A humble garden snail has proved slow and steady wins the race - at this year's World Snail Racing Championships. Larry the snail beat his sluggish competitors to the finish line by covering the 13inch course in just two minutes and forty seven seconds. He pipped 134 other molluscs to the post but was just short of the two-minute world record held by snail Archie since 1996. T But Larry's achievement was beginner's luck after he entered the race for...

A year and a half ago a book written by M.E. McMillan titled From the First World War to the Arab Spring: What's Really Going on in the Middle East? landed on my desk for review. The title neatly summarizes the content, so no further description is needed other than mentioning that the book is very good and well worth your while. It all proceeds smoothly, following the historical timeline until it approaches our present day and the two solitudes...

A colourful bird-like dinosaur that was as big as a man has been identified by scientists. The blue and beige feathered creature stalked the Canadian 'badlands' of Alberta 71 million years ago. Its remains had been dug up over the years in what is now Red Deer River Valley - a famous dinosaur graveyard - but it's only now that a true picture of it has emerged. Palaeontologists initially thought the bones of Albertavenator curriei belonged to its close relative...

A police and crime commissioner has been told to apologise after being accused of branding a Tory councillor a w***er during a town hall meeting. Hardyal Dhindsa, who is also a Labour councillor, is said to have made the foul-mouthed comments during a Derby City Council meeting on January 25. Councillor Phil Ingall reported Derbyshire's police and crime commissioner to the authority's standards department after he says he was twice called a w***er. The council's monitoring officer, Janie Berry, said...

A Good Samaritan was left stunned after he tried to pay for a hotel for a homeless man but was refused a room "for safety reasons." Kind-hearted Olly Attfield, 32, was left furious when managers turned away the man at the Jury's Inn even though he offered to pay the £70 room fee. He had been walking along Birmingham's Broad Street last Thursday (13/7) with a friend when they got chatting to 56-year-old Paul. Olly said he was so moved...

By Stuart Tree Corinthian-Casuals were founded in 1939 from the amalgamation of their two famous forebears, The Corinthian Football Club and The Casuals FC. The Corinthians were founded in 1882 by N.L."Pa" Jackson, Asst. Hon. Sec. of the Football Association. His aim was to develop a club side capable of challenging Scotland at international level. Within four years, calling on the best amateurs from the public schools and universities, there were nine Corinthians in the England team. Twice, the national squad...

A businesswoman has single-handedly kept stocks of a food bank running after she was inspired by an episode of EastEnders. Michelle Napier, known as Shell, was moved by a recent storyline in the popular soap and discovered that her local food bank was in dire need of supplies. She donated an entire month's worth of profits to Daniel's Place in Banff and Macduff, Aberdeenshire. The 30-year-old pledged to spend a percentage of earnings from selling skincare products through her online...

The Shacklewell Arms continues its run of stonking free gigs with a Thursday-night triple-header. LA experimental duo Wreck and Reference round out the night with their unique blend of introspective metal, sounding raw and intelligent through a caustic mix of samples, synthesisers and drums. Schlocky support comes from the cloak-shrouded, smoke-obscured Blackmoon 1348, who base their set in spectacle and hypnotic chanting. Think the Witches of Eastwick with more melodica and you're halfway there. A proper show for a freebie...

With the success of Shrimoyee Chakraborty’s first restaurant, Calcutta Street, in Fitzrovia – a second branch launched in Brixton last month. With a completely different atmosphere to the original, the new south London space in heavily inspired by Calcutta’s Park Street, a lively neighbourhood not too dissimilar from Brixton. Serving a menu similar to the Fitzrovia site, the new space has a prominent focus on street food and home cooking-inspired dishes, plus smaller plates at a lower price point than...