Across the decades the capital has inspired potboilers and sizzling romances, but it was not until the 1980s, when London was booming again, that the city itself returned to centre stage.

ECONOMIST: The capital as inspiration for novelists

There is a depressing coda to the Owens story, however, for the hero of the Berlin Games subsequently returned home to an America that was itself tainted by profound racial discrimination.

CNN: Olympic memories: Owens at Berlin

Ken and Marco are routinely stitching together the stream of images returned by Curiosity to make vistas that Nasa itself does not always find the time to produce and place in the public domain.

BBC: Mars rover finally looks set to drill

If Germany returned to the Deutsch Mark, it may find itself with a significantly stronger currency.

FORBES: Who In the Private Sector Will Bailout Greece?

My brain pulled out of snapshot mode and returned to normal video mode, and this transition itself was a bit jarring.

FORBES: How the Brain Handles Catastrophe: A First-Person Account of a Head-On Collision

Despite the Chilean government's argument that the general should be returned to stand trial in Chile, points out Mr Straw, it has not itself made an extradition request.

ECONOMIST: The Pinochet case

Unless the appeal court verdict itself is overturned, Mr Ibrahim will be compelled to resign and Mr Mahmoud will be returned to his post.

BBC: Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi