Hobby News
News stories from the Hobbies and Interests category.
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| Mr Jolly and a Murky Tale of World's Biggest Diamond It was the kind of news item of which dreams are made. South Africa's national radio led its 8pm bulletin with an... |
Miners Unearth World's Biggest Diamond South African find is twice as big as the Cullinan Expert predicts feverish bidding on huge stone. |
| Under Pressure: German Diver Sets Breath taking Record A German man has broken his own world record for holding his breath under water after managed to remain submerged for 15... |
New Prospectors Hunt for Gold and Find Serenity in Them There Hills Today's seekers drawn by outdoor lifestyle as well as dreams of riches. |
| Made in China: Swiss Army Knife Suffers an Identity Crisis It is as closely associated with Switzerland as the Matterhorn, muesli and the cuckoo clock. But the Swiss army knife,... |
Spanish Police Board Treasure Hunters' Boat A boat belonging to a US treasure-hunting firm was forcefully boarded today by Spanish police just after it left British... |
| Spain Forces Us Treasure Hunting Boat Into Port A US-owned treasure hunting boat was stopped by Spanish police yesterday and forced into port so it could be searched for... |
La Doña's Treasures Up for Auction A Christian Dior ivory cocktail dress, a silver headboard designed by a lover, a charcoal portrait from one of her films,... |
| New Battle Looms Over Rights to the World's Richest Shipwreck Ruling fails to definitively divide spoils of Spanish galleon's £1bn bounty. |
What's So Special About Seven, Wonders the World? Couples flock to altar to exploit extra lucky 7.7.7 - Las Vegas lures lovers and gamblers after fortune |
| Darts: Donald Mcrae Meets Andy Fordham Andy Fordham has set his sights on rebuilding his career after a stroke forced him to ditch the booze, he tells Donald McRae. |
71-year-old Japanese Man Becomes Oldest Climber to Scale Everest A 71-year-old Japanese man has become the oldest person to climb Mount Everest, becoming the latest in a line of elderly... |
| Behind the Scenes at the Premier League Darts Darts: Tungsten tickling, larger-than-life characters and gallons and gallons of beer; there's nothing quite like a night... |
Boy Bullfighter Inches From Death in Mexican Ring A 14-year-old who left Spain to sidestep a ban on child bullfighters was nearly killed in a Mexican ring by an animal eight... |
| Woman Causes Storm on Venice's Grand Canal A German woman has made waves on the waterways of Venice after becoming the first female - and first foreign - gondolier. |
Devil Worship Links to Mystery Man Police in northern Italy are wrestling with a mystery that brings together a man with memory loss, evidence of devil... |
| No Need to Get Off the Couch - the Fridge That Fires Beer Cans Ever get tired of walking to the fridge to grab your next beer? An engineering graduate in Atlanta has your answer: a... |
Margery Ruth Crisp Obituary: Ruth Crisp, who has died aged 89, set cryptic crosswords for the Manchester Guardian and the Guardian for half a... |
| Desperate Dartswives Darts: Forget the WAGs, when it comes to wives wearing the trousers, darts wins hands down, says Simon Hattenstone. |
Darts Player Phill Nixon Stephen Moss profiles Phill Nixon, the 50-year-old father of eight who lost in the BDO darts world final. |
| Kites, Crevasses and 'colostomy Situations': the Hard Way to the Pole of Inaccessibility Group of friends ski to Antarctic's remotest point. |
Time Runs Out for Russians in Ice Chess Contest Chess: The British team for the first Anglo-Russian Ice Chess Challenge match did not inspire confidence. |
| Spending on a Grand But Tiny Scale: the $10,000 Dolls' House Exact miniature replicas often double the cost of grown-ups' nostalgia. |
The Deep Blue Supercomputer's Chess Programme Chess: The world chess champion was defeated this week by a £36.50 computer program. It's time we accepted the inevitable... |
| Swedish Pensioner Erik Ramgren's Epic Voyage in Homemade Yacht Swedish pensioner makes landfall after epic voyage in rickety homemade yacht. |
French Deaths Highlight Danger of 'peak Hopping' The deaths of four French climbers who attempted to scale a 7,242m (23,760ft) Himalayan summit after crossing illegally... |
| Britney and Kevin Aren't the First to Find Chess Sexy Chess: It makes perfect sense for Spears and Federline to be jumping from sex to chess and back again in their four hours... |
Chess: Court Hears Death Fall Player Was Raped By Father Jessie Gilbert, the teenage player who fell to her death in July, claimed on police videotape that her father repeatedly... |
| Snooker: Hendry Tables Objection Royal London Grand Prix: After beating Mark Selby and losing to Andy Hicks, Stephen Hendry had a pop at the excessively... |
