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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...

Met Office sacked by the BBC – but the truth is even odder The bulk of the data used by the winning bidder will still have to be supplied by the UK Met Office anyway...

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...

An amateur metal detectorist has made the 'find of a lifetime' after he discovered a medieval trinket. Malcolm Corfield, 63, found the inch-long cross pendant buried less than a foot underground in Newport. The charm, which is thought to date back 800 years, is in fantastic condition with a...

A 3,500-year-old urn with the cremated human remains from the Bronze Age still inside has been unearthed by workers on moorland at a nature reserve. The clay pot was discovered as workers attempted to build a new path at the Roaches Nature Reserve near Leek in Staffordshire on the edge...

The food choices people made in the past – what to eat, and how to eat it – were variously dictated by availability, practicality and desire. Yet when we investigate the culinary habits of people in previous centuries, it quickly becomes evident that even within the fairly narrow...

McWhopper

Nope. I prefer tea.

The identity of a fearsome-looking man carved into Pictish stone has remained a mystery since the six-foot (1.78cm) rock was uncovered in 1978. The ‘Rhynie Man’ - named after the village in which he was found - carries an axe upon his shoulder, has a large pointed nose, sharp teeth and...

History is full of curious facts. Here, as part of our Weird History Week, author and journalist Eugene Byrne rounds up 13 of the most surprising… 13 weird historical facts...

The “old fox” is back. When Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond visited Tehran this week, he did far more than reopen the British Embassy: his presence signalled a new chapter in the poisonous yet strangely intimate relationship between Britain and Iran. In Iran's eyes, Britain is still the 'old...

The fossilised foot of a dinosaur has been discovered on a south Wales beach, National Museum Wales has announced. A skeleton of a meat-eating Jurassic dinosaur, the theropod, was uncovered by spring storms at Lavernock beach, Vale of Glamorgan, in 2014. The dinosaur's missing foot was...

Work is under way to create a giant sand sculpture in the grounds of Lincoln Castle to mark the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Sand sculptors Remy and Paul Hoggard are using about 80 tonnes of sand to create the sculpture, which will depict King John at Runnymede in 1215. The art...

Immigration is the biggest worry among British voters, overtaking the NHS and the economy as their main concern, according to a new poll. A whopping fifty per cent of the public said immigration was among the most important issues facing the country, the highest level ever recorded by the...

A wildlife fan spent four months planning a 'once in a lifetime' snap of an open-winged buzzard - which he eventually caught after ten days hidden in a shallow grave. Colin Crowdey, from Gloucester, wanted to capture the perfect 'prey's eye view' of a bird swooping on its prey. Knowing...

As we Americans celebrate on this day of gluttony, football, and prayer (not necessarily in that order), we might offer up thanks for the institution that gave us our glorious traditions of liberty and prosperity. That institution would be the British Empire, which not only put us here...

Ten years of public sightings show that large marine mammals are regularly found in the River Thames. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has received records of 2,732 animals over that period. Seals were the most common animal seen, with many spotted around London's Canary Wharf...

A new vein of a very rare mineral has been found in Derbyshire. The only place in the world where you can find Blue John stone is in a cavern beneath Treak Cliff Hill, near Castleton in the Peak District, and now a new vein of the mineral has been found. It's been named the Ridley Vein after...

A medieval sword that carries a mysterious inscription has baffled historians for centuries. Little is known about the double-edged weapon, least of all the meaning behind a cryptic 18-letter message running down the central groove which reads: NDXOXCHWDRGHDXORVI. Now The British Library...

As socialist and bearded lefty Jeremy Corbyn - who, like many on the British left, never wears a tie and generally looks scruffy - looks set to become the new leader of the Labour Party, and therefore to have a crack at trying to be Prime Minister in 2020, the Telegraph has issued a helpful...