Heavy haul

Ian Patton is literally a big-time British farmer. The Hampshire native just grew a giant pumpkin that broke the world record for the heaviest squash.

Patton’s hobby group, called Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, confirmed on 3 October that his 1,295.8-kilogram (2,856 pounds, 12.8 ounces) pumpkin was heavier by 17 kilos than the previous Guinness World Records holder last year.

Last year, the gourd grower and his twin brother, Stuart, grew a 1,278.8-kg pumpkin that became the GWR record holder.

According to Patton, he grew the pumpkin, nicknamed “Bagheera,” by himself in his greenhouse for two months, watering it every day with 590 liters, or the equivalent of three filled bathtubs, GWR reported.

Meanwhile, the chief executive of one of the largest wineries in Italy told the BBC about the largest wine theft in the country.

Renzo Cotarella told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that seven masked men deactivated the alarms and disabled the cameras at Marchesi Antinori’s storage facility in Tuscany on 3 October, then used company forklifts to load two large trucks with the company’s prized Tignanello, Solaia and Guado al Tasso Tuscan reds.

Some 30,000 bottles of wine worth 5 million euros and weighing an estimated 37,500 kilos were stolen, the BBC reported. Investigators have yet to find the stolen wines or arrest any suspects.

Marchesi Antinori has issued a global alert to its clients, distributors and collectors, urging the international wine community to flag any suspicious or unusual sales offers appearing outside official distribution channels, CBC reported.