Chess: Saga Ends in Russian Triumph Millions watched on the internet as the world title was finally won by Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnick. |
| In Praise Of... Vladimir Kramnik Chess: Leader: After Toiletgate this is the most exciting world championship match for 20 years and, in Vladimir Kramnik,... |
Grandmaster Flak Chess: Harry Pearson explains the simple reason for chess grandmasters losing the plot - they never knew where it was in... |
| World Chess Championship Resumes But Toiletgate Row Rumbles on Chess: After three days of conflict, delay and intense negotiations, world championship finally restarts. |
Getting to the Bottom of Toiletgate Chess: No wonder the toilet habits of one chess player have caused his opponent such consternation in a sport that requires... |
| New School of Excellence to Head Olympic Darts Bid Darts: Britain is to get its first school of excellence in darts as part of an effort to achieve Olympic status for the game. |
Pawn Cocktails Chess: Leader: In cricket, there was ball-tampering; in football, there are bungs. Now the world of chess has been rocked... |
| Attempt to Heal Schism in World Chess Ends in the Toilet Chess: Toilet stopped play at the world chess championships as Vladimir Kramnik spat his dummy. |
If You Were Seduced By Sudoku, Prepare for Futoshiki Fever It has furrowed the brows of millions, colonised the pages of every major newspaper in Britain, and even given an entirely... |
| Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of Europe's Only Buddhist Republic, Talks to Tom Parfitt Chess: A passion for chess, a mobile for every farmer, and a belief he was abducted by aliens - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov,... |
The Buddhist Russian State of Kalmykia Chess: Lawrence Booth on chess and Buddhism in the European state of Kalmykia |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster After a year, we all need time to take stock - not least poor Nigel Short, who has had to put up with my inanities, writes... |
Chess: The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster... |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Nigel Short shows Stephen Moss how great players can adapt their style. |
Gold Rush Poker: With just nine players remaining, the World Series of Poker main event is turning into the stuff of Hollywood. Barry... |
| The Rookie Stephen Moss and Nigel Short play through a 'rip-roaring positional attack' from Russian world champion Alexander Alekhine. |
Boulevard of Broken Dreams Poker: Day Four of the World Series of Poker was a bloodbath and the reigning champion, Joe Hachem, was among the victims.... |
| Roy Selwyn-smith Obituary: Master toymaker who brought joy to millions with his Heraldic Miniature Knights and plastic figures. |
Carnage in Las Vegas It's early days in the World Series of Poker, but already the big names are dropping like flies. Barry Glendenning in Las... |
| Bob Smithies Obituary: Crossword maker, photographer and TV presenter with a flair for words. |
Chess: the Rookie Stephen Moss and Nigel Short play through some games by the peerless Alexander Alekhine. |
| Tragic Chess Star's History of Self-harm Chess: Czech police say Jessie Gilbert had been taking antidepressants and death was probably suicide. |
Leading Young Chess Player Falls to Death Chess: Police in the Czech Republic are investigating the death of a leading British chess player who fell from the window... |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Stephen Moss and Nigel Short on cutting through the dross. |
Gallipoli Charge Vc Could Break Auction Record A Victoria Cross awarded to the officer who led a bayonet charge under machine gun fire at Gallipoli - in what one observer... |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster I have taken to abusing my opponents on the FICS website, accusing them of using computers as they play - as if I can't be... |
The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster. |
| Six Hurt on First Day of Pamplona Bull Run Six half-tonne bulls charged down the cobbled streets of Pamplona today, chasing thousands of runners prepared to risk life... |
American Severely Injured As Six Are Hurt on First Day of Bull Runs Six half-tonne bulls charged down the cobbled streets of Pamplona yesterday, chasing thousands of runners and reportedly... |
| Chess: The Rookie, Part 39 First cash prize as a chess player. Last week I boasted that, with a little help from former world champion Emanuel Lasker,... |
Pawn Stars Chess: More than 30 years after Fischer-Spassky, it took a nightclub bust-up involving a chess beauty and two male rivals... |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Stephen Moss continues his chess education from Nigel Short with a look at Emmanuel Lasker. |
