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He's not Biggles, but he sure is an exceptional flyer. This little swallow was photographed travelling at 35mph through a two-inch gap. The swallow is one of a pair of breeding chicks in the mountainous Angus Glens area, near Dundee, Angus. Photograph: swallow flies through two-inch gap at...

One of the advantages of having plenty of rain, as Britain does, is that the land isn't blighted by scorched, yellowed grass as Southern Europe is, and we don't have parched desert areas, such as in the United States or Australia. Instead, Britain's countryside is always lush and green, and an...

An estate agent (or "realtor" as I think you say in North America) known as Carla Calamity has won the competition to work as a witch at Somerset's Wookey Hole Caves, a tourist attraction. Wookey Hole Caves (the world "Wookey" comes from the Old English "Wocig", which meant "animal trap") was...

The Americans, who like things being done on a grand and glitzy scale, have put the odd man into space and even on the Moon. But the Yanks cannot beat the British at one thing - eccentricity (and cricket). Rather than putting a man, or even a monkey or a dog, into space, the British have...

The two proud young British soldiers wear their smart uniforms with pride as they go about the task of guarding their country's Head of State and the Crown Jewels. Armed with loaded rifles, it won't be a good idea to mess with these two. Signaler Simranjit Singh, 26, and Lance Corporal...

The next decade is looking to be a golden one for British sport. London is hosting the 2012 Olympics, Glasgow is hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games and England is hosting the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On top of that, England is also bidding to host the 2018 Football World Cup. And...

Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has caused controversy by insulting Prime Minister Gordon Brown - for the second time this year. Whilst recordng an episode of the TV show, Jeremy told the audience that Brown is a "c***". Earlier this year, Jeremy called the Prime Minister a "one-eyed...

Gordon Brown and the Government were reeling last night after being heavily defeated again, this time in the Norwich North by-election. The Tory, Chloe Smith, received 13,591 votes. At just 27 years of age, Ms Smith will be the youngest member of the House of Commons. Labour's Chris...

The Queen has become the first monarch for centuries to watch one of Britain's many ancient ceremonies - Swan Upping. Swan Upping is an annual ceremony in which mute swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, marked, and then released. Traditionally, the Monarch of the United Kingdom...

Some of Queen Elizabeth II's exquisite dresses are go on show on Sunday to mark the summer opening of the State rooms. She wore many of the dresses during her extensive travels around the Commonwealth and the world. Also going on display are some of the strange gifts she has received on her...

Prince William went for a trek in England's picturesque Lake District - and high winds revealed a growing bald patch on his head. The future King William V was walking up Helvellyn, England's third-highest mountain, for charity. But his growing bald patch, at the age of just 27, was very...

In October 1415, an English Army of 6000 men led by 29-year-old King Henry V met a much larger French Army of 30,000 men at Agincourt. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the English heavily defeated the French. The battle was fought in thick mud, which had a detrimental effect to the French...

First World War veteran Harry Patch, known as the Last Tommy, has died today aged 111. This comes just one week after another British WWI veteran, Henry Allingham, died aged 113. Harry was Britain's oldest man since Henry, also the world's oldest man, died. Harry's death means there are...

Former England manager, and ladies' man, Sven Goran Eriksson has returned to England to work at the world's oldest professional football club: Notts County. The Nottingham team have employed Sven as their new Director of Football. Nottingham's population consists of six women to every man...

It is one of the most famous utterances of the 20th Century, up there with Churchill's "We shall fight them on the beaches..." In July 1969, Neil Armstrong said the words "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" as he became the first Earthling (at least that we know of) to step...

In the old days, there were many jobs which were, to say the least, pretty foul. In mediaeval England, some poor souls went around with the job title of Groom of the Stool. They had, amongst other duties, the task of cleaning the monarch's butt after a bowel movement. And that job could be...

Archaeologists working with Channel 4's Time Team have unearthed the world's first PoW camp, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. The camp operated from 1797-1814 and was run by the British Empire's Transport Office. It housed 7000 French soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars - some for over 10...

Legend has it that the legendary British highwayman Dick Turpin was "devilishly handsome" and a bit of a ladies' man. But now, thanks to modern forensic experts, we know that the opposite was true. North Yorkshire Police have produced an e-fit of Turpin using the same techniques that they...

Michael Owen scored the winner for Manchester United on his debut. The team played a Malaysia XI side in a friendly in Kuala Lumpur. Rooney put United in front after just 8 minutes, and then Nani doubled their lead 20 minutes later. Malaysia XI pulled two goals back, before Owen scored the...

THE ASHES The Queen who, traditionally, is a bit of a lucky mascot for the England team, was at Lord's on Friday - the second day of the match - to watch a bit of action in the Second Test of the Ashes at Lord's. And after meeting the monarch on Friday, the England team completely dominated...