Sideswipe: Monday 25 August: Monkey exhange

In Bali, Indonesia last week, Aditya Tulsian was looking for a money exchange. "Unfortunately, we didn't have a monkey to exchange."

London room going cheap - but only for crawlers.

Tenants in a north London house were forced to crawl on all fours to access their rented room. Barnet Council took the landlord of a house in Hendon to court after discovering he was renting a room which could not be accessed standing up. The head height along the course of the staircase was between 0.7m and 1.2m high and the door to the room was also reduced in size. Even a 3-year-old child of average height would not be able to walk upright all the way up the stairs. Barnet Council first issued a prohibition order against landlord Yaakov Marom in February 2012 which banned him from letting the second-floor room of the property. Environmental health officers were concerned the poor access could impede the tenants' escape in the event of a fire. But Marom failed to comply with the order and when council officers visited the house with police in September last year they found the room was still in use and being rented by a couple for 420 ($828) a month. (Source: Guardian)

Famous last words

1. James Brown said: "I'm going away tonight."

2. Frank Sinatra died after saying: "I'm losing it."

3. As he was dying, Alfred Hitchcock said: "One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes."

4. Marie Antoinette stepped on her executioner's foot on her way to the guillotine. Her last words: "Pardonnez-moi, monsieur."

5. Louise-Marie-Therese de Saint Maurice, Comtesse de Vercellis, let one rip while she was dying. She said, "Good. A woman who can fart is not dead."

6. John Arthur Spenkelink was executed in Florida in 1979. He spent his final days writing these last words on various pieces of mail: "Capital punishment means those without the capital get the punishment."

7. Surgeon Joseph Henry Green was checking his own pulse as he lay dying. His last word: "Stopped."

(Read More at Mental Floss.com)

From Carmen Miranda to Kiss - The Waterview political satirist stikes again.