The Rookie Chess: Stephen Moss on studying Lasker and getting it right. |
| Chess: Lessons From a Grandmaster Stephen Moss gets back to basics. No puzzles this week; they're enjoyable and good practice but they don't teach you chess. |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster; Part 35 Stephen Moss attempts one last spot-the-continuation exercise. |
| Vase Bought for World Record - and Given Away Once the slight, grey-haired American was recognised in the Hong Kong auction room, it was no great surprise that Steve... |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Nigel Short challenges Stephen Moss to find the remarkable winning move in a game played in 1957 between Mr Anon and... |
| A Double Amputee, Several Grandparents and a Playboy Model ... It's Been a Busy Week on Everest Hour-long queues near summit in busiest period ever for the peak. |
Chess: Lessons From a Grandmaster Stephen Moss and Nigel Short study positions from Mark Dvoretsky and Artur Yusupov's book Positional Play. |
| Blaine Fails in Underwater Record Attempt David Blaine's attempt to break the world record for holding breath under water ended in failure overnight. |
Chess: The Rookie, Part 31 Dr Short and I are looking at a game Anatoly Karpov played against Robert Hübner in Montreal in 1979. By Stephen Moss and... |
| Collector Buys Mig for Office Toy Most people decorate their offices with potted plants, portraits of their families or humorous desk tidies, but a... |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Nigel Short and Stephen Moss look at a 1943 game between Mikhail Botvinnik and Evgeny Zagoriansky. |
| Let the Chips Fall Where They May The €3,000,000 European Poker Tour Grand Final in Monte Carlo attracted a dizzying array of competitors from across the... |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Do you ever do those chess puzzles - white to play and mate in four? They're fun, but I'm sure they don't teach you... |
| One Year On, 300 Miles Still to Go. 'i've Lost 130lb - That's a Whole Girlfriend' What started as a personal trek across America becomes a national phenomenon. |
Red Paper Clip Nets Internet Trader a House in Phoenix For the price of a paper clip, it's not a bad place to live for a year: a modest semi-detached house with a white picket... |
| Jacques Peretti on Tv Darts Darts: Calming and contemplative, darts was right on target for a TV ratings bull's-eye until snooker took over in the... |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster I was complaining last week about the woes of my chess life; but there is one bright spot in the darkness. A couple of... |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Stephen Moss studies a wonderful game between Reti and Alekhine and feels his wintry mood lighten. |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: That's enough, for the moment, of "AlekHyne", my nom de blunder on the FICS website. But what of the... |
| The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: I had to show Nigel Short there was hope, so pulled out this game which I played last June against the Hydra... |
The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster. |
| The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster. |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Dr Short and I are looking at some of my internet games to see what I was doing right (not much) and where I was... |
| The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster. |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Last week we analysed a bad loss I suffered playing against the Queen's gambit. By move 20 I was clearly sinking,... |
| The New Face of Darts Darts champions used to be beer-swilling giants with big bellies. But the newly-crowned world champion is a slender... |
Bookies Fume Amid Talk of Bent Arrows Darts: Digger: The British Darts Organisation seems certain to ignore bookmakers' concerns about the controversial match... |
| Darts: Lack of Power at the Beeb Left Me in the Dark However much the BBC insist the BDO Championship is the world's greatest darts event it's nothing without The Power, writes... |
Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster My chess doctor Nigel Short and I are exploring my inert responses to Queen's gambit - in every sense a bête noire for me. |
| The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster. |
The Rookie Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: Following last week's column on the Sicilian defence, many readers wrote to ask how 1. e4 c5 came by that name. OK,... |
| Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Openings are crucial in chess. The game is often won and lost in the first 15 or so moves, when a powerful position can be... |
