Bogey-spree sees Chowrasia drop to tied 39th at Wentworth

Wentworth (Britain), May 23 (IANS) Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, the lone Indian to make the cut at the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour, slid down the leaderboard with four bogeys on the back nine to drop from overnight tied 12th to tied 39th at the end of the third round of the championship.

Chowrasia, who opened with an excellent 67 on the first day had a 73 on the second and slipped to 76 on the third day. He is now three-over 216.

The leader is Chris Wood, the 22-year-old from Bristol, who had a shot to win The Open Championship last July. Wood takes a two-stroke lead into the final day of his first BMW PGA Championship.

Wood was two shots clear of Robert Karlsson, who after being three-over after two rounds, felt he would miss the cut and flew to Nice in Monaco. But he flew back when he learnt he had made the cut on the line and then went on to shoot a stunning nine-under 62.

He had five birdies on the front nine and four on the back nine and went up to tied second with first round leader, Danny Willett (70).

Karlsson could become the first man ever to win a European Tour event having made the cut with nothing to spare.

That is something Rory McIlroy did in the US earlier this month.

After 54 holes, Wood is on the eight-under-par mark of 205, with Karlsson up from 63rd to joint second with another 22-year-old Englishman making his debut in the event, first round leader Danny Willett.

Luke Donald’s 72 dropped him from halfway pacesetter to fourth, while defending champion Paul Casey and Padraig Harrington are part of a five-way tie for fifth, but now five shots adrift.

Two sick with bird flu in Vietnam, 11 undergo tests

HANOI, April 14 (Reuters) – Two people in northern Vietnam have been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus and health authorities are carrying out tests to see if 11 others who have come down with fever have been infected.

The two who tested positive — a 22-year-old man and a 27-month-old baby girl — as well as the 11 suspected cases are all residents in the same commune in Bac Kan province.

“All the patients have been isolated and tests were taken to verify the reason of their sickness,” said Deputy Director Luu Xuan Hoa of the Cho Moi Medical Centre in Bac Kan province.

“She (the baby) is a neighbour of the first man who has tested positive for the H5N1 virus, while others live in the same hamlet,” he said.

Four people on the suspect list have been discharged.

Disease clusters are a special concern because it may mean the agent – in this case H5N1, which kills up to 60 percent of those it infects – is gaining the ability to jump from person to person.

Vietnamese media, however, reported that dead poultry had been seen in the village and that the patients had either eaten or come in contact with sick birds. This opens the possibility that the two patients may have been infected by the same source.

“We have no evidence to conclude that there is a human-to-human infection,” Hoa said.

Vietnam had two bird flu deaths earlier this year – a 38-year-old woman and a three-year-old girl.

The H5N1 virus has once been a disease confined largely to birds, only rarely infecting people.

Since 2003, it has infected 493 people, killing 292, or nearly 60 percent, with Vietnam reporting 59 deaths. Almost all these infections were believed to have taken place directly from bird to human.

There have been two sizeable clusters – one in which eight family members died on the Indonesian island of Sumatra in 2006 and another in Turkey in which eight people were infected and four died.

In the Sumatra case, the virus went on for two generations and then stopped – a 37-year-old woman was believed to have infected her 10-year-old nephew, who went on to infect his father.

Another smaller probable case of human-to-human transmission occurred in Thailand in 2004, where a mother died after tending to her sick daughter for hours. (Additional reporting by Tan Ee Lyn in Hong Kong; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Carnarvon’s role in putting man on the moon

On the 20th of July 1969, Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.

It was, to quote Armstrong, ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ in which a small town on the West Australian coast played a vital part.

But, Carnarvon is better known for its bananas than its role in helping NASA get man to the moon and the following extraordinary rescue of Apollo 13.

The lunar mission’s three man crew was heading towards the moon in April, 1970 when the spacecraft’s oxygen tank exploded.

Jim Gregg was one of the technicians working at the Carnarvon space tracking station as it played a crucial role.

He says the situation was very serious with both time and oxygen were running out.

“The chances of getting the crew back were very low.”

Mr Gregg says technicians and engineers worked day and night to bring the crew back alive as the station provided the spaceship with the data needed to steer it back towards the Earth.

‘We essentially worked out what needed to be done and sent the commands to the vessel,’ he says.

At the time, Alison Gregg was the local correspondent for the West Australian Newspaper and was in the tracking station’s observation room adjacent to the control room during the operation.

