It roared downhill, burning to the ground the Flying W Ranch, a popular Western-style tourist destination.

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At the time, Jewish people were being driven out of Eastern Europe, often escaping to the sounds of gunfire and the light from their villages burning to the ground.

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But on Sunday afternoon, as a tireless patriot was laid to rest in the Jezreel Valley, the ground was not burning with missile fire, it was exploding with fecundity.

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It was the equivalent, if not of burning Thornfield Hall to the ground, then at least of ripping down the paper which Mr Hague had spent a year laying over its most jagged cracks.

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It is not known at this stage how the fire started, but swailing - a controlled burning of overgrown heathland to clear the ground and encourage new growth - can with prior approval be carried out on the moor until the second week of April.

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In 1693, however, the French king Louis XIV again sacked Heidelberg, blowing up its key buildings and burning the refurbished library and its contents to the ground.

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But in the race to get the higher-priced oil out of the ground as quickly as possible, many companies are simply burning it.

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Hydroelectric dams are under assault for killing fish, biomass burning produces greenhouse gases just as fossils do, and geothermal power releases toxic ground and water contaminates.

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No-one will forget the images of the woman jumping from a burning building or the furniture shop that had survived the blitz now tragically burnt to the ground.

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