The Rookie Chess: Last week, we decided that "Respect your chess" was going to be one of our key phrases, along with... |
| World of Chess Taken By a New Kind of Queen Chess, traditionally the preserve of men in tweed jackets, computers and maverick legends in Iceland, is finally appealing... |
The Rookie: Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster A question has been plaguing me. I have been playing chess for about 37 years, half a lifetime, so why am I still so useless? |
| The Rookie Chess lessons from a Grandmaster. These are the horrible moves of the blindfold game I played against Nigel Short last ... |
Lunch With Rupert Not to Everyone's Taste Five days into a week-long auction on eBay, there appears to be less appetite than expected for an offer of lunch with the... |
| Wanna Piece of This? Chess: First, a jab to the nose! Then a hook to the temple! Next, knight takes bishop on D5! Testing both brains and brawn,... |
Stephen Moss and Nigel Short: The Rookie Chess Lessons From a Grandmaster Chess: We hadn't intended to have a third slice of Paul Morphy, one of the pioneering geniuses of chess, but Nigel Short... |
| Scream Robbery is Fair Game for Munch Museum The Munch Museum in Oslo is selling a board game about the armed theft of the Scream, the expressionist masterpiece taken... |
Rare Pines Fetch Nearly £500,000 at Auction A rare batch of Wollemi pines, a Jurassic-age plant that survived the dinosaurs and 17 ice ages, has sold for a record... |
| For Sale: Lunch With Murdoch Forget second-hand shoes, collectable keyrings and broken-down cars, the hottest auction item on eBay is an entirely... |
Hole in the Wall Yields Treasure Sometimes DIY pays: drilling a hole in the wall of his home in south-west France, a builder stumbled across a hoard of rare... |
| Chris Moneymaker World Series of Poker: Marvellously-monikered poker world champion Chris Moneymaker holds forth on strip clubs, asteroids... |
Hairy Task Faces Judges in World Beard and Moustache Contest There were men with Fu Manchu moustaches. There were contestants with long flowing Gandalf beards. And there was the... |
| Dutch Team Breaks Own Record in Solar Car Race A hi-tech racing team from the Netherlands has won its third consecutive solar-powered car race across the Australian... |
The Grandmaster and the Rookie Chess: Today, Nigel Short, Britain's most successful player ever, starts a new career as this paper's chess columnist. But... |
| New Exhibition Links All Hollywood to Kevin Bacon... at Least to a Degree Students at Pennsylvania's Albright college could not have imagined what they were starting when, in 1994, they invented a... |
Twist in Tale of Rubik's Cube As Japanese Puzzlers Go Back to Basics It was an era of nuclear brinkmanship, trade wars and decidedly iffy hairstyles. But in Japan the early 1980s is also... |
| Staunton Memorial Tournament Chess: I'm currently playing in London in the Staunton Memorial Tournament. Held, as ever, in the prestigious confines of... |
US Mint Seizes Woman's $8m Double Eagle Gold Coins As a coin dealer's daughter, Joan Langbord thought she knew exactly where to take her late father's collection of rare gold... |
| Daggers Drawn Over Plans for Race Circuit in Tranquil Dordogne Village Neighbours unite to try to block British couple's proposals for vintage-car racing. |
Flop Sweats and Big Bets Poker: Think poker is just glorified snakes 'n' ladders? Then why were 140 people flexing their brains to the max at the... |
| 38th annual Biel Chess Festival Chess: The 38th annual Biel Chess Festival took place from 16-29 July. One of the top tournaments in the chess calendar, it... |
Obituary: Nan Kempner Couture collector at the heart of New York's fashion elite. |
| Oldest Couple Missed By Record Book They could file a complaint, fire off angry letters, hire a lawyer: by rights, their names should be in the Guinness Book... |
Former Chiropractor Wins Poker World Series World Series of Poker: A 39-year-old former chiropractor from Australia is $7.5m richer after emerging from a field of 5... |
| Hachem Walks Away With $7.5m World Series of Poker: Final day report: After eight days of play, Australian Joseph Hachem - a former chiropractor -... |
Tiffany Almost Alone Now As the field narrows to just 58, Londoner Tiffany Williamson is the last woman left standing in seventh place. |
| And Then There Were 185... Poker: The field is being whittled down, but last year's winner Greg "Fossilman" Rayner is looking dangerous,... |
Moneymaker Goes Bust Poker: The rags-to-riches 2003 champion, who acts as an inspiration to dreamers around the world, won't be repeating the... |
| Millions at Stake in Huge Vegas Poker Tournament Online novices take on casino veterans as world's biggest card game gets under way. |