She says she could see and hear everything that was happening.

“Everyone was concentrating furiously. I get goosebumps now just thinking about the intense concentration,” she says.

“Nobody could possibly do anything but the job they needed to do. There was no talking, no nothing, expect for the contact with NASA in Houston.”

The rescue operation took four days.

“It’s entirely remarkable that they got themselves back,” Mr Gregg says.

“When we realised that they were coming back alive, the whole place just went ape.”

Location

The coastal town of Carnarvon, with a then population of about 2000, was home to the largest NASA space tracking station outside the United States in the 1960′s and 70′s.

It was the perfect location because several orbits of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft passed over that part of WA.

Paul Dench was the first engineer to make the station’s pay roll and managed the facility for some years.

He’s the main author of a soon-to-be-released book about the social and political history of the facility.

“I didn’t think Carnarvon’s role in the Moon Race had been given enough weight in our history,” he says.

“The story had to be told but when I started researching, some of the material was still under 30 year protection in the National archive so I couldn’t access it.”

Mr Dench says the station brought a lot of buzz to the town.

The first ever live television broadcast from Australia to the rest of the world was in fact from the streets of Carnarvon.

Mr Dench says the book has been a long time coming.

“There was a unique relationship between the town and the station and between the local people and the trackers.”

Mr Dench says most of the 230 station staff were brought to Australia from the United Kingdom.

“They arrived to this town where there was with no television and only a manual telephone exchange,” he says.

“It would have been a real culture shock.”

From 1963 until its closure in 1975, the Carnarvon Space Tracking Station supported a range of scientific and exploratory missions through NASA’s race to put a man on the Moon.

The release of the book ‘Carnarvon and Apollo: One giant leap for a small Australian town’ coincides with the 40th anniversary of the rescue of Apollo 13 on April 11, 1970.

Nevada’s first legal ‘prosti-dude’ quits for want of clientele

New York, Mar 27 (ANI): The first legal male prostitute has reportedly decided to call it quits after getting fewer than 10 customers over the past three months.

Markus, 25, an ex-Marine, who put the “dude” in prosti-dude, was the first man to be hired by Bobbi Davis to work at her Shady Lady bordello located about 150 miles outside Las Vegas.

But he has now been put on the sidelines in favour of another gigolo in his mid-30s who performs under the name “Y. Not”.

Though the Nye County brothel had temporarily stopped servicing women, Davis said she isn’t ready to give up on her groundbreaking foray into male prostitution, hoping for a happy ending at some point.

“We’re just taking a little break,” the New York Post quoted her as telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Davis said the new prosti-dude has had about 10 customers of his own before an electrical snafu earlier this week in the bungalow he was using forced the brothel to close.

She hopes to put “Y. Not” back to work by May.

As for Markus, Davis said he’s going back to the bump-and-grind, saying that he “went back to do [porn] movies”, and that it “was a mutual decision”.

Markus made hooker history in January when he became Nevada’s first licensed male prostitute, but his brief stint at the Shady Lady was something of a disaster.

Before Davis barred him from any further contact with the media, Markus gave an interview to Details magazine and The Post where he compared himself to civil rights heroine Rosa Parks.

“I’m breaking through sexual segregation,” he had said when comparing himself to Parks. (ANI)

Would-be thieves threatened with hot oil

Police are looking for two men who attempted to rob a cafe at Hervey Bay on Friday.

They say the men entered the cafe on the corner of Elizabeth and Coral streets and threatened an employee with a knife.

They left empty-handed when the employee threatened to pour hot oil on them.

The first man is described as about 20 years old, 178 centimetres tall with a slim build, with sandy colour hair and blue eyes.

The second man is about the same age, 168 centimetres tall with a thin build.

Bolt puts assault on 400metres world record on hold

Trelawny (Jamaica), Mar 19(ANI): Jamaican sprinter and three-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt has put on hold his plans to challenge American sprinter Michael Johnson’s 400metres world record until after the 2012 London Olympics.

Bolt, the world’s fastest man at both 100m and 200m, competes over 300m in May, but will delay a bid to break Johnson’s 43.18secs mark for the 400m.

“The 400m is somewhere, but hopefully after 2012,” The Daily Express quoted Bolt, as saying.

Bolt had earlier suggested that he could aim to break the 400 metres world record this year, as no major championships are scheduled for the year.

