Chocolatiers have unveiled what they say is the world’s largest Cadbury Creme Egg.
Funny foodstuffs had seemed to reach their zenith as recently as Friday, when the King had a blow on a carrot whistle.
But not to be outdone, Cadbury has since raised the stakes with its oval ambition.
Just how big, though, is the colossal confectionery? Well, let’s just say you might bite off more than you can chew, and definitely wouldn’t want to drop it on your foot. Cadbury proudly states it to be as tall as an emperor penguin, with the poundage of a newborn horse – or, in old money, 3ft (90cm) and 7st 1lbs (45kg).
And what’s more, not a bit of the brown behemoth – on display at Birmingham tourist attraction Cadbury World – is fake. It’s real chocolate, with real gooey fondant filling and even has the signature touch of the engraved twinkle.
The only bit of the Easter treat that isn’t quite legit is the wrapping. It’s actually a painted veneer, presumably because there was not a piece of foil large enough, lest a run on crinkly silver lead to stale sarnies.
Terry Collins, who made the egg with fellow chocolatier Dawn Jenks, said nobody “gets to eat the egg unfortunately”. Although asked whether not even he got to have a little nibble, he confessed to BBC Radio 5 Live: “I was tempted during creation, I won’t lie.”
He said: “Here at Cadbury World we normally do creations for each season and we were just thinking ‘what better way to celebrate Easter than something as iconic as a Creme Egg?’ and we figured ‘we’ve got to go [as] massive as we can with it’.”
The pair crafted it by hand over two-and-a-half days.
Asked why it was so heavy, Mr Collins said: “That would be just purely down to the amount of chocolate we used and fondant.
“To actually make the egg we’ve had to have a mould, which we’ve got two sides of, and then we have to build up the chocolate by hand to make sure that the egg actually stays intact.”
Ms Jenks said: “We challenged ourselves to create something unique and memorable this Easter.
“Replicating the much-loved Cadbury Creme Egg on an extra-large scale was an ambitious project, and it has been so rewarding to see the vision brought to life.”
The egg is on display at Cadbury World’s chocolate-making zone until 27 April.
Continuous heavy rainfall and upstream inflows have triggered severe flooding in two counties of Guizhou Province in southwest China, prompting mass evacuations.
As of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, 48,900 residents were temporarily evacuated in Rongjiang County and 32,000 in Congjiang County. The flood control emergency response has been escalated to Level I, the highest, in both counties.
Rongjiang, a county known for Cun Chao — a rural football league covering over 100 village teams and drawing numerous fans across the country, saw heavy rainstorms from 8 p.m. Monday, with a venue at the Duliu River exceeding the warning level by 6.68 meters as of 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The football field at the Cun Chao stadium was submerged under three meters of water.
Long Tian, a resident near the stadium, recalled that when he woke up at 8 a.m. Tuesday, the water downstairs was already thigh-deep.
“The water rose very quickly, so I stayed on the third floor waiting for rescue. By the afternoon, I had been transferred to safety,” Long said.
Rescue teams, including firefighters and volunteers, deployed boats and other equipment for the rescue work in the two counties.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the provincial emergency department had allocated disaster relief items, including 30,000 bottles of drinking water and 10,000 bowls of instant noodles, to the two counties via high-speed rail and road transport.
Also in Guizhou, rain-triggered landslides caused the collapse of part of a bridge on an expressway in the county of Sandu. No casualties have been reported so far.
The Israeli government has said it agreed to the ceasefire proposal after “achieving the objectives” of its attacks on Iran. According to the statement, Israel has removed Iran’s “dual immediate existential threat” from nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
It also says Israel has “inflicted severe damage on the military leadership, and destroyed dozens of central Iranian government targets”.
The statement goes on to say that Israeli forces, in the last day, have “severely struck government targets in the heart of Tehran, eliminating hundreds of Basij operatives” – a militia the Iranian government often uses to suppress protests – and “eliminating another senior nuclear scientist”.
“Israel thanks President Trump and the United States for their support in defence and their participation in eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat,” the statement adds.
Earlier, Iran state TV news channel IRINN says a ceasefire has been “imposed” on Israel following the “successful” Iranian attack on the US base in Qatar.
State TV said in a statement that Trump “begged” for a ceasefire following Iran’s attack. The statement was read aloud by the presenter.
The statement also hailed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Army and praised the “resistance” of Iranians.
The statement also called Iran’s attack on the US base in Qatar as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “successful” response to the US attacking three Iranian nuclear sites, while Qatar said all missiles were intercepted.
US President Donald Trump has announced a “complete and total” ceasefire between Israel and Iran on social media.
Trump says the ceasefire will begin “in approximately six hours from now” after each country has “wound down” their military operations.
Trump’s announcement contains a periodic unravelling of hostilities but says that “upon the 24th hour” the war will officially end.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, has posted on X saying there is “no agreement of any ceasefire or cessation of military operations.”
“”As Iran has repeatedly made clear: Israel launched war on Iran, not the other way around…However, provided that the Israeli regime stops its illegal aggression against the Iranian people no later than 4 am Tehran time, we have no intention to continue our response afterwards,: he has added.
“The final decision on the cessation of our military operations will be made later,” he has further said.
Meanwhile, Reuters have reported citing a senior White House official as saying that President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran through talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday while his team, including Vice President JD Vance, held talks with Tehran.
The official, providing details of the ceasefire on condition of anonymity, has said Israel agreed to it so long as Iran does not launch fresh attacks.