Darlington fans hope to control club

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Arts & Entertainment

At its height, the audience hit 12.6 million as viewers tuned in to see Clancy gyrate to triumph in the BBC1 show to round off the 2013 series.

12 million watch as Abbey Clancy is crowned Strictly Come Dancing champion

Television Final of the BBC1 dance contest pulled in its lowest ratings for a final for four years

Sport

<b>Leading wicket taker</b><br/><br/> <b>Graeme Swann</b> - At the beginning of the series Swann was doubtless one of the favourites to end as leading wicket taker, but given that he has not perhaps been at his best in this series it is perhaps a little surprising. However he remains such a key part of this England side.

Swann off: Spinner announces retirement from international cricket

sport England spinner Graeme Swann has retired from international cricket with immediate effect.

News

The Hart district of Hampshire has been named the most desirable place to live in the UK. With 84 square miles of green wooded landscape and Hampshire's largest freshwater lake, the area has been dubbed

Do you want a long and healthy life? Then this is where you need to live

voicesLeafy district that's like 'a step back in time' is named as the most desirable place to live in the UK for the third year. But where else made the top ten?

Voices

Get your hands on an original Chapman Brothers artwork

elephant appealThe first 23 lots in our charity auction have now gone. But there are 22 more still up for grabs

Sport

Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck was on target in the 3-1 win over West Ham

Victory for United continues table climb

sportManchester United 3 West Ham 1: Not all good new for Moyes as Welbeck injury causes concern

Voices

Prince William recently established United for Wildlife, an alliance of seven leading conservation bodies, to try to end poaching

'The poaching of rhino and elephants on an industrial scale is one of the great conservation crises of the 21st century'

elephant appealPrince William signs up for our charity appeal

Environment

Smuggled goods: Kenya Wildlife Service rangers with confiscated ivory found in a truck’s secret compartment earlier this year

'The way to stop poaching is to use people like me...'

elephant appealSo says man jailed for cutting off dead elephant's tusks

Voices

Seasonal surfeit: The excesses of Christmas are a small price to pay for collective spirit

Bah to humbuggers. It's the season to get stuffed

voicesPeople moan that Christmas is too commercial, the spirit lost. But it is a time to over-indulge, and always has been, says DJ Taylor

Arts & Entertainment

Yuletide truce: The unofficial 1914 ceasefire when British and German soldiers came out of their trenches to play football and sing carols

At the front: Christmas books for children

booksWe examine the best titles for teens

News

Chaser the black and white sheepdog has learnt and remembered more than 1,000 proper nouns

Boning up on grammar

scienceResearchers teach border collie to understand sentences using more than 1,000 words

Arts & Entertainment

The Stranger on the Stair

booksA Christmas story in six parts

Travel

Florence sights: The terrace at Se.sto restaurant

Artisan Italy: Florence and the machines

travelWill high-value tourism help the workshops of this Renaissance city?

New Articles

Berry jelly, brownie and vanilla ice-cream trifle

Afters shock: Bill Granger's guide to Christmas desserts

food + drinkA trifle without custard? Surely not! Nonsense – and here’s three to finish your festive meal that prove it

Arts & Entertainment

'The Harry Hill Movie' World Premiere at Vue Leicester Square in London

'Feeble' Harry Hill fails to raise a laugh

film

Geoffrey Macnab does not like the comedian's big screen debut

News

Meet the unluckiest people of 2013

peopleThe Twitter founder who made $0, the man who was nearly Pope, badgers – and John Terry

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Five things to do for a fiver in London this December

This Christmas, you can park in one of NCP’s ten most popular London car parks for just £5 for six hours of parking at selected times during weekdays and the weekend.

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Hungry in Cameron's Cotswolds

Beyond the 4x4s and classy shops of the PM's own constituency, a food bank is alarmingly busy

Patrick Cockburn: Middle East leader of the year? You'd be surprised...

In a period of failure for many, one man is on the up and up. And he's no friend of the West

1913: The gathering storm

A look back on middle-class Europe's last carefree Christmas before the onset of World War One

Stars in court: Some stellar reputations are shatterproof

While Nigella is said to be damaged goods, the rap artist R Kelly is accused of terrible things and no one minds. Is it because his accusers are young black women?

Dr Alison Woollard: 'I've got the performing bug'

Prepare to be entranced by worms as the molecular biologist gets ready to give the Royal Institution science lectures

Boning up on grammar

Researchers teach border collie to understand sentences using more than 1,000 words

DJ Taylor: Bah to the humbuggers. It's the season to get stuffed

People moan that Christmas is too commercial and the spirit has been lost. But it is a time to over-indulge, and always has been; even George Orwell understood that