Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer

It was a backgammon contest like no other. It started with a bleak confession of child abuse from one of the world's most recognised sex symbols and ended with a rallying cry from Dame Vivienne Westwood, calling for a complete change in the financial basis of world economics. Strangest of all, it took place on the beach at Cannes during the film festival.

Archaeologists and forensic scientists who have examined 25 skeletons unearthed in the Clerkenwell area of London a year ago believe they have uncovered the truth about the nature of the Black Death that ravaged Britain and Europe in the mid-14th century.

Leonard Bernstein's hostility towards writer of musical's book almost halted project, newly released correspondence reveals

Two versions of shipwreck and cannibalism story behind Melville's classic are being made

Google's indexing of extremist websites helps police track their activity and will continue, the company's chief told an audience at the Hay festival.