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After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was briefly kept prisoner on a warship in Plymouth Sound. The harbour became packed as crowds flocked to see their defeated enemy. Now the city is commemorating this most unlikely, and involuntary, of south coast holidays...

A Bronze Age 'sauna house' has been discovered in Orkney - complete with a network of cells and a water tank for creating steam. The rare building is one of more than 30 structures found in the region dating back to between 2,000 BC and 1,000 BC. They were discovered together with middens...

The world's largest seahorse has been discovered by a fisherman off the British coast, sparking fresh hope for the endangered mystical creatures. The 13-inch spiny seahorse was accidentally hauled up in a net in by Michael Bailey while he was out fishing for mullet in Poole Harbour...

Buried in a wooden coffin, unlike some of the monks laid to rest nearby, the discovery of a three-year-old child's skeleton beneath a Westminster Abbey toilet block has left archaeologists baffled. Read more: Up to 50 11th century skeletons are found beneath Westminister Abbey | Daily...

A pair of metal detector enthusiasts exploring farmland in Northamptonshire recently made a surprising, and somewhat grave, discovery. Buried in a field at Whitehall Farm, Nether Heyford, Dave Derby and Alan Standish uncovered not one but two skeletons dating back to the 5th and 6th...

A cave where Bronze Age men displayed the decapitated heads of dead children has been discovered in the grounds of a public school attended by Prince Charles. Archaeologists made the grim discovery in a remote part of the estate of Gordonstoun near Inverness, whose former pupils also...

The eighth Rugby World Cup kicks off tomorrow at 8pm UK time with hosts England playing Fiji at Twickenham in the opening game. Pool A Hosts England 2003 winners (and 1991 and 2007 losing finalists) England, one of the tournament favourites, are in a fairly tough-looking Pool A - the...

The Queen has thanked well-wishers at home and overseas for their "touching messages of kindness" as she becomes Britain's longest-reigning monarch. Speaking in the Scottish Borders, the 89-year-old monarch said the title was "not one to which I have ever aspired". The Queen will have...

Two British fighters with so-called Islamic State were killed by an RAF drone strike in Syria in an "act of self-defence", David Cameron has said. Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan was targeted in Raqqa on 21 August and died alongside Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, and another fighter, the PM told...

This is the heart-warming moment a young female deer allowed a crow to clean out her ears as she stood grazing with her parents in a London park. Amateur photographer Kimberley Plumridge, 56, spotted the young deer, which she estimates to be younger than a year old, grazing with her mum...

For centuries, Stonehenge has mystified and enraptured archaeologists and visitors. So maybe it is not surprising that another monumental wonder from prehistory has been overlooked for so long – even though it is just a mile away. Experts have discovered an 'extraordinary' line of giant...

More than 100 Tory MPs could tomorrow back plans to formally bar the European Union from campaigning during the referendum on Britain's membership. A coalition of Tory, Labour and DUP Eurosceptics are concerned that a loophole in referendum legislation means that the EU is free to...

Normally, tourists outside Buckingham Palace love watching the daily Changing of the Guard. But, yesterday, they got to enjoy another great British institution: Mr Bean! It's been 25 years since Rowan Atkinson made his TV debut as the lovable, albeit self-centred, Mr Bean. And to celebrate...

Archaeologists plan to discover whether a myth-shrouded plot of land on Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast contains the remains of hundreds of Spanish sailors who drowned when the Armada floundered. According to local legend, an ancient graveyard near Dunluce Castle was used to give a...

Skeletons discovered in a mass grave close to Durham cathedral are the remains of Scottish prisoners of war - with some as young as 13 years old, experts have revealed. Researchers from Durham University identified the bones as coming from soldiers captured after the Battle of Dunbar in...

It was once a 100,000 square mile area home to dozens of generations of prehistoric Britons, but Doggerland was engulfed by rising sea levels about 7,500 years ago. Now archaeologists are using 4D technology to research how Britain’s ‘Atlantis’ was colonised and inhabited for 6,000...

Britain's population is set to soar by twice as much as the rest of the European Union combined over the next 65 years, official Brussels forecasts reveal. By 2080 the European Union expects Britain, whose current population is 65 million, to be by far Europe's biggest country, with...

Superyacht meets Star Trek: Imagine a fleet of lighter-than-metal ships armed with weapons that fire at the speed of light. Welcome to the Royal Navy in 2050. Dreadnought 2050: Here's what the Navy of the future could be sailing Plastic ships that can become see-through...

Adrenaline pumping, his face alert with excitement and momentary apprehension, Prince Harry reaches out to touch the flanks of a fully grown male lion. It’s an extraordinary and heartstopping moment, as the fearsome beast – which has been lightly sedated – lies semi-conscious at his feet...

There are some moments in history that are so odd, so surreal, that they sound completely made up. Here, historical blogger Jem Duducu rounds up seven of the most curious… 7 moments in history you (might) think are made up but aren’t...