The 23-year-old holds the world record for the 100 metres, the 200 metres and, along with his team-mates, the 4×100 metres relay.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bolt became the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics.

He set world records in both 100 m and 200 m events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He ran the 100 m event in a record time of 9.69secs to break his own previous record of 9.72secs and in the 200 m event he broke previous record of 19.32secs by Johnson at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta with a record time of 19.30secs. (ANI)

Argentina’s del Potro fulfills first of his two dreams

New York, Sep.16 (ANI): US Open 2009 champion Juan Martin del Potro says that he has achieved one of the two dreams that he had set for himself.

“I had two dreams this week. One was to win the US Open and the other one was to be like Roger.

One is done, but I need to improve a lot to be like Roger,” The Telegraph quoted Del Potro, as saying.

“Roger fought until the final point. He is a great champion. I’m very happy to be here with this trophy, with these people, on this court. This will be in my mind forever,” the fifth seed Argentinean tennis star added.

Del Potro did not celebrate his four-hour, five-set victory, which was Federer’s first defeat in New York City since 2003, with dinner in one of Manhattan’s vegetarian restaurants.

The man nicknamed ‘Enano’ or ‘Dwarf’, who came from behind to win 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 against Federer, stopped the latter from becoming the first man to win six successive US Open titles since Bill Tilden in the 1920s. (ANI)

Freediver swims through longest Oz ocean cave in record 2minutes 40secs

London, Aug 25 (ANI): A freediver has set a new world record by swimming through Australia’s longest underwater cave.

Mike Wells swam almost 400ft to create a new record.

And it took him two minutes and 40 seconds to master Fish Rock Cave, off New South Wales.

Wells, the first man to do this, said that it was a difficult task to complete.

“It was very hard. But I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, literally,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

He had reportedly tried similar feat twice earlier on the cave, which is 85ft below the surface, but had to pull out due to cramp. (ANI)

Bolt would have been in danger of nabbing a speeding ticket!

Berlin (Germany), Aug.18 (ANI): Jamaican Usain Bolt, who broke the world 100 meter record on Monday, is said to have run so fast that he was in danger of getting a speeding ticket.

Bolt set the world record at 9.58 seconds, a huge reduction from the old record of 9.69 he ran a year previously at the Beijing Olympics.

According to the Daily Express, no one has ever carved such a big chunk off the world’s fastest time since electronic timing was introduced.

Maurice Greene taking Donovan Bailey’s record from 9.84 to 9.79 10 years ago was thought a huge achievement – but it did not compare with this.

At his fastest Bolt clocked 30 mph.

Bolt begins again this morning in the 200m. He will be cool until the final,then let those long legs go in another explosion of pace.

His world record at the Olympics was 19.30.

Bolt wants to finish his career as a legend.

“The first few chapters are going well. It’s getting there but two seasons can’t do it,” he said.

“I have to keep doing it year after year. I could go 9.4, but I think the world stops at 9.4. For me, 9.5 is definitely a big thing. I’m proud of myself because I’m the first man to have done that,” he added. (ANI)

Usain Bolt | New World Record for Usain Bolt | Bolt obliterates 100-Metre World Record | Bolt Lowers 100-Meter Mark to 9.58 | Ath-Worlds | Jamaican Bolt Sets New 100m World Record | Bolt Sets Record To Win 100m Gold

Usain Bolt | New World Record for Usain Bolt | Bolt obliterates 100-Metre World Record | Bolt Lowers 100-Meter Mark to 9.58 | Ath-Worlds | Jamaican Bolt Sets New 100m World Record | Bolt Sets Record To Win 100m Gold

To View Usain Bolt 100m 9.58 World Record (Berlin) Video Click Here

Usain St. Leo Bolt, C.D is born on 21 August 1986, is a Jamaican sprinter. Bolt holds the world records for the 100 metres at 9.58 seconds (pending), the 200 metres at 19.30 seconds and, along with his teammates, the 4×100 metres relay at 37.10 seconds. Bolt also holds the Olympic record in the 100 meters at 9.69 seconds. Bolt became the first man to win all three events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man in history to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. His name and achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname “‘Lightning Bolt”

As a result of Bolt’s successes in athletics, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2009.

At the 2009 World Championships in August,Bolt finished some distance ahead of Gay, improving the world record to 9.58 seconds to win ( New World Record for Usain Bolt) his first World Championship gold medal for the world title on Sunday night,this from exactly 12 months ago in the Olympic final in Beijing, the biggest world record improvement in the history of the race.