Pamplona Gets to Grips With Bull Slip-ups Authorities in Pamplona have painted a special non-slip coat on to the streets where the city's annual bull-runs start today... |
| Interest Grows in Solving Cryptic Cia Puzzle After Link to Da Vinci Code The race to find the secrets of Kryptos - a sculpture inside a courtyard at the CIA's heavily guarded headquarters in... |
Briton Dies Near Everest Summit A British climber died yesterday on Mount Everest, a few hundred metres from the summit. |
| Leica Faces Extinction As Digitals Snap Up Business Leica cameras, used by the world's most famous photographers, on the brink of disappearing. |
Eiffel Tower Stunt Kills Parachutist A Norwegian parachutist died after jumping from the second floor of the Eiffel tower when his chute snagged on the... |
| Pope's Old Car Makes More Than £128,000 on Ebay He might be a new Pope but there is no doubting his second-hand value. Last night a VW Golf that used to belong to Benedict... |
A Bargain at £30,000 - As God's My Witness A car being auctioned on eBay has a unique selling point: until recently it belonged to Benedict XVI, the new Pope. |
| Last Dive for Lake Toplitz's Nazi Gold Austrian government licenses a hi-tech US treasure hunter in the hope of solving a 60-year-old mystery. |
Halfway Mark Near in Record Flight Attempt Steve Fossett neared the halfway point of his record-breaking bid to fly solo around the world nonstop today, after... |
| Round-the-world Record Bid Under Way Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett's GlobalFlyer plane took off into the clear Kansas skies today, setting in motion a... |
Protests As Ku Klux Klan Robes Go Under the Hammer Civil rights protesters gathered outside an auction house in Michigan at the weekend to protest against the public bidding... |
| The First Ever Artificial Beauty Pageant Nineteen surgical marvels who have been nipped, tucked and stretched to within an inch of their unnaturally taut forms are... |
The French Still Yearn for L'empereur Amid a new frenzy of Napoleon fever, his will, dictated by the emperor on his deathbed in 1821, sold for €111,000 (£77,000)... |
| Kennedy Jumble Sale at Sotheby's Among the items listed in the latest Sotheby's auction of the contents of the Kennedy family homes are a fibreglass kitchen... |
For Sale: One Windy City, Slightly Used Chicago is selling all the memorabilia it can get its hands on, from an original Playboy bunny outfit to old manhole covers... |
| Chess: the New Rook'n'roll? Madonna's influence has helped the game become cool. |
Police Checkmate Chess Grandmaster On the rugby field, certainly. On the football pitch, probably. But yesterday, the usually genteel game of chess was... |
| Spanish Champion Takes Monopoly's Top Hat A lab technician from Madrid turned property tycoon at the weekend when he won the world Monopoly world championship in... |
Disco Dress Code - Boogie in the Buff As dress codes go, the new rules for the Allen Roc discotheque could not be simpler - leave your clothes behind. All of... |
| Spanish Police Halt Luxury Car Road 'race' They were promised an "unforgettable adventure" but last night the mainly British owners of 70 high performance... |
Two Gored to Death in Spanish Bull-run Two Spanish men were gored to death by fighting bulls yesterday during the bull-run at the local fiestas in Ampuero, a town... |
| US Tools Up As Assault Rifle Ban Expires There are boom times ahead at the Christian Soldier gun shop, a small emporium with a wide array of lethal weapons and a... |
Around the World in 80 Hours Circumnavigating the globe in a solo jet plane? Adventurer Steve Fossett won't find that a daunting prospect, his reserve... |
| A Neighbourly Swim to Do Amateur attempts Irish Sea solo to feed the homeless next-door. Henry McDonald reports. |
The Art of Serene Diving-bombing It may not be an Olympic discipline yet. But while athletes from around the world gather in Athens, another group of... |
| Have Mercy on Fischer, Says Rival Boris Spassky yesterday called on the US to show mercy to his former chess rival Bobby Fischer, and challenged the... |
Haunted House Put Up for Sale Spain's most famous haunted house has gone up for sale, with potential buyers offered the chance of sharing their home with... |
| 100-year-old Breaks Sprint World Record A South African pensioner nicknamed Flying Phil became the world's fastest 100-year-old at the weekend when he broke the... |
New Texting Speed Record Set A Singaporean student appears to have thumbed her way into the Guinness Book of Records after smashing the previous fastest... |
| Sherpas Clash Over Everest Honours Nepalese government to intervene after rival questions climber's record ascent. It is a feud at the top of the world. Two... |
