A medal awarded to one of the men who died on an ill-fated Arctic expedition is expected to sell at auction for £30,000 next month.

The honour was presented posthumously to John Irving who sailed as part of Sir John Franklin’s expedition which left for the Arctic in 1845 but became trapped in ice resulting in the deaths of more than 120 men.

Irving, who served in the Royal Navy, was among the first to die and his grave was found in 1879. The Arctic Medal, which is being sold by Irving’s family, was presented by Queen Victoria to members of several expeditions between 1818 and 1855.

Thief caught napping on bar table

A man who broke into a Pennsylvania bar was found by police napping on a table.

William Duffy, 35, of Bradford, faces a preliminary hearing on criminal trespass and public drunkenness charges, the Bradford Era reported. He was found inside the Mountain Inn Bar in Mount Jewett, about 110 miles north east of Pittsburgh.

Police say the bar owner called to report someone loitering nearby. By the time police arrived they found that the intruder had broken into the bar through a window and was sleeping on a table in the kitchen.

Endangered giant frogs going wild

Dozens of critically endangered giant frogs bred in captivity have been released into the wild to help save the species from extinction.

The mountain chicken frog, one of the world’s largest – and rarest – frogs, is native only to the Caribbean islands of Montserrat and Dominica and was pushed to the edge of extinction by the spread of the chytrid fungus which affects amphibians.

Now conservationists say they have reintroduced 51 mountain chicken frogs to Montserrat following a successful breeding programme at London Zoo.

Wanted: remnants of US banner

If you happen to come across woven wool remnants in red, white or blue marked Fort McHenry in your attic, a group of curators would like to know.

Two hundred years after a massive American flag was hoisted over Baltimore’s fort to mark victory over the British, Americans may still have fragments of the original Star-Spangled Banner. After the huge flag was unfurled – and inspired Francis Scott Key’s poem that became the national anthem – caretakers began snipping off pieces to give away as keepsakes.

Now as Maryland celebrates Defenders’ Day and America’s victory over the British 200 years ago tomorrow, the anniversary has prompted two families within the last year to ask whether their flag fragments might have historical value.

Human failure for odd candidate

A candidate who legally changed his name to human – with a lower case “H’’ – has lost a bid to run for political office in New Hampshire in the US.

The former David Montenegro lost a primary contest to incumbent Democratic state Rep. Rose Marie Rogers by a count of 181-30. She was first elected in 2012 and represents Rochester, a city of about 30,000 residents.

Montenegro changed his name in 2012. He made headlines this year when the state’s highest court ruled he could have a vanity licence plate that reads COPSLIE. He had sued after the Division of Motor Vehicles said he could not have it because it denigrated police officers.

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