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.

Six unusual war memorials in London

With Remembrance Day around the corner visitors to London will find many war memorials on the city’s streets and within its parks. Here are six of the most unexpected and dramatic.

Imperial Camel Corps Memorial, Victoria Embankment, EC4
Surprisingly diminutive, this 1921 memorial features a soldier of the Camel Corps atop his trusty steed.

Or not, perhaps; the unit was mounted exclusively on male camels which, though harder to control and more grumpy than females, were somewhat cheaper to buy.