WW2 RAF Ace Billy Drake’s medals go on sale

A group of medals awarded to RAF squadron leader Billy Drake heads the sale of military medals at Bonhams on 12 March in Knightsbridge.

The medals, including a World War II DSO and DFC and bar group, are estimated to sell for  £20,000-£30,000.

Billy Drake was born in London on 20 December 1917 to an English father and Australian mother. He was educated in Switzerland after several schools in England failed to cope with his lively temperament. 

Hickory golf comes to Scotland’s Gleneagles Hotel

Visitors to Scotland’s Gleneagles Hotel can now enjoy a round of golf as if it was 1924.

Until the end of July, hotel guests and visitors can take to the fairways with hickory clubs to recreate an early 20th-century golfing experience on Gleneagles’ PGA National Academy Course. 

British Museum to loan six Lewis chessmen to Scotland

Six of the Lewis chessmen are to go on permanent display at Lews Castle, Stornoway, from 2014 as part of a loan agreement between the Western Isles Council and the British Museum. 

The medieval chess pieces will be displayed in a new museum funded by a £4.6m Heritage Lottery Fund grant and supported by National Museums Scotland (NMS) and the British Museum. 

Sotheby’s London to sell royal and aristocratic heirlooms

On 23 January 2014, Sotheby’s London will present Of Royal and Noble Descent, a sale featuring royal and aristocratic heirlooms from important European dynasties. 

The sale comprises a suitably eclectic collection of items says Heinrich Graf von Spreti, President Sotheby’s Germany: ‘Having survived through inheritance, these treasures from palaces and historic houses have never been seen by the general public and their appearance at auction offers a unique opportunity for discerning collectors to acquire them.’

Research focuses on rare New Forest woodcock

Volunteers examining the behaviour of rare woodcocks in the New Forest have been awarded grants of more than £12,000 from the park’s sustainable development fund to undertake research.

The New Forest Woodcock Group aims to increase understanding of the species and explore the reasons behind its national decline.

Yorkshire Museum hopes to keep precious Viking hoard

The Yorkshire Museum is hoping to raise funds to keep the Bedale hoard, a collection of Viking era precious metal and jewellery, in England.

The hoard, which includes a gold sword pommel, a neck ring, gold rivets, half a silver brooch and 29 silver ingots is believed to date back to the 10th century, but between now and March, the Yorkshire Museum, where the treasures have gone on display, needs to raise £51,636 to keep it.

Natalie McCaul, the museum's curator of archeology, says: ‘There are two factors that make it especially interesting to us.

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.