While we've always thought it was a myth, it turns out that when ill a bowl of hot chicken soup really can make you feel better.

A recent study of 1,000 UK adults found that chicken soup can have the same positive effect on our wellbeing as taking paracetamol.

More than half of those surveyed (55%) claim to feel better after eating chicken soup and one in ten (9%) said it was better than drugs such as paracetemol.

28% of people even believe chicken soup is at least as effective as over-the-counter medicines.
 
Incredibly, 7% said that they had sometimes felt “back to normal” after eating it.
 

One of the toughest contests in the world -- the annual Tough Guy event in Staffordshire -- has been won by a 26-year-old German doctor.

Knut Hoehler started as just one of many racers setting off to complete the 12.9 kilometres cross country run before tackling an horrific looking assault course.

But after doing battle with the barbed wire, fire, tunnels and rope bridges Hoehler crossed the line first in a time of one hour, 11 minutes and 57 seconds.

And while he was covered in blood, he did better than some other competitors (who'd all signed a death disclaimer) who were treated for broken bones and hypothermia.

It's something we've all tried doing, saying words backwards -- but we bet your attempts at the art of 'gnikaeps sdrawkcab', was not a patch on Alyssa.

This video -- which has been seen by more than 1 million people online -- shows US teenager Alyssa showing off her unique skill of being able to quickly pronounce any word backwards.

Within seconds she's able to say the reverse of words like fireworks, savings, download and kaleidoscope.

A pub landlord and ­landlady have been ­suspended from their roles and told they could face the sack for serving 'big' pints of beer.

Brewery bosses are said to have complained that Pete and Debbie Gibson did not serve a big enough head on their pints of beer and lager -- meaning there was more to drink.

As such the firm, Samuel Smith, reportedly claim the pair owe them £10,733 in lost stock and ordered to close their Junction Inn pub at Royton, Greater ­Manchester.

The dispute is based around the idea that customers cannot expect more than 95% of their pint glass to be filled with liquid.

What do you think? Should your pint be filled to the top, or are you happy with a 5% foamy head.

We've seen some pretty odd sheepdogs in the past - Ci the sheepdog who is scared of sheep and Nancy the Chihuahua, we're thinking of you! -- but this is just getting ridiculous…

Meet Champis the rabbit which herds sheep in Sweden. After learning her skills from a friendly border collie little Champis started chasing sheep.

And surprisingly the sheep run away from the bunny as though it were a top contestant on One Man and His Dog and are easily herded.

Less surprisingly a video of the bunny herding the sheep has become a hit on YouTube where it has already amassed more than 100,000 views.

A study which used covert surveillance of car parks across Britain has found that women are better parkers than men.

After hiding cameras in a series of car parks, researchers spent a month looking at how well 2,500 men and women were at various aspects of parking.

They considered aspects such as technique, accuracy, time taken and space spotting ability to produce a 'parking coefficient' score out of 20.

And in a move which will undoubtedly cause arguments across the country women scored an average of 13.4, with men scoring just 12.3.

However, when questioned about their beliefs, only 18% of women say they are better parkers than men and only 28% believe they're better parkers than their partners.

As if LEGO wasn't cool enough anyway, a pair of Canadian toy-fan have launched a yellow-headed minifigure to the edge of space -- as this video shows.

In a project which cost just £250 Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad used a helium weather balloon to carry the flag-waving Lego man 15 miles above the earth.

The lego man was joined on his journey by a GPS enabled mobile phone (for tracking his location) and three cameras to capture the momentous occasion.

Writing on YouTube the 17-year-old duo said: "After endless hours of hard work, we managed to capture stunning views of our atmosphere and put a 'Lego' man into near space!"

Teachers in Linconshire were so appalled to find a child had been sent to school with a Smartie Sandwich for lunch -- they called for an overhaul of pupils’ eating habits.

After the discovery of the chocolate filled sarnie, health workers at NHS Lincolnshire were sent into schools to assess what pupils were bringing in for lunch.

They found that rather than a balanced diet kids were regularly tucking into crisps, sweets and chocolate for their lunch, which could explain why the region has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the country

As such, a free school meals for all system is being trialled which gives children more healthy lunchtime options including baked potatoes and lean meat.

Police in Liverpool are on the hunt for a burglar who was caught on CCTV breaking into a supermarket Spiderman-style while wearing a Scream horror movie mask.

Footage from a Supersaver store in Litherland shows the man dropping down in to the shop on a ropes and proceeding to fill bags with cigarettes and alcohol.

He's then seen climbing back into the ceiling of the store and using his ropes to pull his bags of swag (worth £10,000) back up and get away.

It's said the burglar used cutters, saws, a sledge hammer and possible a screw gun to cut his way through into the store.

Sir Richard Branson has advertised for a builder to rebuild his luxury Caribbean mansion, which burnt down in a devastating fire last year.

The advert on Building.co.uk says the Virgin tycoon is offering £57,000 a year for a Construction Manager to oversee the build on Necker Island, his £60m private hideaway.

For 18-months the lucky builder will manage and co-ordinate the construction, with duties including interpreting design and specification and issuing of formal instructions to contractors.

But it doesn't look like Branson thinks it will be an easy task, the ad also says the role will require problem solving, dispute resolution and diplomacy.

Being more specific it also states would-be builders must: ""Understand cultural issues involved and the requirements for a happy Caribbean team"