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Today is the 50th anniversary of Winston Churchill's death. The great man died on 24 January 1965 aged 90. He was given what was the largest state funeral in history anywhere in the world at that time, which even saw the dockers of London Docks lower their crane jibs in respect as Churchill's...

Former Home Secretary Leon Brittan has died aged 75 after a long battle with cancer, his family have said. The former Conservative MP was a key figure in Margaret Thatcher's government in the 1980s and later became a European Commissioner. Prime Minister David Cameron said he had been a...

Daniel Hannan, the Tory MEP for the South east of England, argues that Britain should leave the moribund EU and concentrate on the booming Commonwealth. More than six years after the financial crash, every continent on the planet is growing satisfactorily — except Europe. Or, more...

The BBC's lavish new six-part historical drama Wolf Hall - based on the first two novels in Hilary Mantel's trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies - started last night. Wolf Hall - based on real events - chronicles the rise of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a humble blacksmith who became King...

A 19th Century inventor who lost a fortune in legal disputes with Westminster ended up taking the hot air out of government by ventilating the Houses of Parliament. Goldsworthy Gurney: Inventor took hot air out of Parliament BBC News 22 January 2015...

Pupils at a Christian school (and it is mainly Christian schools or schools with mainly white pupils which are picked on, of course) have been branded bigots... after a young boy gave the wrong answer when asked what a Muslim was. Durham Free has been told to close after Ofsted inspectors -...

Wolf Hall, the BBC's lavish new historical drama based on Hilary Mantel's award-winning novel, is starting tonight at 9pm on BBC Two. The new drama, which stars Damian Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn, has exposed several Tudor myths. And here are a few more. Did you know...

The 22nd series of Top Gear starts on BBC One on Sunday and it will see the lads cruising around Australia, Canada and Russia. In October, Clarkson, Hammond and May headed to Australia's Northern Territory to film some of the new series. And now, in a Q&A session with fans called An Evening...

Coronation Street fans and stars are in mourning today after the death, at age 60, of 'national icon' Anne Kirkbride, who played the long-suffering Deirdre Barlow (nee Hunt) in the world's longest-running TV soap since 1972. Her death yesterday has led to an outpouring of grief from thousands...

David Cameron today warned Muslim leaders they had 'a problem' if they objected to being asked to do more to tackle Islamist extremism. The Prime Minister said letters sent to mosques were 'reasonable, sensible and moderate' and ministers were 'absolutely right' to insist everybody had a...

In June, the world will celebrate 800 years since the issuing of Magna Carta. But 2015 is also the anniversary of another important, and far more radical, British milestone in democratic history. Almost exactly 750 years ago, an extraordinary parliament opened in Westminster. For the very...

'He pointed his finger at me. The gas chamber. I threw myself down and kissed his boots': Survivors remember the horrors of Auschwitz 70 years after its liberation Survivors who escaped the gas chambers...

Tomorrow night will be exactly 100 years that Germany's zeppelin raids on Britain began. On 19 January 1915, Britain became one of the very first countries in history to be bombed in an air raid (the first bombing of a city from the air was on the night of 24–25 August 1914, when eight bombs...

A set of "internationally significant" Roman Baths which lay hidden for almost 2,000 years could be opened to the public in a restoration project announced by Exeter Cathedral. The site was discovered in 1971 but due to a lack of funds was reburied under the cathedral green to protect it. A...