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246 years after she was built, HMS Victory is to undergo a ten year restoration to restore her to her former glory. The Victory, Nelson's flagship during the 1805 defeat of the French in the Battle of Trafalgar which made Nelson a national hero, was taken out of fighting service in 1812 and...

Jeremy Clarkson, the host of the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear, has come under fire for making a "racist" joke about black comedian Lenny Henry. Clarkson, not renowned for his political correctness, complained in his Saturday morning newspaper that that an energy-saving mode on his new TV...

Fish and chips is, of course, the British national dish. The dish, consisting of battered fried fish and big chunky chips (fries) covered in salt and vinegar is a national favourite, so it's only too fitting that a group of Brits have entered the record books for the world's largest portion of...

When a couple of pagans moved to a quaint and ancient market town and open a shop they probably thought they'd lead peaceful lives. What they probably didn't expect was for them to be targetted by Christians calling for them to be burned at the stake. Father-of-one Albion and his partner...

Not so long ago it was the Luftwaffe which flew menacingly over London. Now, it appears that instead of an attempted German invasion there may be an attempted alien invasion. A new video has emerged purporting to show 'a mothership and its fleet' zipping around in the clouds above a BBC...

Could this really be Britain's most bad tempered cat? Mr Pip - who maybe should have been called Victor Meldrew - does not like noise, bad weather or football. And, of course, he doesn't like dogs. The Burmese Persian crossbreed, who lives with his owner Rose Oughton, 65, in King's Lynn...

Astounded members of the public watched from Westminster Bridge as a man walked across the River Thames in central London - without using a bridge. He walked on water. British illusionist Dynamo, 28, whose real name is Steve Frayne, made it half way across the stretch of the river in front of...

The leader of the world's largest nation today visited the birthplace of William Shakespeare at the start of his three day visit to the UK. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and his large entourage arrived in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, to be greeted by dozens of flag-waving members of the...

A hapless BBC presenter has been at the heart of so many "technical difficulties" that she has become a hit on YouTube. Catriona Stewart, who presents Reporting Scotland, made a mistake which saw an aid worker introduced as a Nazi war criminal. As Shearer revealed it was the 70th...

Mohammed Al Fayed has burnt the royal crests that used to adorn the wall of Harrods as part of a TV documentary on the death of Princess Diana. The Egyptian - but one who has wanted, but been refused, British citizenship - owns the world famous store in Knightsbridge, central London. Al...

Hundreds of Roman huts which housed refugees fleeing turmoil in Scotland have been discovered by archaeologists near Hadrian's Wall. The huts were unearthed earlier this year within the site of the Roman fortress of Vindolanda near the English/Scottish border. Compared with the usual style...

A letter shows how Admiral Nelson clumsily and haplessly tried to hide his steamy affair with Lady Hamilton. The letter, on display at Great Yarmouth's Nelson Museum in Norfolk, Nelson's native county, tells how the British national hero and his mistress pretended to be Mr and Mrs Thompson to...

Up to 200 zombies invaded a city centre and descended en masse on council offices. To the bemusement of Saturday shoppers in Leicester, Britain's 10th largest city, the groaning, bloodstained mob made their way through the city. Thankfully, however, they were not real zombies. The "zombies"...

18,000 revellers gathered at Stonehenge in the early hours of yesterday morning to witness the sun rising on the longest day of the year. English Heritage says the druids, hippies, pagans, tourists and young people looking for an excuse to party descended on the ancient monument on Salisbury...

Wills and Kate have raised over £1 million for charity from their wedding. Before they wed the couple stipulated that guests were not to give them wedding gifts but instead make donations to charity. In so doing, they have raised £1,058,367 which will go to 26 different charitable groups...

A Harry Potter actor is coming to the resuce of one of England's battlefields. 85-year-old Robert Hardy, who plays Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, in the Harry Potter films, is a member of English Heritage's own panel which advises on how to preserve battlefields. However, he...

If you lived in London in the early 19th Century, the chances are you would have visited Greenwich Fair in the south east of the metropolis. It even attracted the famous. It was Charles Dickens' favourite fair. In Sketches by Boz (1836), he declares “we were a constant frequenter of...

A men who lived in a tent outside the Mother of Parliaments for the last ten years in protest at the Iraq War and wars elsewhere has died. Brian Haw, 62, died over the weekend in Germany after losing his battle with lung cancer. The 62-year-old first pitched his tent on Parliament Square -...

Wills and Kate will have an entourage of just seven when they tour the US and Canada. Seven may seem like quite a lot of support for two people. But the entourage includes two press secretaries and a couple of private secretaries to ensure that royal protocol is followed. The Duke and...

Two fire engines were called out.... to rescue a sheep stuck on the roof of a house. The sheep was spotted scrambling across roof tiles in the remote village of Pontycymer, South Wales. A team from Bridgend Fire and Rescue Service took 40 minutes to bring the animal down from the terraced...