A letter written by the bandmaster of the Titanic, who carried on playing as the doomed ship sank, is to be sold at auction.

Wallace Hartley, 33, has become an iconic figure of the disaster as, together with his seven other band members, he carried on playing until the very last moments as the ship went down. A letter he wrote to his parents after the Titanic had sailed on its maiden voyage from Southampton will go under the hammer on April 20.

The band has been depicted as heroes in virtually every genre including postcards, song sheets, books, stage and films. (AP)

Putin was on criminal register

Finnish police say the Russian president’s name was mistakenly placed on a secret criminal register that could have got him arrested at the border.

Finnish TV station MTV3 reported President Putin’s name was placed there for his contact with the Russian motorcycle gang Night Wolves, though he was not suspected of a crime in Finland.

But National Police Board spokesman Robin Lardot said the listing was a mistake and that President Putin’s name was removed from the list. He said police were investigating how it got there.

President Putin’s inclusion would be a major source of embarrassment in bilateral relations. (PA)

Three pumas raised in a flat

A Lithuanian woman has been raising three pumas in her three-room flat after fearing for their lives at the local zoo.

Rasa Veliute, a 23-year-old volunteer at the zoo in Klaipeda, a Baltic Sea port town, says she took the cubs home four months ago after their mother began neglecting them.

The pumas are named Kipsas, Gipse and Kinde. Ms Veliute said they eat a lot of chicken and get along well with her East European shepherd dog, but they have grown fast and will probably return to the zoo this summer. (PA)

Beer prompts desire to drink

The taste of beer releases a chemical in the brain which makes people want to drink more and take other drugs, research published yester-day claims.

Beer’s taste, without any effect from alcohol, can trigger the production of dopamine in the brain, the study by researchers from Indiana University found.

The study scanned the brains of 49 men after drinking beer and after tasting Gatorade, a sports drink. Results revealed significantly more dopamine activity following the taste of beer than Gatorade.

Giving reaction to the findings, Professor Dai Stephens from the University of Sussex, described the results as “a first convincing demonstration in humans that a drink’s flavour has such effects on the brain”. (AP)