CAROL McGIFFIN

In the early 1940s, the Royal Mint replaced the familiar image of a portcullis on the threepenny coin with a thrift plant. This was part of the government’s campaign reminding the public of the need f

The thumping that had been going on overhead all morning suddenly stopped. Clara paused, red pen hovering over one of her pupil’s dogeared exercise books. A strand of brown hair fell across her sea-gr

Our round-up of the funny, fascinating and unusual stories this fortnight

LIBBY PURVES

Love Big Issue and Lou, I think, who sold me the mag at St Paul’s station is a nice guy. Here’s a picture (above) that I took last week from my narrow boat on the River Lea where I have recently moved