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1860 is the year that Italy was formed; the British burned down Beijing's Old Summer Palace; the Royal Navy launched the world's first iron-hulled and armoured battleship, HMS Warrior; Oxford University hosted its famous debate on evolution; and Britain produced 20% of the entire world's output...

Tonight Britain faces its coldest night of a bitterly cold winter in which temperatures have plunged as low as -18C. It is the coldest weather Britain has experienced since December 1981 (though many Canadians are probably thinking: "Minus 18C? That's quite warm!"). Benson, in Oxfordshire...

Warning: This story contains plot spoilers David Tennant's New Year's Day's finale shows why you can't go wrong with Doctor Who. It was a sheer action-packed adventure. Tennant's finale as the tenth Doctor Who was shown over two episodes called The End of Time - on Christmas Day and...

If you're a student and the coldest winter for 30 years hits the country, where do you take refuge? In a pub, of course. Britain's coldest winter since the Antarctic-like one of 1978-79, when the top of Big Ben just managed to poke through 300 feet of snow, forced a group of Leeds University...

The War of the Roses was fought in the 15th Century between the Yorkists (symbolised by a white rose) and the Lancastrians (symbolised by a red rose). The Lancastrians were victorious and the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire have been rivals ever since. Yesterday the War of the Roses took...

We are just four days into the new year and already Britain has suffered its first military fatality of 2010 in Afghanistan. A soldier from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, died while patrolling in the Nad-e Ali area, in Helmand Province. It takes the total number of British...

British Muslim hate preacher Anjem Choudary has compared British troops to Nazis after 210,000 people signed a Facebook petition to halt a controversial march through Wootton Bassett. The town in Wiltshire has, since 2007, seen the bodies of fallen British soldiers pass through it in hearses...

Never mind records such as "Longest time spent in a bath of baked beans" or "Fattest dog". There must be records that some people wished were introduced. Now a new book by the team behind BBC Radio 4 comedy The Now Show- Hugh Dennis, Jon Holmes and Steve Punt - is an hilarious guide to the...

Britain is no longer a superpower (been there and done that) but, militarily, it still packs a hell of a punch. Only three countries on the planet can deploy any serious military strength to any part of the world - the US, Britain and France (despite the fact it rarely does so). In Europe...

It is a question that will have millions of people around the world lying awake at night: What shall we call the new decade? Should it be the Tens, the Teenies, the Tenners (an appropriate name whilst Britain is still in its greatest recession since the 1940s) or even the Tenties...

The British police may be the oldest in the world and were once regarded as the world's best, but these days they aren't held in such high esteem. Political Correctness and form-filling often hampers the police from nicking felons (that's not the fault of the ordinary policeman but that of...

The death of a British soldier in Afghanistan yesterday, New Year's Eve, made 2009 the third-bloodiest year for British forces since 1945. The bomb disposal expert,from 33 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, was killed in an explosion near Sangin in Helmand Province. That means the total...

With a height of 443 feet, with 32 sealed egg-shaped passenger capsules (representing the 32 boroughs of London) each weighing 10 tonnes and capable of holding 25 people, the London Eye is Europe's largest ferris wheel (and the largest in the world when constructed in 1999 but is now the third...

Until the reign of Henry VIII, England was a Catholic country. But it was Henry who broke the English Church away from Rome and made himself its Head and, over time, the English Church became Protestant. Henry VIII's daughter, Elizabeth I, wanted to ensure that England would firmly remain a...

Abroad, Britain's reputation lies in shreds. At home, an exhausted government is drifting, rudderless, from one crisis to the next. Unemployment is rising sharply. The public finances are in chaos. The unions are threatening havoc and inflation is set to soar... This sounds very much like...

Is Rosie the world's oldest donkey? The average lifespan for a donkey is 25-30 years, whereas Rosie is believed to be 54. A donkey year counts as three, so she is the human equivalent of 162 years. Rosie lives in Belper, Derbyshire with her owner Lesley Manger. The record for the oldest...

England have quashed rumours that they will pull out of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India for security reasons. There were rumours that security chiefs feared that the England team would be a target for Pakistani extremists in the Games in Delhi. This would be the first time in the...

Graeme Swann produced bowling figures for second innings of 5-54 and for the whole match of 9-164 as England emphatically completed an innings victory against South Africa in Durban, England's first victory in that city since 1964. South Africa posted a first innings total of 343, but England...

England have replied strongly in the First Innings against South Africa on the Second Day of the Second Test in Durban. South Africa made 343 in their First Innings, which would have been a slightly smaller score had England not been frustrated in taking South Africa's last wicket. England's...

Dover Castle, on the coast of Kent looking out into the English Channel, was originally built by the Anglo-Saxons, but it was taken over by the Normans after their successful invasion of England in 1066. The Normans burnt much of it to the ground, but William the Conqueror then added new...