The Nazis hoped to develop an army of talking canines, according to an academic at Cardiff University who has written a book on the subject.

Dr Jan Bondeson claims that the Nazis believed dogs possessed almost human intelligence and created a "school" to develop their communication skills. Adolf Hitler and other senior officials were known for their love of dogs.

Albert Einstein's original landing card from his journey following his escape from Nazi Germany has been discovered among hundreds of immigration documents at Heathrow Airport.

The papers, which document Einstein's journey from Belgium to Dover on May 26 1933, was found by museum curators as they sifted through the airport's archives to collect material for a new exhibition.

Perhaps the most famous ocean wreckage in history, 99 years after it left Southampton its name still warns of the follies of poor disaster planning.

Geoffrey Alderman has been elected a Life Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts

The academic and writer Geoffrey Alderman has been elected a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

Professor Alderman, who lectures on history and politics at the University of Buckingham, first became an RSA fellow in 1991, when he joined the ranks of people ranging from Karl Marx to Nelson Mandela.

It was a particularly difficult moment for Major James Robertson, head of MI5's Middle East section, when Ernest Bevin decided, in 1946, to pay a visit to Egypt.

As if that year's blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem by Jewish insurgents had not been enough, his desk was littered with agents' reports, all carrying the same deadly message.