The wartime journey began on the day Britain declared war against Hitler. From the Hebrides to the Cotswolds involved rowing a mile to the Isle of Mull, driving to the mailboat port and a three-hour sea crossing to Oban. Here, teenager Deborah Mitford and her travelling companions, a nanny goat, a Whippet and a Labrador, […]

It was just another question posed at the English village community centre quiz night: “How many presidents of the United States have been assassinated?” Then, as fingers around the team tables counted up the most likely answer, the quizmaster revealed a long-held family secret that shocked the quizzers. One of his ancestors had assassinated a […]

Fossil hunters head for Britain’s terror bird beach Fossil hunters from around the world, armed with buckets and spades, are heading for Britain’s terror bird beach, where a local amateur collector discovered the skeleton of a flesh-eating bird. The metre-tall raptor ate its last meal 54 million years ago. The previously unknown flightless bird has […]

On Friday, September 1st, 1939, my mother, Daisy Ann Barnett, was as happy as the swallows swooping above the hedgerow fields around the village of Clymping in Sussex by the sea. Mum’s newfound friends, Eileen Beach and Ellen Maxwell, fussed around her in the little guest house where she was staying. Aged 18, she had […]

President John F Kennedy had been shot in Dallas at 12:30 pm Texas time, and that meant tight Press deadlines in Darlington. I guess it was near 7:00 pm UK time when I heard the news flash on my car radio. I was 20 miles from the offices where I’d just been entrusted with the […]

My very own Aphrodite was standing next to me in the glistening sea. We had just a few more minutes until sunrise. I was hands-on with a naked Goddess of Love, getting more Max Factor Panstik onto her white bits with a sponge and then spreading it evenly to match the surrounding suntanned body. She […]