To View Usain Bolt 100m 9.58 World Record (Berlin) Video Click Here

Taking over a tenth of a second off the previous best mark, this was the largest ever margin of improvement in the 100 m world record since the beginning of electronic timing.

Gay said: “I am really happy. I put together the best I could … I said that you can run 9.5 and I have a lot left in the tank.”

Sir Ranulph Fiennes can’t read maps, says wife

London, June 23 (ANI): Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Britain’s greatest living explorer and holder of several endurance records, does not know how to read maps, his wife has revealed.

Louise made the astonishing revelation while making arrangements for her own adventure doing a 100-mile one-day endurance race by horse.

The adventurer’s wife explained why Sir Ranulph, who spent 1979 to 1982 circumnavigating the world, would not be forming a part of her back-up team.

“Ran will be there when I cross the line but he won’t be crewing unbelievably, he can’t read a map,” The Mirror quoted her as saying.

Sir Ranulph was the first man to visit both the North and South poles by land and the first man to completely cross Antarctica on foot.

The 65-year-old, who has led more than 30 expeditions, climbed to the summit of Mount Everest in May becoming the oldest Briton to do so. (ANI)

Alice Munro receives Man Booker International Prize

London, May 27 (ANI): Renowned short story writer Alice Munro has won the third Man Booker International Prize, beating the likes of Mahasweta Devi and VS Naipaul.

The award, worth 60,000 pounds, is given every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage.

The first Man Booker prize was awarded to Ismail Kadare, from Albania, in 2005, and the second went to Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe in 2007.

“I am totally amazed and delighted,” the Telegraph quoted Munro, 77, from Canada as saying.

Munro’s stories frequently appear in publications such as the New Yorker and the Paris Review.

She will receive the prize and a trophy at a ceremony on June 25 at Trinity College, Dublin.

Munro’s first collection of stories, Dance Of The Happy Shades was published in 1968 and has also garnered the Governor General’s Award, Canada’s literary prize.

Another collection titled ‘Lives Of Girls And Women in 1971 won the Canadian Booksellers Association International Book Year Award.

In 1980 The Beggar Maid was shortlisted for the annual Booker Prize for Fiction.

“Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels,” the judging panel said in a statement.

“To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before,” the panel added. (ANI)

NASA astronaut becomes first man to use Twitter from space

London, May 14 (ANI): Mike Massimino, a member of the NASA crew sent to Hubble, has become the first man to have sent a Twitter message from out of space.

Accoridng to a report in the Telegraph, his first tweet proclaimed: “From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, and enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”

His second, sent via the computers on board the space shuttle Atlantis, said:

“From orbit: Getting more accustomed to living in space today and getting ready for our big rendezvous with hubble.”

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, has been used by thousands of people in unusual and controversial locations.

NASA confirmed that this Massimino – who goes by the Twitter nickname Astro_Mike – was the first man to have sent a Twitter message from out of space.

“Tweeting happens every day down here on earth, so why not take it to beyond Earth?” said a spokesman at the Kennedy Space Centre.

Massimino started using the blogging service in April and until recently had just a few hundred followers.

He now has in excess of quarter of a million people following his updates on Twitter, thanks to his regular messages in the lead up to launch day on Monday, which gave small details about his preparations and fitness regime.

Twitter, which allows people to post small messages, of no more than 140 characters, has taken off this year, with celebrities, politicians as well as about 15 million of ordinary people using the service. (ANI)

Invisibility cloak ‘to be unveiled within months’

Sydney, Apr 4 (ANI): Your dream of possessing a Harry Potter invisibility cloak could be just months away, at least that’s what a British scientist claims.

Sir John Pendry, who pioneered the concept, believes that the cloak that can make an object disappear could be unveiled within next six months.

“The first man-made cloak will be more like an invisibility “carpet”, the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Pendry as saying.

As a tiny object is placed underneath it, it will seemingly disappear because the bump the object makes will be hidden from view with an artificial mirage.

Pendry said that the new development would also prove the potential of metamaterials that have an unusual property to interact with light and electronic waves.

These materials could be, in future, used for developing barriers to prevent waves damaging the shore, acoustic cloaks to reduce noise, stealth systems for the military, and faster telecommunications.

