More than 120 books from the family library of the author Mark Twain sold at auction for $200,500. The books were bought by Mark Twain House, the mansion in Hartford, Connecticut, where Twain lived and which is now a museum.
Some of the books contained scrawled notes by Twain, the author of such classics as Huckleberry Finn.
British public opinion has turned full circle in the past year and is now in favour of Prince Charles marrying his lover Camilla Parker Bowles, the Daily Mirror said. The tabloid carried out a poll of 500 people and found 68 per cent in favour of the prince marrying Camilla, who celebrates her 50th birthday today.
Prince Charles' village vicar condemned the relationship as incompatible with the prince's future role as head of the Church of England. The Rev John Hawthorne, vicar of Tetbury, said: "I do not see how he could be Defender of the Faith of a church whose laws, whose rules and teachings he is ignoring." Prince Charles seldom attends his church services.
Handwritten letters from Winston Churchill to his younger brother Jack fighting in the first World War were auctioned off for £252,380, three times what Sotheby's the auctioneers expected.
Nearly all of the letters, many marked "secret" or "private", were bought by The Fine Arts Society on behalf of American publishing magnate Steve Forbes, a keen collector of Churchill memorabilia.