Ray Lygo was a naval airman who transferred to surface ships, becoming a full admiral, Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, and briefly First Sea Lord, before moving on to be a captain of industry. The latter role saw him caught up in the Westland affair during the 1980s.

As Robert Holman's touching triptych of war plays is revived at the Donmar, Paul Taylor salutes an undervalued but endlessly powerful playwright

The view from a log cabin

In the never-ending search for eternal youth, nothing is considered too extreme or, in light of a new treatment from Siberia, too unnervingly gross. The snail facial (a Snaicial?) is said to restore weather-beaten skin to its luminescent best, thanks to an active ingredient in the snotty snail slime that beats wrinkles and helps to heal scars and burns.

The first person to ride around the Velodrome, one of the Olympic Park's signature constructions with its sweeping roof and wood-panelled exterior, was appropriately enough Sir Chris Hoy. The second, slightly less appropriately, was Boris Johnson. That was nearly two years ago, which only goes to show how far ahead of the game the entire project has been.

Days Out

It sounded like a brilliant marketing move by BMW: pay to have the name of its Mini Cooper Roadster associated with the cold snap currently engulfing Europe and everyone would be talking about it. But the car manufacturer is regretting the decision after the freezing weather was blamed for the deaths of more than 70 people.

Car firm pays to name weather system after new model – then sees it kill scores across Europe

A libel case is shedding light on the secretive world inhabited by the super-rich – and Lord Mandelson. Jerome Taylor reports

From Siberia and the Middle East to China, Rory Smith follows the trail of vast fortunes

Russian research team astonished after finding 'fountains' of methane bubbling to surface

Two Russians and an American blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan yesterday to return a full crew to the International Space Station.

The North Korean leader backs down over nuclear tests on a trip to Siberia.

There was more than a ripple of excitement in the scientific community yesterday as news spread that a reindeer herder in an isolated part of northern Siberia had found a perfectly preserved, fossilised woolly mammoth calf.