No apologies for Raphael cropping up yet again, he must have approved of the Olympus though, as he didn't saunter off the way he usually did. Nearly 18 years old when this was taken, he still thought he was a kitten but, alas, his body knew different. To his credit he soldiered on despite failing kidneys until he was 21 years, 6 months and one day old.

At right is a collection of shells found on a beach on Phu Quoc, an island under Vietnamese control off the Coast of Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand.

Far left are a row of recently harvested pumpkins in the last week of August awaiting their date with a candle.

Left is the wreck of the 16th Century warship Mary Rose, which capsized and sank in near Portsmouth. The recovered wreck is being sprayed in Polyethylene Glycol to prevent the wood from shrinking when it is finally allowed to dry out in a few years time.