Petition with almost half a million signatures demands the Work and Pensions Secretary backs up his claim

The former prime minister had a complex relationship with the European Union

Supporters' group claims fans have been abused by at least 72 per cent of opponents they have faced this season

"It is worth being shot at," the 62-year-old Queen Victoria wrote to her eldest daughter after Roderick MacLean discharged a revolver in her direction, "to see how much one is loved."

Despite injuries and a tough schedule Warriors are showing signs the glory days could be back

Sir Matthew Pinsent would relish the opportunity to umpire the first ever women's Boat Race to be held on the Championship course between Putney and Mortlake when the event moves from Henley in 2015.

With the wheeler-dealing manner of the used-car salesman he was in his "day job", and a habit of blowing clouds of cigar smoke, Bill Bell resembled an old-school football chairman from central casting.

A look at the potential heroes in the battle to avoid the bottom three and some saviours from previous campaigns

But firefighters say they have managed to save more than 500 objects

Until recently, the popular image of a postgraduate history student might have been a lone figure in a library, poring over weighty tomes. While that style of study still exists in many places – and with good reason – it's not what Peter Quigley is doing for his MA in public history at Royal Holloway, University of London. He's more likely to be seen on London's streets with a digital recorder in hand, interviewing people and then editing soundbites for a website providing eye-witness accounts of historical events.

Lord Heseltine has a striking explanation for Britain’s relative economic decline: we have become too rich and comfortable. In an interview we publish today, the former Deputy Prime Minister suggests that the wealthier a country becomes, the less willpower it has to strive economically.

Conservative MP Mary Macleod is to launch a bid to end discrimination against women in the aristocracy.

The many lives of a country house that spans the centuries

A macabre new exhibition at University College London looks at the 18th-century “extraordinary eaters” who would gobble up things one should not at sideshows. “They challenged their bodies to cope with swallowed knives, keys or balls of hair,” says curator Sarah Chaney, from UCL's Centre for the History of Psychological Disciplines.