ACCORDING to the Daily Mirror, a great white shark like the one featured in the 1975 film Jaws, is hunting off the coast of Britain.

Fishing journalist Graeme Pullen commented: “This is surely Britain’s first great white. The danger is this shark will eventually stumble across someone in a wetsuit and mistake them for a seal.”

There are claims that the shark has been sighted repeatedly off Hayling Island, Hants.

HOW about this for getting your money's worth... the Daily Express tells us that a balloon bought to celebrate a baby boy’s birth is still flying high... on his 18th birthday.

It was bought to celebrate the birth of Zachary Starr in 1999 and his mother Louise Preece, of Littlebourne, near Canterbury in Kent, said: “They usually disappear within a fortnight but it is still there.

“It is exactly the same size as when it was blown up - it was one of the small ones you can buy and it just has not changed.

“It is a bit tatty now but we have always kept it and we are going to leave it and see how long it lasts.”

HOW about this for dedication to public service – 93 year old Phyllis Roberts has become Britain's oldest mayoress.

The Daily Express reports that its the second time that Phyllis is pulling on her mayoral chains in Blaenavon, near Pontypool in South Wales, having first held the title in 1970.

She commented: “I was nominated by members in the council and I didn't expect to get the support that I did. Age to me is just a number - it's all about whether you're up to the job or not.”

A ring bought at a car boot sale for £10 30 years ago because it was believed to be costume jewellery, is now expected to fetch £350,000 at auction, reports the Daily Mail.

The 26.27 carat, cushion-shaped, white diamond, was purchased at a sale at the West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth in west London in the 1980s, and was presumed not to be real because 19th Century diamonds were not cut to show off their brilliance like today's gems.

It is going under the hammer at Sotheby's in London in July and their head of London jewellery department Jessica Wyndham commented: “The owner would wear it out shopping, wear it day-to-day. It's a good looking ring. But it was bought as a costume jewel. No-one had any idea it had any intrinsic value at all.”

Eventually the ring was brought into Sotheby's after a jeweller told the owner it could have substantial value.

HOW about this for a tale to send a shiver down your spine?

The Daily Mirror reports that mum-of-two Andrea Mort, from St Helen's, Merseyside, got the fright of her life after mistaking a four-foot ball python curled up in her kitchen sink for a rubber toy.  

She initially thought it was a prank after finding it while making an early morning cup of tea.  Her son, Gareth Mort (23), managed to scoop up the creature and called out the RSPCA to collect it.

He commented: “We woke up in the morning and my mum noticed it first. She thought that I had put a toy one there at first as a joke, and it actually looked like one at first and then when we started prodding it, its tongue was coming out and it started moving its head.”

PUB regular Arthur 'Bunny' Johnson has pledged to take full advantage of an offer of free beer for life.

A Daily Mirror story reveals that 100 year old Arthur visits the Bowling Green pub in Chorlton, Manchester, every day to enjoy a pint.

Landlord Mark Canny promised Bunny free beer for life around eight years ago once he had reached 100.

Bunny commented: “Free beers for life. That’s the deal! I started drinking at the Bowling Green for the beer. I always have a Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. It is usually a pint a day but then quite often it’s a double!”

He celebrated his special birthday at the pub with friends and family.

“I had a wonderful big party. The place was packed - really full.”