Octo oracle, vuvuzela grabbed the headlines

By Bianca Capazorio

An octopus, a plastic trumpet, an heiress in trouble and a British bloke who just needed the toilet - these were the big stories of the World Cup.

That the big stories contained few of the names of the football stars playing in the tournament probably had something to do with their dismal performances. Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Franck Ribery and Robinho were all part of a Nike ad campaign called "write the future". Unfortunately for the stars of the campaign, none of their futures included a stay in South Africa past the quarterfinal stage.

Apart from a few Germans, nobody had heard of an octopus called Paul until the World Cup, but when he started predicting the outcomes of Germany's games by choosing a mussel from one of two containers marked with different team flags, he became an overnight sensation. He's caused such a furore with his correct predictions that he's now also getting death threats.

Google showed a spike in internet searches for the mollusc on Thursday, after Germany's defeat at the hands of Spain.

Set to be South Africa's biggest export, the vuvuzela has garnered fans and foes around the world. The topic was trending on Twitter for weeks during the month-long tournament and the BBC reported that it had received hundreds of complaints about the noise on televised broadcasts of games.

But they're the souvenir of choice for fans returning home - and were found to have travelled as far as Peru after two people were arrested for hiding drugs in them.

Wimbledon banned them, YouTube added a vuvuzela sound button to its website and even Prince William had a go at blowing one.

Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, were among a long list of international VIPs and celebrities who made their way to the World Cup. Mick Jagger, Naomi Campbell, Kimora Lee Simmons, Charlize Theron, the Black Eyed Peas, Shakira and Leonardo DiCaprio all stopped by for a little footie fun in the South African sun.

But one celebrity got into the news for all the wrong reasons. Paris Hilton, who was joined by her sister, Nicky, in South Africa, was escorted to a Port Elizabeth police station on the suspicion that she had been smoking dagga during the game between the Netherlands and Brazil.

She and her friend Jennifer Rovero appeared in court, but the charges against the heiress were dropped. Rovero, however, had to pay a fine after she pleaded guilty to possession, and was given 14 days in which to leave the country. Hilton later tweeted that "it was absolutely ridiculous what I was put through for nothing. But I'm used to being a scapegoat."

Also in trouble with the law was Pavlos Joseph, an English fan who had made his way into the England changeroom at Cape Town Stadium after their dismal performance against Algeria.

Joseph, who later paid a R750 fine, said he had really just been looking for the loo when he came across David Beckham. Seizing the opportunity, he gave him a piece of his mind before being herded out by a Fifa official.

Police later claimed that Simon Wright, a journalist with the Sunday Mirror, had arranged the whole thing.

Wright pleaded guilty to contravening the Immigration Act in the Cape Town World Cup Court on Saturday and was fined R750.