Police today arrested a violent and dangerous prisoner who escaped from a prison van on the way back to jail last week.

Music-hall star and virtuoso ukulele player

The romanticising of the 'Titanic' disaster may have peaked with James Cameron's film - but it began the instant the liner hit the iceberg. Ian Jack went in search of the facts - and found a bewildering sea of myth whose fluctuations over the century reflect profound changes in our national identity

Some events in history are continually burnished and distorted by imaginative reconstruction; others lie deep in the fog of neglect. Some become metaphors, others don't. So, when a cruise ship and a freighter collided in the English Channel on Tuesday, with lots of damage but no loss of life, to which great maritime disaster did the survivors compare it? To the Titanic, of course. The word appeared in stories and headlines. "I really feared another Titanic ... it was just like a scene out of the Titanic movie ... the noise was just like the Titanic."

SHE WAS called the "unsinkable ship" but a new investigation of claims made about the Titanic has revealed the unthinkable - she earned the sobriquet only after she had sunk, writes Steve Connor.

Designers are reinterpreting vintage silhouettes in a thoroughly modern manner. Styling by Sophia Neophitou. Photographs by Jean-Paul Pietrus

FA Cup countdown: Oldham's fall from grace has been swift and sad, but they take on Chelsea with much to prove

Overhyped, overboard and next week it's coming over here - the Titanic Official Movie Tour at Wembley Exhibition Hall 2 sails into "London, England" on Wednesday of next week. While Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet are unlikely to put in an appearance, visitors can examine the stars' costumes and later wander the sizeable recreation of the Titanic set. This comes complete with lights, cameras, props, costumes and other filmic paraphernalia.

To the dismay of science fiction fans, physicists have proved time only moves forwards.

Iain McLean

To the uninitiated, the idea of a wet weekend in Birmingham probably sounds as enticing as, well, a dry weekend in Birmingham, but Dive 98 should submerge such negative thoughts. The sub-aqua and watersports industry is taking over the NEC for the next two days for a watery gathering of 180 exhibitors and thousands of enthusiasts. Novices can attempt "try- dives" without risking a lungful of liquid, while more experienced descenders can marvel at the latest equipment, boats and clothing. And to whet your appetite still further, there will also be visual presentations from some highly experienced divers including the cinematographer of the film Titanic.

MAKERS of the film Titanic have apologised to a Scottish town for turning its local hero into a villain. The film showed the first officer, William Murdoch, taking a bribe, shooting a third-class passenger who tried to fight his way into a lifeboat and then turning his gun on himself.

Is it possible for a film to be the biggest box-office success ever ... and still be a turkey? John Lyttle says yes

Richard D North discovers a woman who survived three shipwrecks, including the 'Titanic'