The recent rain and flooding has forced organisers of the annual British Asparagus Festival to cancel the event - because of a lack of asparagus.

It evokes the worst of human angst but at Sotheby’s in New York last night a version of the ‘Scream’ by Edvard Munch bought something closer to astonished wonder as it sold for $119.9 million, breaking all previous records.

The superstitious nature of Britain's greatest writer has come to light thanks to the sale of an inscribed first edition of Charles Dickens's favourite novel with its own intriguing backstory.

The superstitious nature of Britain's greatest writer has come to light thanks to the sale of an inscribed first edition of Charles Dickens' favourite novel with its own intriguing backstory.

A first edition of Oscar Wilde's The Importance Of Being Earnest, dedicated by the writer to his first gay lover, is going under the hammer.

Towel? Check. Glasses? Check. Fine-tooth bone saw? Mustn't forget that. Leonardo Da Vinci, artist, scientist and keen dissector, was also fond of the to-do list. An example, from a 16th-century notebook, goes on display at Buckingham Palace next month. It includes a packing list for a study trip, as well as reminders to, among other things, "get anatomy books bound" and, "find a human skull".

A collection of rare film posters has fetched a total of $503,000 (£320,000) at an auction in Texas.

It might seem like everything is crashing down around us in Austerity Britain, but judging by the bumper-billion-pound sales figures disclosed by one London auction house, it appears now is the perfect time to cash in on those artistic masterpieces you've left gathering dust in your attic.

A rare bottle of whisky has sold for a record-breaking price of £60,000.

The convicted "hippie painter" behind Germany's most spectacular art-forgery scandal has revealed that he faked the works of at least 50 famous painters over a career spanning decades and started because he wanted to "have fun, travel and meet women".

The so-called 'eternal hippie' sold faked works to auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's

British artist Anne Hardy photographs large-scale interior spaces which she carefully constructs over several months. Using complex camera techniques, reflections and painstaking positioning of objects, she conjures still life images that look as if a person has just stepped out of them and paint vivid portraits of that imaginary occupant.

A version of Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream is to go on display in London in April before being auctioned in New York the following month.

Bidders scramble for a piece of Britain's 'greatest living artist'