They can be designed to hide things by bending radiation around an object as if it were not there, “like water flowing around a stone”, said Professor Pendry.

Pendry had discussed about the new materials in a lecture in the US, backing it with the example of Harry Potter.

“I said one of the interesting things they could do is hide things,” said Pendry.

The example prompted David Smith of Duke University to build an invisibility cloak.

“They went back and built the darn thing,” Pendry added.

In 2006, he unveiled the first cloak, which steered radiation around a copper cylinder, making it invisible to microwave detection.

“I am optimistic work in progress will produce an optical cloak in the next six months,” said Pendry. (ANI)

Schlierenzauer rewrites the record books again with 13th win

Planica, Slovenia – Gregor Schlierenzauer claimed a record 13th season victory and broke the 2,000-points barrier in the ski-jumping World Cup when he led the way on the world’s largest flying hill.

The Austrian Schlierenzauer soared 203 metres in a wind-marred competition which saw only one round of jumping due to the difficult conditions, pipping Poland’s Adam Malysz for first place.

Schlierenzauer had 196.1 points while Malysz had 202.5m for 195.0 points. Dimitry Vassiliev was the only other man over 200m, his jump of 200.5m for 193.6 points earning him third place.

The tailwind allowed no huge jumps on the hill where Norway’s Bjorn Einar Romoeren of Norway soared a world record 239m in 2005.

By winning, the 19-year-old Schlierenzauer broke a tie with Germany’s Martin Schmitt on 12 season wins to get the record on his own. He has 23 victories overall.

After clinching the World Cup title last weekend, Schlierenzauer raised his record points tally to 2,038, the first man to go beyond 2,000 points in the sport.

Swiss Simon Ammann has 1,716 after finishing sixth on the day, while Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl ranks third with 1,378 points.

A team event is scheduled for Saturday and the season is wrapped up with another individual event in Planica on Sunday. (dpa)

Jeffrey Archer takes swipe at Sir Edmund Hillary

Wellington, Mar 15 (ANI): Author and ex-UK politician Jeffrey Archer has poked fun at Sir Edmund Hillary’s legacy with the novel ‘Paths of Glory’.

The book is a fictionalized account of the life of George Mallory, who died on Everest in 1924, 29 years before Hillary climbed the world’s tallest peak with Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reports The NZPA.

Mallory was last spotted a few hundred metres below the summit and died shortly afterwards. Many of his admirers think he made it to the top and deserves Hillary’s spot in history.

His new tome, which concludes with Mallory becoming the “first man to stand on top of the earth”, has once again sparked rumors about whether the adventurer might have beaten Sir Ed to the summit by 29 years.

However, fellow mountaineer and friend of Sir Ed, Graeme Dingle, said of Archer’s premise: “He’s dreaming. There’s essentially no chance Mallory got to the top. All the evidence points to them not making it.”

He said Archer’s interest in portraying Mallory as the first to summit the mountain was motivated by wounded English pride at having been beaten by a colonial.

“The English were desperate to get to the top and they didn’t get there, even in 1953. I think the English are pretty sensitive about it. They’ve got nothing to be ashamed about, they had a lot of glorious failures,” he added.

In 2001, Archer’s political career ended in disgrace in Britain after he was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to four years in jail. (ANI)

New Zealand climber slams Jeffrey Archer over Everest claim

New Zealand climber slams Jeffrey Archer over Everest claim Wellington – A New Zealand mountaineer has slammed a claim by author Jeffrey Archer in a new book that a British climber conquered Mount Everest years before Sir Edmund Hillary, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Archer’s book, Paths of Glory, is a fictionalized account of the life of George Mallory, who died on Everest in 1924, 29 years before Hillary climbed the world’s tallest peak with Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

Hillary, who died last year, remains a national hero in New Zealand, and a report about the book appeared on the front page of the Sunday Star-Times under the headline, “Jeffrey Archer’s Insult to Sir Ed.”

A secondary headline read, “He’s a failed politician and a convicted liar – and now Jeffrey Archer is making the absurd claim that Kiwi icon Sir Edmund Hillary wasn’t the first man to conquer Mount Everest.”

The paper quoted Graeme Dingle, a fellow mountaineer and friend of Sir Ed, as saying, “He’s dreaming. There’s essentially no chance Mallory got to the top.”

