It wasn’t all bad

A former soldier from Blackburn has spent the past 19 months walking Britain’s coastline – and cleaning up its beaches as he goes. Wayne Dixon, 45, set off last February to fulfill a boyhood dream of circumambulating the coast. Accompanied by his dog, Koda, he has covered 2,000 miles, carrying a tent and all his kit on his back, and is now near Bristol. So far Dixon has filled 6,000 bags with 42 tonnes of litter. He leaves the bags at a suitable spot, and arranges for the local council to collect them.

The world’s oldest spacewoman has safely returned to Earth. By the time she touched down in Kazakhstan this week, Peggy Whitson had spent 665 days in total in space – more than any other American astronaut – and 288 days on this mission alone. It was the 57-yearold’s third stint living aboard the International Space Station; on an earlier stay, in 2008, she became its first female commander. Whitson (pictured) said her time on the space station had “gone by very quickly” – but admitted she was looking forward to eating pizza and using a normal loo again.

A spectacular Roman mosaic has been dug up in Berkshire. Dating from about 380AD, it was found in a field near Boxford, where experts and volunteers have taken part in digs for the past three summers. They have excavated six metres of the mosaic, which features mythological figures, including Hercules and Bellerophon. They suspect it extends to ten metres – but have covered it up until the work can be completed next summer. Roman art expert Anthony Beeson has called it “the most exciting mosaic discovery” in Britain in 50 years.