The heroes of the Great Escape are included in a million records published to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Details of the 76 men who had escaped from the Stalag Luft III camp in Lower Silesia, and their fates, feature in the records which have been published online for the first time.
The names, ranks and locations for servicemen, women and civilians taken captive between 1939 and 1945 are now searchable after family history website Findmypast teamed up with the National Archives to make the records available. Thousands of images, including extracts from the personal diaries of prisoners are also available to view.
Ditch Barbie, give girls boys’ toys
Barbie should be put back in her box to make way for more "creative" toys such as Lego and Meccano that are traditionally given to boys, according to one of Britain's top female scientists.
Dame Athene Donald, professor of experimental physics at Cambridge University, believes the wrong toys are holding back girls who might otherwise go on to develop an interest in science and engineering. She also attacked schools for taking the "lazy" option of finding work experience placements for pupils that reinforce gender stereotypes.
Speaking before her inaugural address as the new president of the British Science Association, Dame Athene said: “We introduce social constructs by stereotyping what toys boys and girls receive from the earliest age. Girls’ toys are typically liable to lead to passivity – combing the hair of Barbie, for instance – not building, imagining or being creative with Lego or Meccano.”
Arrested for Sasquatch paintings
Authorities have nabbed a man accused of spray-painting images of Sasquatch on public property in Kennebunk, Maine. Police in the picturesque coastal town did not find the graffiti featuring Bigfoot all that amusing and charged 36-year-old Freeman Hatch with criminal mischief and possession of drugs.
He is due in court in November. Police Chief Robert MacKenzie said the Sasquatches defaced public and private property and cost “time and money to repair or replace”. Sasquatch is the folkloric beast thought by some people to roam the forests, particularly in the Pacific North West.
Drone crashes into tennis match
A drone buzzed over the court during a US Open tennis match in New York and crashed into an empty section of seats.
The black device flew through the Louis Armstrong Stadium near the end of a second-round match as 26th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy was beating Monica Niculescu of Romania. It broke into pieces upon landing, and the match was briefly interrupted between points while police and fire department personnel went to look at it.
US Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said no one was injured, but Pennetta said her initial reaction was that it might have been a bomb. “A little bit scary, I have to say. With everything going on in the world ... I thought, okay, it’s over. That's how things happen.”
Overgrown sheep shorn of 42kg
An overgrown sheep found lost in Australian scrubland was shorn for perhaps the first time – yielding 42kg of wool, the shearer said. The woolly coat dwarfed that of a New Zealand hermit ram, dubbed Shrek, who took six years to grow his massive fleece that weighed 27kg when it was clipped in 2004.
Shrek’s fleece was often described as a record. Champion shearer Ian Elkins said the bulky Australian merino sheep, dubbed Chris, appeared to be in good condition after being separated from his huge fleece under anaesthetic.
Chris was found near Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary outside Canberra by bushwalkers who feared he would not survive the approaching southern summer.