He could still hear the shouts of the pursuing Cossack troops as he waded out into the cold sea, his long woollen underwear clinging to his strong body. Soon the rocky beach slipped from under his feet and he began to swim out to sea. Away on his right, he could just make out the […]

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, […]

Did you ever have a bad day? I mean, a really, really bad day? Trapped in a 5,000-year-old tomb before being snatched out alive, turned a bad day into a great day for the victim and the rescuers. In western Cyprus, one particular September day was not only bad but could have been fatal…except for […]

Farm rioters banished, flogged and treadmilled By Terry Walker | read time 4 minutes In 1831, riots, hayrick burning and vandalism erupted in the English countryside. Impoverished law-breakers, like farm labourer William Acres, age 22, were hunted down, dragged from their families and transported by convict ships 12,000 miles to penal colonies in Australia and […]

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 […]

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 […]

1972: BOOM as millions flash their new plastic. 1974: BUST Inflation and bailed out by IMF. When your work worries government ministers and MPs and generates the highest amount of correspondence The Times business section had ever received, it pays to have some strong backing to justify the meticulous verbalism. Especially when an attack dog […]

RAF hero who struck at Nazi pride and arrogance By Terry Walker | 10 minute read On 12 June 1942, a solitary RAF hero flying a Beaufighter fighter-bomber struck a blow against Nazi pride and arrogance and gave hope to the oppressed people of occupied France. Dubbed “Operation Squabble”, this is the audacious story of […]

Biblical boat boosts lifespan of a Parkinson’s sailor It was the biblical boat from which Saint Peter fished and later preached with Jesus Christ, as depicted in the renowned painting by Herman Saftleven. Then the Saxons revived the design for fishing in the Thames Estuary and for river transport to carry pilgrims in London. They named […]

Sisters Kate and Louise Lilley joined the suffragettes to get the vote and other rights for women. In 1910, with 300 other campaigners, they stormed the House of Commons and clashed with police for six hours. They were shoved, battered and groped. Floored or fainted suffragettes were “tossed into the crowd of onlookers” to be […]