All The Nudes That’s Fit To Print

Well, it's time for a roundup of important nudes, er, news from all over.

Item: The world's largest strip poker tournament, which started as an April Fool joke by an Irish bookie, will actually be held next month.

Leading Irish bookmaker, the Paddy Power company, came up with the idea of setting a world record for the game as an April Fool's Day joke.

But it decided to stage the event for real and get into the Guinness Book of Records after receiving numerous phone calls and emails from curious punters.

Paddy Power, which has a reputation for publicity stunts and whacky wagers, has already received over 50 entries for the strip poker game planned for the Café Royal in London on August 19.

"People have entered from Ireland, Britain, Brazil, Australia and Germany. It is a good mixture so far," said Paddy Power, a spokesman for the company of the same name.

"We need about 200 but the way it is shaping up I'd say we might be extending it. The plan was to have 100 men and 100 women. But I'd say we might have to make it a bit bigger," Power told AFP Friday.

The Irish bookmaker aims to set two records — the biggest strip poker tournament ever and the first world strip poker champion.

Well, it's one way to get publicity.

Item: A group of some thirty tourists from Scandinavia, mostly women, scandalized a small town in Albania when they arrived at the beach and promptly lost a strip poker tournament, figuratively speaking. The tourists cheerfully stripped and went swimming and or sunbathing.

Edmon Gjoka, the mayor of Saranda, a picturesque coastal town some 300 kilometers (180 miles) south from Tirana, told AFP that a group of 30 tourists, mostly women, visited on a day trip from the neighbouring Greek island of Corfu on Tuesday a public beach popular with locals.

The police did not know how to react to the unusual behaviour by foreign tourists, the mayor explained.

"The situation was delicate: Albanian parents were pressing the police to prevent the Scandinavians from swimming nude in front of their children," Gjoka said.

But further incidents were avoided when a guide explained to the tourists that nude sun-bathing and swimming were not allowed in Albania, local media reported.

"It is forbidden to swim nude on public beaches as they are usually in the centre of the town, but the police did not intervene in order to avoid misunderstandings," said Saranda police chief Limoz Fallani.

One newspaper reported the police had been reluctant to react as they "spoke no English."

"It was a real topless parade and we had to leave the beach with our children," said 40-year old Frida Agolli.

Not everyone in town is upset. In the true spirit of I Love a Parade some people are suggesting it might not be a bad idea to designate a place where the topless parades can continue. Good for the tourist revenue, don't you know.

Item: A "gentleman's club" in New Braunfels, Texas is defying town officials who want to clamp down on wild river tubing parties. They are organizing a tube trip featuring strippers from the club. They swear the ladies will be properly attired.

Trey Maddox, a manager at Palace Men's Club, said Sunday's excursion — during which men can pay $25 to join the strippers — isn't meant to fly in the face of the city's new rules.

"We're not hookers, dope dealers or Mafia thugs," he said, noting that the strippers will be appropriately dressed. "We're just coming to have a good time."

City Councilman Ken Valentine isn't so sure.

"I'm really disappointed that this is going to occur on Sunday when people should be in church," he said. "I hope they behave themselves and keep their clothes on, but I'm not sure they will because strippers are trained to take off their clothes."

The New Braunfels City Council has been cracking down on rowdy behavior on the Comal and Guadalupe rivers in recent months, banning drinking devices known as beer bongs, increasing the maximum fine for noise ordinance violations and prohibiting sound amplification between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.

A new ordinance banning containers with a liquid volume of 5 ounces or less — an attempt to ban Jell-O shots — will take effect after the next city council meeting.

One hates to think what the town fathers would do if a group of Scandinavian tourist was to drop by. For a poker game. Or something.

UPDATE: And yet more nudes in the news. Harry Potter to prance about on stage in his birthday suit. Well, ok, it's just the actor who plays Harry Potter, but he's going to star in a new production of the 1970's play Equus. He'll be doing a nude scene in the play, set to open in London next year. And I suppose the producers did the casting for completely altruistic purposes. Because they also hired the actor who plays Harry's Uncle Vernon in the movies to star.

The play delves into the psyche of a boy named Alan Strang who blinds six horses with a metal spike. The production is scheduled to open next March in the West End theater district, said spokesman Peter Thompson.

"It is an extraordinary play, and he's very much looking forward to the role," Radcliffe's spokeswoman, Vanessa Davies, said Friday. "He is maturing as an actor and beginning to take on new and challenging roles."

In one scene the actor playing Strang is required to simulate sexual ecstasy while riding a horse naked. But Davies said nudity was not the focus of the play.

Richard Griffiths, who plays Harry's Uncle Vernon in the films, is lined up to play the psychiatrist who interviews the troubled youth.