Mamma Mia! has broken so many records – highest-grossing musical ever, highest-grossing film in the history of UK cinema, most genuinely baffling box-office success in the history of time – that a sequel was always on the cards. Now, according to...

A series of events are taking place today to mark the 70th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland, Hitler's offensive which sparked the second world war 10.09am: The historian Norman Davies told the BBC today the Polish tragedy was "hi...

It is 400 years since Galileo Galilei demonstrated his telescope, which would lead him to make new astronomical observations While many people have been loudly celebrating this year's double commemoration of 200 years since Charles Darwin's ...

Vincent van Gogh's fame may owe as much to a legendary act of self-harm, as it does to his self-portraits. But, 119 years after his death, the tortured post-Impressionist's bloody ear is at the centre of a new controversy, after two historians...

If there were any doubt that the rules of the international game have changed for good, the events of the past few days should have dispelled it. On Monday, President Bush deman...

David O'Leary's fate is a reminder that we can never predict what's round the corner. There are some terrific fixtures taking place today, with derbies on Merseyside and in the Midlands, Chelsea at the Emirates and El Clásico on offer at the Camp...

Francis Wilson, the daddy of weather broadcasters, has the suavity of Des Lynam and the control of David Coleman One of my pet bonkers theories received a measure of validation last week when TV viewing figures demonstrated that floods in Cumbria had...

The flame bearers for the game need to encourage a meaningful contest for possession at the scrum and after the tackle It was the terrible autumn of rain-drenched rugby, when it was gloomily confirmed that what had been eating into the domestic games...

What makes a great save? I'm not sure many people have a clue With the World Cup draw taking place on Friday, I finally got around to watching the whole of the 1966 World Cup final. All the coverage of that game tends to be about the goals but I was...

Martin Johnson's England typify the current state of a spiritually paralysed game - it's time to make a dash for freedom Most of us would concur that sport is about the cultivation of skill, of grace under pressure and a sense of wonder at what...