Fighting Mad After 49-day Fast A kung fu-practising, Buddhist-meditating, tai chi-breathing Chinese herbalist has laid claim to the world record for... |
| 'Titanic' Hunt Draws a Blank The fate of "South Africa's Titanic" remains a mystery after the latest expedition to find it ended in failure... |
Chess Women Hope to Check Georgian Clash Dozens of the world's top female chess players will fly into the middle of a bitter conflict next week, hoping that their... |
| Another Dip in the Mediterranean in Search of Atlantis A quest for the lost island of Atlantis began off the southern shores of Cyprus yesterday. After a decade of intense study... |
Big-tent Diplomacy for the Home Want to recreate the travelling Muammar Gadafy experience? Michael Hann has trawled the web for Safari Stripe throws and... |
| Leonardo's Car Brought to Life It has taken more than 500 years to get from the drawing board to the showroom, but today the first working model of the... |
Gun Lobby Goes Live As Air America Fades America's gun lobby, already one of the most powerful political constituencies, moves to extend its range today by... |
| Barcelona Passes Symbolic Vote Against Bullfighting Barcelona declared its opposition to bullfighting yesterday, the first big Spanish city to take a decision which animal... |
A Kiss is More Than Just a Kiss When It Lasts for 31 Hours An Italian man and a Thai woman locked lips for 31 hours 18 minutes, setting a new world record in a Valentine's Day... |
| Australian Favourite Could Become Old Hat The Akubra hat, one of the icons of the Australian outback, could be forced out of fashion by health and safety rules. |
Mountaineer Says Bone Fragment Proves He Did Not Desert Brother Messner hopes that remains found on peak will clear his name after 34 years. He is the world's greatest living mountaineer,... |
| Splice of Life: Elvis Recording in Pieces The man who gave the world All Shook Up may now be all cut up, according to a company selling what it claims are two-inch... |
Worldwide Quest for the Magic of Middle Earth Millions of hobbit-lovers and elf enthusiasts are being cajoled to advance the frontiers of knowledge by joining a £40,000... |
| Wright Flyer Replica Fails to Take Off The original Wright Flyer got off the ground for 12 seconds and flew for barely 35 metres. But this was still 12 seconds... |
Concorde's Supersonic Souvenirs You don't have to be a supersonic aviation nut to harbour a certain fondness for Concorde - and not many of those queuing... |
| The Real Festival of Britain Bonfire night is the only major national celebration that still truly belongs to the people, argues Martin Kettle. |
Photographs From Stars Aid Charity Auction Displaying a heretofore hidden scope to their talents, celebrities such as Hugh Grant, Justin Timberlake and Dannii Minogue... |
| On the bus with the Freedom Riders: singing out for America's downtrodden The Greyhound bus carrying immigrant workers on their Freedom Ride nudges its way down Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts... |
Billionaire in court fight over 'fake' Pharaoh An impulse buy has proved costly for the reputation of France's leading art collector. As head of both Christie's and Gucci... |
| Bush, Barbie or Bob the Builder - a Choice to Toy With President George Bush is now unarguably a model president. That is to say, a 12-inch model of the president dressed as a... |
US jets to fly at Russian air show It used to be US spy satellites that circled above the once top-secret Soviet air base, but this week F-15 fighter jets and... |
| Paddle Steamer Haul Could Be Worth Over £100m American salvage experts think they have found the long-lost wreck of a paddle steamer which may yield the richest treasure... |
France and Italy Curb the Car Maniacs After decades of dicing with death, the reckless Latin roadhog could be doomed to extinction. In Italy, as in France,... |
| German naturists seek nude deal Germans are becoming so happy to take off their clothes - anytime, anywhere - that the nation's much-loved naturist clubs... |
Cycle drama People always say that yellow jerseys are born, not made - reaching that summit of human attainment is written on to your... |
| Dream Boat to Sail Asia's Ancient Trade Route to Africa How a 1,200-year-old Indonesian sacred carving inspired a City financier to go sailing in a replica vessel. Most visitors... |
Bounty hunters An American bounty hunter has captured fugitive Max Factor heir and convicted rapist Andrew Luster in Mexico. Read our... |
| Hunters and the hunted Yesterday, news broke that a criminal-catcher named Duane 'Dog' Chapman had caught the fugitive heir to the Max Factor... |
Climber Returns to Peak to End Allegations Over Brother's Death Reinhold Messner, regarded as the greatest living mountaineer, is planning to return to the peak in Pakistan where his... |
