In London a woman was knocked unconscious after a hoarding was blown down at West Hampstead railway station.

BBC: Rain and high winds battering UK

Some trees were blown down and there was heavy rain, but no widespread damage.

WSJ: Worst storms over in East, South but more coming

Was it really the Lord Protector's head that was rammed on a pike in Whitehall, to discourage regicides, only to be blown down in a gale and swiped by a soldier?

ECONOMIST: Oliver Cromwell

Rumour, myth and innuendo have it that Hitler was so impressed by both the view down the Arno and the collection of art that it was the only bridge not blown up by German troops as they retreated during World War II.

BBC: Florence��s best-kept secret