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A pensioner had to be rescued by the coastguard after he put to sea on a dinghy to rescue a wheelie bin. The 81-year-old, who lives on the island of Anglesey in Wales, saw his neighbour's dustbin being swept out to sea after high tides hit the coastline. The man rowed out to sea and managed...

Between 1642 and 1651, England was plunged into civil war, when Parliament fought Monarchy. This bloody conflict had many causes, but the major cause must have been the personality of King Charles I. Charles I came to the Throne in 1625 after the death of his father, James I. James, known...

The world famous, not-to-scale London Underground map, with each line a certain colour, is one of the icons of Britain. But I bet you didn't know that many of the Underground lines take the shape of animals. One man who did is Paul Middlewick. Back in the 1980s he was able to create animal...

Surely the discovery that "we are not alone" by finding, beyond doubt, intelligent life on another planet elsewhere in the galaxy, or in another galaxy, would be the most momentous discovery in the entire history of humanity. Just knowing that there are other intelligent creatures on another...

Life in the Royal Navy centuries ago could have been very harsh indeed. In the 18th and 19th centuries if a ship was short on crew it could sent out the press gangs to traipse the streets of a town or city and capture unsuspecting passers-by, be they men or boys, and force them into a life...

Football fans, particularly British ones, are renowned for their football chants that they sing during games. More often than not, they are humourous put-downs of the opposition team or fans. But now it has been revealed that the person who invented the football chant is someone who you may...

The RAF's most heroic Chinook has been "awarded" its fourth Distinguished Flying Cross. Because of the heroism the helicopter has shown in its 28 year career, Bravo November is undoubtedly Britain's most famous Chinook. Last week, the appropriately named Flight Lieutenant Ian Fortune was...

Britain's oldest working window frame has been unearthed in an ancient church. Incredibly, the window dates back to before the Norman Conquest of 1066 and was found in St Andrew's Church in Boxford, Berkshire. The church was built by the Anglo-Saxons. The window has been hidden for 150 years...

A cat has been handed in to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after yobs turned it pink and threw it over a garden fence in Swindon, Wiltshire. The normally white cat, which has unsurprisingly been named Pink by the vets caring for her, was covered in a permanent pink...

Ed Miliband was yesterday elected on live television to be the new leader of the Labour Party, beating his older brother David in the final round of voting by just 1.3%. He takes over from Gordon Brown as the party's leader, if you don't include Harriet Harman, who has been the temporary...

Ghosts are probably more deeply embedded in the history and traditions of England than probably every other nation on the planet. Almost ever city, town, village or tiny hamlet in England has its own ghostly apparitions and spooky tales to tell. And there's the surprising statistic that an...

In his first remarks after his recent state visit to Britain, Pope Benedict XVI says that the country's Christian faith remains very strong. During his four day visit, the first state visit by a Pope to Britain, Benedict XVI made unprecented visits to Lambeth Palace, Westminster Abbey and...

The British Parliament is known as the "Mother of Parliaments." But surely the "Mother of Parliaments" more aptly describes this member of the EU Parliament, who brought her baby into work with her. Licia Ronzulli, who represents Italy's North West District in the EU Parliament, took her...

Anyone stepping into Peter Saunders' cottage in Nottingham can be excused for thinking they have somehow stepped back in time. Because he has turned his home into how it would have looked like back in the Victorian Era, the time that Victoria was on the Throne, Britain was the world's naval...

The worst civilian tragedy of World War II in Britain occurred on September 10th 1940 when a German bomb landed on a school London's East End killing 600 people. The men, women and children had been sheltering for three days in the school's basement waiting to be evacuated to escape the...

A flypast of two iconic WWII fighter planes flew over the capital today to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Two icons of Great Britain - a Spitfire and a Hurricane - flew over another icon of Great Britain - Westminster Abbey, where the Pope visited on Friday - to...

Republicans often complain (usually wrongly) that royals do not know what it's like to work hard for a living. But that is an argument they definitely cannot use when it comes to Prince William. For, on Friday, the prince graduated as a fully-qualified RAF helicopter co-pilot. The future...

As Pope Benedict XVI today ends the first ever state visit by a Pope to Britain, maybe it's worth knowing a little about the previous 15 Pope Benedicts. From being thrown in the Tiber, poisoned, introducing the rule that said Catholic clergy were not allowed to marry or keep mistresses and...

Pope Benedict XVI made history on Friday by entering three citadels of Britain's Protestantism - Lambeth Palace, Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey. And in so doing, he may help to finally heal the rift between Protestantism and Catholicism in Britain. At Westminster Abbey, he also became...

Britain is overdue for a major earthquake (major for Britain, anyway), which could kill up to 100 people, a geologist has warned. Dr Roger Musson of the British Geological Survey believes a fracture in the earth's crust beneath the English Channel could 'fail' at any time, sending a tremor...