| Volkswagen scuppers Beetle Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, is about to bring down the curtain on one of the most remarkable stories in... |
Paris Air Show Under Cloud US participation in this year's Paris air show is expected to be significantly lower than in previous years. |
| A Diy Cruise Missile: Yours for £3,000 Don't worry about Russia's bioweapon laboratories and North Korea's nuclear programme: the greatest threat to world... |
Trainspotters Trainspotters are the latest targets in the "war on terror" and have been moved on from some platforms. We look... |
| Helicopter Crash Mars Everest Anniversary Celebrations At least two people were killed today when a helicopter carrying climbers crashed at Everest base camp in Nepal, where... |
Everest Conquest 50 Years on It was 50 years ago this week that Sir Edmund Hillary, on his way down from Mount Everest, uttered the immortal words:... |
| Marines in Everest Rescue A Royal Marine and a Sherpa reached the summit of Everest yesterday as other members of their team rescued climbers in... |
Ghosts There's a rational explanation for supernatural sightings and spooky apparitions, according to new research. Here's the... |
| Daytime Tv Scales Unimagined Heights As Chinese Broadcast From Top of Everest When Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay scaled Mount Everest 50 years ago, they were rewarded with a view nobody else... |
Hundreds Delayed in Everest Anniversary Dash More than a thousand climbers, including dozens of Britons, were waiting yesterday to launch their final assaults on... |
| St George's Day Today is St George's Day, a time to celebrate the patron saint of England and syphilis, who survived almost as many murder... |
Spanish city hopes to make matadors hang up their hats Campaigners yesterday declared their intention to turn Barcelona into the first bullfight-free city in Spain by the end of... |
| Mind games on Thompson Street In troubled times when most of the world is seeking resolution to a crisis that does not involve war, we could do worse... |
The number three Today is a very special day for the second smallest prime number. So here's a guide to the magic integer that is 10 short... |
| Spain's Greens Split Over Mayor's Support for Historic Bull Run Animal welfare versus tradition in Castile town. A row over bullfighting threatened to split Spain's coalition of Green and... |
Stamps The Post Office is to increase the price of its postage by 1p; the first stamp cost just that. Simon Jeffery dabbles online... |
| American Gun Industry Deliberately Flouts Laws, Says Insider A whistle-blower from inside the gun industry has claimed that dealers knowingly sell firearms to criminals and that... |
Chinese new year The year of the sheep begins tomorrow, with feasting and the traditional lion dance. Read our web guide to an auspicious... |
| Eurovision Gets Bigger The Eurovision Song Contest is being extended to a two-day event to allow more countries to take part, reports Jason Deans. |
Chess champion humbles computer The former chess world champion Garry Kasparov has defeated a computer capable of working out 3 million moves a second, in... |
| Darts After last night's shattering of Phil 'the Power' Taylor's stranglehold on the darts World Championship, we bullseye the... |
The mobile game plan The runaway success of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - it grossed more than £12m in its first few days in the UK - is a... |
| Son of Deep Blue Challenges Chess Champion Five years after the chess computer Deep Blue reduced Garry Kasparov to a gibbering wreck, Vladimir Kramnik, the new world... |
Changing your name The MP for Great Grimsby, Austin Haddock, changed his name to highlight efforts to save the fishing industry. Read our... |
| The Bush family tree What do Prince William and George Bush have in common? Blood, apparently. |
Silly competitions Australians seem determined to do anything, even competitive sheep-counting, to prove themselves good sports. Read our web... |
| Greek Law Banning Game Boy Quashed Greek legislators were scratching their heads yesterday as to how they might redraft a law banning all electronic games,... |
Gameboys Banished From Land of Olympics to Curb Gamblers' Passion If you are going to Greece, leave your child's Gameboy or other portable console behind, or you may be jailed, because all... |
| Punch and Judy That's the way to do it! A corner of Wales is going Punch and Judy mad with the show's second international festival. Bone... |
Blues world mourns the ultimate record collector He was the man who gave the world the blues. Without Alan Lomax, the prolific collector of American folk music, who died on... |