Man survives lightning strike thanks to his slippers

A widower survived a deadly lightning strike at his home in Bedfordshire because he was wearing rubber-soled slippers.

Brian Phillips claims his life was saved by his trusty M&S slippers after being hurled across his kitchen when his home was struck by lightning.

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The 65-year-old says he was washing up after dinner on Sunday when a bolt of lightning struck his terraced home. He escaped without harm thanks to the pair of rubber-soled slippers which his daughter bought him for Christmas.

"It was the biggest bang I have ever heard," he said. "It sounded like it was in the room with me while I flew back against the wall."

Last year, a woman who was struck by lightning was saved by her bra.

The incident occurred in Guangzhou, in the Guangdong province in China, when the woman, known only as Ms Lai, was on her way to take her son an umbrella in a local park.

But Lai didn't make it to meet her son, and he received a call to say she had been found unconscious on a bridge with burn marks on her chest.

Ms Lai said at the hospital: "Something was very painful on my chest. I felt like it was burning.

"I think I was unconscious for one to two minutes before I woke up. But I still could not move."