Rare shipwreck archive on sale at Sotheby's

An unparalleled archive of shipwreck images will be presented for sale at Sotheby’s London auction on 12th November 2013. 

Taken by four generations of the Gibson family of photographers over nearly 130 years, the 1,000 negatives record the wrecks of over 200 ships and the fate of their passengers, crew and cargo as they travelled from across the world through the notoriously treacherous seas around Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly between 1869 and 1997. 

Plugstreet 14-18 Experience set for November opening

An interpretation centre is scheduled to open near Ploegsteert in Belgium this November.

Entitled the Plugstreet 14-18 Experience, after the British troops’ version of the village’s Flemish name, the centre will explain the role the area and its surrounding region played in the First World War and aims to give visitors the information they need to get the most from a visit to the nearby battlefields.

Anny Beauprez, president of the tourist office of the Commines-Warneton area, which includes Ploegsteert, says: ‘The architect designed the centre to comprise a pyramid-shaped roof above a main display area that is largely underground and reached by a sloping walkway.

The best coffee houses in Vienna

If you were there, it may have seemed that there were few benefits to be found in the Turkish siege of Vienna. 

As historians will remember, the episode marked the high water mark of the Islamic offensive in Europe, with the Turks finally forced to retreat in 1683.

Among the things the attackers left behind, so the story goes, were some sacks of coffee. These were discovered by a group of defenders who, presuming they were camel feed, were preparing to burn them when one of their number, better travelled and more entrepreneurial than the rest, realised what they were.

Glorious Twelfth opens British game season

Probably the most important date in the shooting man’s diary is 12 August. The date – known as the Glorious Twelfth in sporting circles – marks the beginning of the game season in Britain.

Across the country, sporting estates buzz with excitement as shooters, keepers, beaters and dogs prepare for the big day.

With luck, the moors and uplands will be looking their best, with heather flowering in its full purple glory and skylarks in full song under a blue, high summer sky.

King's Cross Square to open fully in September

The £550m redevelopment of London’s King's Cross station is entering its final stage, with the completion of the 25,000sq ft public space outside it.

The BBC reports that King's Cross Square, which will include an area dedicated to public art, will open fully next month.

Pheasants: low, slow and part of the countryside

Phasianus colchicus does not always get the best of press.

The common pheasant (for it is he, or she, of whom I speak) is thought by some purists to be a bit too easy game. 

They fly low, slow and lack the brainpower to be regarded as serious quarry, argue some.

Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum at the British Museum

Without Mount Vesuvius, we would know far less about life in the Roman world than we do. What is good fortune for today’s archeologists, historians and scholars, though, was rather less lucky for the citizens of the two towns that lay at the base of the mountain.

It is a point that is made clearly at the British Museum’s major spring exhibition: Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum. 

The erruption of AD79 that brought with it disaster served also to preserve an intimate snapshot of Roman life, from election posters, to portraits, to a carbonised loaf of bread complete with the name of the slave who made it.

Scotland's Big 5 campaign in quest for favourite

The Scotland’s Big 5 campaign has been launched by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Visit Scotland.

The Big five are all high-profile species, widely associated with Scotland, with a broad geographical spread. They are the red deer, otter, red squirrel, golden eagle and common seal. 

Interestingly wild cat, capercaillie and pine marten all miss out. 

The campaign encourages people to enjoy the wider experience of exploring some of the places where the species can be found, and to take part in a web-based vote to discover the nation’s favourite wild animal, even if it’s not one of the Big 5.

Aman Canal Grande Venice due for June opening

Aman Resorts plans to open the Aman Canal Grande in Venice in time for the beginning of the Venetian Biennale on 1 June.

The dramatic palazzo that houses the 24-suite resort is located in the San Polo district and consists of two five-storey adjoining buildings (one is the 16th-century Palazzo Papadopoli). It features one of the very few private gardens on the canal.

Low tide breaks at Hell Bay hotel, Scilly Isles

This spring Hell Bay hotel in Cornwall will be running ‘low tide breaks’.

Taking place on 10 different dates, guests at Hell Bay will be able to walk to the neighbouring island of Tresco with the help of a local guide.

Official opening deals at St Regis Mauritius Resort

The St Regis Mauritius Resort is set to celebrate its official grand opening on 18 March 2013 with a 1904 themed ceremony.  

To mark the occasion, the resort has introduced two opening offers: book before 30 June 2013 and guests receive three complimentary nights on a week’s stay, or book 14 nights for the price of eight.

L’Art en Guerre at the Guggenheim Bilbao

The Guggenheim Bilbao’s major spring exhibition, scheduled to open on 16 March, is entitled: L’Art en Guerre. France, 1938–1947: from Picasso to Dubuffet. 

The show has been organised by the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris-Musées and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Bushmills Live signs up Of Monsters and Men

Bushmills Live will take place on Ireland’s north coast on 19 and 20 June 2013.

Internationally acclaimed indie folk band, Of Monsters and Men will headline the two-day festival – their first ever gig in Northern Ireland.

Early photographs of India in London auction

An album of photographs taken by a wealthy young Frenchman in India in 1849 and 1850 will be sold by auction house Bonhams on 19 March for an estimated £40,000 to £60,000.

Alexis De La Grange’s album includes 49 architectural views, most of which are Mughal, taken in northern India.

Belgium: the forts of Liège

On the morning of 4 August 1914 the garrison at Gemmenich, close to the border between Belgium and Germany, sent a message to General Leman, commanding the Belgian 3rd Division at nearby Liège. ‘Belgian territory has been invaded by German troops,’ it read.

The infiltrating soldiers reported by the outlying Belgian positions belonged to General Karl von Bulow’s 320,000-strong second army that was pouring into Belgium. Their initial target was Liège, which they hoped to storm before pushing on into France, cutting the two nations’ armies in two before their British allies could provide reinforcements.

Armagnac - the spirit of Gascony

To a Gascon, there can be something almost sacrosanct about an after-dinner glass of Armagnac – the flavoursome, potent and historic brandy produced over just a few thousand hectares in southwestern France.

Sitting in a brasserie in Auch (pronounced Ohsh), within sight of the huge and impressive 15th-century cathedral of Sainte Marie, local wine connoisseur Guillaume Durand cradles a tulip-shaped glass in his hand and tells me about Armagnac’s finer details.

‘First, you look and smell,’ he says, swirling the fragrant amber-coloured liquid around, bowing his head to bring his nose closer to its quarry – but not too close, as he is quick to point out. ‘There should be fruitiness there, something to tell you about the grapes and a hint of caramel, toffee or nougat perhaps.’

Butlers: the gentleman’s gentleman

Visualise a butler and you may well find yourself thinking of a figure such as PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves, Carson in TV series Downton Abbey or Stevens, central character of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, The Remains of the Day.

‘A butler of any quality must be seen to inhabit his role, utterly and fully,’ wrote the Japanese novelist, ‘he cannot be seen casting it aside one moment simply to don it again the next as though it were nothing more than a pantomime costume.’

His book and those of Wodehouse were set in an era when servants were still key to British country houses, the early decades of the 20th century.

Petra – Jordan’s unforgettable city

The elderly Bedouin has decided that honesty is the best policy. 

‘These I dug up here in Petra with my own hands,’ he says, pointing to a cardboard tray while holding up a well-used trowel. Then he indicates a second tray. ‘These are made in China.’

At first glance there is little to differentiate the two. Both contain weathered, sand-blown pottery lamps and statuettes.