The 26-Day Marathon

On April 1st 1981 the Daily Mail ran a story about an unfortunate Japanese long-distance runner, Kimo Nakajimi, who had entered the London Marathon but, on account of a translation error, thought that he had to run for 26 days, not 26 miles. The Daily Mail reported that Nakajimi was now somewhere out on the roads of England, still running, determined to finish the race. Supposedly various people had spotted him, though they were unable to flag him down. The translation error was attributed to Timothy Bryant, an import director, who said, "I translated the rules and sent them off to him. But I have only been learning Japanese for two years, and I must have made a mistake. He seems to be taking this marathon to be something like the very long races they have over there."

It recalls a news item from the Two Ronnies, with Ronnie Barker: "News just in from Tokyo is that Sebastian Seppano, who won the slow bicycle race at the 1964 Olympics, has just completed his lap of honour."

Anyway, I hope your day is shorter...