The odd expletive escapes most people's mouths in times of stress, but when we fall back on swear words just for effect, asks Clive James, have we really just run out of ideas?

A brief history of the Loch Ness Monster's influences on Hollywood, advertising, some of its famous sightings and theories.

All the key points and reaction in text and video as Gordon Brown faced his weekly House of Commons grilling.

An Iraqi member of staff at the BBC bureau in Baghdad considers the toll the daily violence is taking on people.

As an Italian judge issues his first verdict in the case of murdered British student Meredith Kercher, the BBC looks back at an inquiry with many twists and turns.

... you had a sex education lesson? Chances are it involved a teacher trying to be matter-of-fact, some degree of giggling, and a banana.

India's batsmen see of the threat of Australia to draw the first Test in Bangalore.

Lexicologists are abundant, it would seem, judging by the response to our feature on the man who reads dictionaries for fun. We asked for your favourite words and were overwhelmed with nominations. Here we list 30 of the best.

Poet Mick Imlah wins the £10,000 Forward Prize for his first collection in 20 years, The Lost Leader.

After a tough tour of duty in Afghanistan, Jack Mizon returned a troubled man, struggling to stay on the rails back in a British barracks. But can we expect soldiers to go from firefights straight back to ordinary life?

With rising petrol prices, jams and the problems of parking, have motorists lost the joy of the open road?

New homes in England are being built smaller than almost anywhere else in Europe, a new exhibition reveals. Are the gleaming new apartment buildings of the past decade the inner-city slums of tomorrow?

Scientists at the European Centre for Nuclear Research start the search for particles which gave the universe its form

Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova follows world number one Ana Ivanovic out of the US Open after a 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 defeat by Katarina Srebotnik.

The decline of medical services in DR Congo has left millions dying from preventable diseases, the BBC's Mark Doyle reports.

Is an unmade bed art? How about a saucy seaside postcard - or even a slogan T-shirt? It's art to the person who thinks it expresses their life, says Katharine Whitehorn.

A technology that helps the modern world keep running celebrates its 40th anniversary on 5 August.

Medical ethicists are widely employed by hospitals in the US - but have a lower profile in the UK.

The critics' reaction to the stage version of The Wizard of Oz, which has opened at London's Royal Festival Hall.

England make South Africa bat twice but suffer an emphatic loss on day four of the second Test at Headingley.