Dingle said Archer was reflecting wounded English pride at having been beaten by a colonial: “The English were desperate to get to the top, and they didn’t get there, even in 1953. I think the English are pretty sensitive about it.” (dpa)

Sir Edmund Hillary’s house on sale

Wellington, Feb 28 (ANI): Sir Edmund Hillary’s home of more than 50 years is on the market.

Hillary was the first man to conquer the world’s highest mountain, and his house will be opened to the public for the first time at a charity open home tomorrow.

Sir Ed died in January last year, and his house was built in 1957, reports The NZPA.

The house in Remuera Rd was to be auctioned on March 18 and had a valuation of 1.9 million dollars.

Sir Ed’s daughter Sarah managed the sale.

She told the Weekend Herald there were many beneficiaries to her father’s will and the sale of the house was “something that has to happen. We’re very grateful we have so many wonderful memories from our time here.”

She said the family was sad about selling the house but resigned to it.

During more than 50 years in the house Sir Ed collected mementoes from around the world. (ANI)

Bodyguard says he saw Hitler first after his suicide

Berlin (Germany), Jan.22 (ANI): A former bodyguard of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has claimed that he was the first man to see Hitler’s body after the latter committed suicide in a bunker below Berlin.

A doddery old man now whose once ramrod-straight back is stooped and whose hair is a snowy white, 91-year-old Rochus Misch told The Sun that he saw Hitler’s body shortly after the Fuhrer blasted a bullet into his own head.

Born in Opole, Poland, Misch joined a combat division of the fanatical SS elite guard aged 20 in 1937. Wounded during the conquest of Poland in 1939, he was transferred to Hitler’s elite personal bodyguard, the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.

“Hitler was my Fuhrer like everyone else’s, and I was in awe of him. I found him correct – charming even.”

As the Third Reich crumbled, Misch says Hitler retreated to a cluster of small rooms 40ft underground in Berlin.

“On April 22, 1945, Hitler said: “The war is lost. No one is obliged to do anything any more”.
Misch says that the following day, shortly after 3 p.m., Hitler left his final followers and entered a private room with Braun. Misch said they waited around 45 minutes “for the shot”.
Alongside other soldiers left in the bunker, he then opened the door.

He says: “I saw Hitler slumped by the table. I did not see any blood on his head. And I saw Eva with her knees drawn up, lying next to him on the sofa.

“Hitler was wrapped in a blanket as I watched. He was then taken outside to be burnt. It was over.”

Misch was captured by the Red Army and sent to Moscow, where he was questioned and tortured. fter eight years in prison camps he returned to Berlin in 1953.
Today, Misch, who was never indicted for war crimes, lives in the same two-storey detached house where he moved with his late wife Gerda in 1942. (ANI)

Bodyguard says he saw Hitler first after his suicide

Berlin (Germany), Jan.22 (ANI): A former bodyguard of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler has claimed that he was the first man to see Hitler’s body after the latter committed suicide in a bunker below Berlin.

A doddery old man now whose once ramrod-straight back is stooped and whose hair is a snowy white, 91-year-old Rochus Misch told The Sun that he saw Hitler’s body shortly after the Fuhrer blasted a bullet into his own head.

Born in Opole, Poland, Misch joined a combat division of the fanatical SS elite guard aged 20 in 1937. Wounded during the conquest of Poland in 1939, he was transferred to Hitler’s elite personal bodyguard, the 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler.

“Hitler was my Fuhrer like everyone else’s, and I was in awe of him. I found him correct – charming even.”

As the Third Reich crumbled, Misch says Hitler retreated to a cluster of small rooms 40ft underground in Berlin.

“On April 22, 1945, Hitler said: “The war is lost. No one is obliged to do anything any more”.
Misch says that the following day, shortly after 3 p.m., Hitler left his final followers and entered a private room with Braun. Misch said they waited around 45 minutes “for the shot”.
Alongside other soldiers left in the bunker, he then opened the door.

He says: “I saw Hitler slumped by the table. I did not see any blood on his head. And I saw Eva with her knees drawn up, lying next to him on the sofa.

“Hitler was wrapped in a blanket as I watched. He was then taken outside to be burnt. It was over.”

Misch was captured by the Red Army and sent to Moscow, where he was questioned and tortured. fter eight years in prison camps he returned to Berlin in 1953.
Today, Misch, who was never indicted for war crimes, lives in the same two-storey detached house where he moved with his late wife Gerda in 1942. (ANI)