Could the BBC have found a more imperial presenter for Empire than Jeremy Paxman? I doubt it, frankly. He's been burnished by years in the Newsnight chair to a high gloss of viceregal self-assurance. As the opening sequence of his new series demonstrated, he can even arch an eyebrow at British imperium itself: "How did such a small country get such a big head?" he asked scornfully as he began an episode devoted to the British exercise of power. The big head, it turned out, was a necessary condition rather than a consequence. In India, fewer than 6,000 British officials held dominion over 200 million people, an improbability achieved partly by classic divide-and-rule techniques but also by means of a dazzling confidence trick. Visiting Government House in Calcutta – an imposing relic of Imperial India – Paxman argued that the classical facade was an instrument of authority. By looking as if they were entitled to run the country the British ensured that they would continue to do so: "It helps to explain that arrogant, self-satisfied look you see on the face of so many British imperialists," said Paxman, who more than once appeared to be offering us a helpful reconstruction of a Victorian sense of manifest destiny. He's grand enough to interview a maharajah in his palace and make it look as if he's the one giving the audience.

England's caretaker appeared unfazed under the spotlight, writes Simon Turnbull at Murrayfield

Scotland 6 England 13

At Scotland's team announcement on Tuesday, Andy Robinson was at great pains to talk up the opposition in tomorrow's Six Nations opener at Murrayfield, pulling back from his previous attack on "the arrogance" of certain England players. "I think it's a quality side we're up against," he said. "We've got a lot of respect for the coaches that are there with England."

The England coach says home side will be favourites on Saturday due to red rose side's 'unspeakable past'

Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw is ready to answer his country's call and lead England into their opening RBS 6 Nations clash with Scotland on February 4.

Weekend Preview

Weekend Preview: England's No 10 is out for a month but the Tigers can still muster a winning back line

A tainted batch of bootleg alcohol has killed at least 102 people and sent dozens more to hospital in villages outside the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, officials said.

A deal to take one of England's most promising young batsmen, James Taylor, to Nottinghamshire is "70 per cent" done, according to the club's chief executive, Mike Siddall. The 21-year-old still has a year to run on his contract at Leicestershire but has been allowed to speak to other counties after having decided not to take up the offer of a new contract.

Win a bottle of champagne

A team of treasure hunters has discovered a vast haul of silver that lay on the North Atlantic seabed since the ship on which it was being transported was torpedoed by a German U-boat during the First World War .

If history is the sum of innumerable biographies, it is bound to be full of gaps; for most human beings made scarcely a mark on the annals of the past, perishing as though they had never been. Occasionally, however, records of obscure existences do survive, often scattered to the four winds. This is true in the case of the 11 surviving children of James and Barbara Johnstone, born in the lowlands of Scotland between 1720 and 1739. By a prodigious feat of research, Emma Rothschild unearthed a treasure-trove of documentary evidence about them. In this marvellous book she uses it to reconstruct a family life that would otherwise be lost.

The arrival of Lionel Messi for an international friendly in India has sparked a huge media frenzy and drawn 2,000 fans to await his arrival in the eastern city of Kolkata, underlining the cricket-mad country's growing appetite for football.