who had been accused of 'humanising' the tigers with the tweeting thing) isn't entitled to any of the money because she fabricated stories against her ex-husband about him spending the charity's money on extravagant dinners and fine wines.

After a 25 day hearing in the Family Division of the High Court, the judge sided with the husband, describing the wife as an 'unreliable liar' who had 'become blinded by her desire for revenge'.

The ruling means that all of the money - some £25 million - will now be spent trying to save China's endangered tigers.

Now that's what I call a result!

Doing it like the fishes...

A team of scientists led by an Australian have discovered that the first creatures to have sex were odd little fish called Microbrachius Dicki (no, I’m not making it up) which seems to be the first animal to actually reproduce by, um, coupling…

Usually fish simply put sperm and eggs into the water and let them find their own way to each other, but our Microbrachius Dicki male has a sideways version of genitalia which he could ‘lock into’ the female in a slightly weird sideways mating game.  The female, in turn, was roughly made (like a cheese grater) to ensure that things stayed locked together, like Velcro.  Sadly (but perhaps understandably) this didn’t’ seem to catch on, and fish went back to the spawning method for a few million years until sharks and rays had another go at pairing up.

Everybody seems to have got the hang of it now though, eh?

The sweet smell of flowers

OK, so most weddings feature a bouquet or buttonholes in some shape or form.  Now an enterprising florist from Colorado in the USA (where cannabis use has just been legalised) has hit on the idea of incorporating cannabis into her floral wedding arrangements.

Bec Koop used to work in a medicinal cannabis dispensary, so she knows what she's doing.  Her arrangements can feature different types of cannabis buds according to whether you want to wake your guests up or relax them at the end of the party.

Despite cannabis having been legalised in Colorado, not all venues allow it to be smoked, so Bec even hires out a limousine as a private smoking lounge.

I'm not condoning drug use so I think I'll stick to the 'roses and greenery' kind of flower arrangement!

What is it about Maidenhead??

You’ll remember back in April, that I reported on Maidenhead being the nookie capital of the UK…

Well, Maidenhead has gone and done it again…  This time it’s the ITALIAN divorce capital of the UK.

It seems that the Italian divorce system is very slow…. so unhappy Italian couples have been paying €4,000 to a Dr Frederica Russo in the UK to get them a divorce after pretending that one of them lives in the UK.  It might have gone on for many more years unnoticed but for an eagle-eyed court attendant who spotted the same address on two separate divorces.  After bringing the matter to the attention of a Judge, more sleuthing was done and it became evident that 178 other couples all lived at the same address.  Which was all the more remarkable when the address turned out to be no more than a mailbox.

DS Jonathan Groenen, the investigating officer, dryly remarked:  “It is not possible for 179 applicants or respondents to reside at this address.  Indeed, given the dimensions of the mailbox it is clear that not even a single individual, however small, could possibly reside in it.”

All of the divorces have now been declared void, and social media is awash with stories of this inevitably reinforcing national stereotypes - Hollywood stars and A List lawyers go to romantic Venice for their wedding, while Italians choose Maidenhead as a passion killer.