Banned from laughing in woods

German laugh expert?

A German has been ordered to stop laughing out loud in the woods after joggers complained he was disturbing the peace. Accountant Joachim Bahrenfeld, 54, from Datteln said he goes to the woods after work and at weekends to have a good belly laugh.

"It's part of living for me, like eating, drinking and breathing. I feel much better when I laugh, it's freeing and healthy," he said.

But he now faces a ?4,000 fine or six months jail if he laughs out loud again after a jogger successfully took him to court saying he was disturbing the peace. German laugh expert Susanne Maier, who founded the German Laughter Academy which aims to teach serious minded Germans to lighten up, said: "Mr Bahrenfeld has been doing what we advise our students to do and that is to find a place they like to have a good old giggle.

"It would do the person who made the complaint and the judge good to come along to our school and learn for themselves the benefits of letting it all go."