Two hurt as WWII bomb demonstration backfires

Two men staging a bombing display during a Second World War-themed weekend at a stately home ended up in hospital after blowing themselves up.

Emergency services were called to the event on Monday after the men sustained leg injuries in a pyrotechnic display. Two ambulances attended Audley End House, Saffron Walden, Essex, and took the pair to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The event had promised that visitors would be “blown away at the spectacle of the explosive wartime assault”. Jamie Osbourne, general manager at Audley End House, said: “Clearly something went wrong and we are investigating what happened.”