If there's nothing to say, no news - we say, let's go on a wolf hunt.". 1770: A military tractor, driven by a steam engine, achieves a speed of about 2.5mph in Paris. 1803: A steam car built by Richard Trevithick is reported to have reached "eight or nine miles in the hour". 1830s: Commercial steam coaches and omnibuses in England are claimed to operate at speeds in excess of 15mph.1898: First recognised land speed record of 39.24mph set by Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of France in an electric car, a Jeantaud.1904: Frenchman Paul Baras reaches 104.52mph in a Darracq on the Ostend- Nieuport road.1906: Record broken by Fred Marriott in a boat-shaped steam car, at Daytona, Florida, with a speed of 121.57mph.1924: Ernest Eldridge snatches the record for Britain, reaching 146.01mph in a 1907 Fiat powered by an aircraft engine on a public road at Arpajon, France. Since wolves are protected animals in France, the expedition needed a special licence - which is where Brigitte Bardot came in.Her foundation for the protection of animals offered a reward of 10,000 francs (pounds 1,282) for the capture of the animal alive As a result, the hunt was not quite united. The shepherds, it is reported, wanted the wolf dead, while some troops dreamt of man-to-wolf combat and seizing the beast alive.All, alas, were to be disappointed as the the wolf stubbornly stayed away.

The arrival of the soldiers had almost as much symbolic as practical value. Twenty years ago, conservationists stopped the expansion of the base in Larzac, a wild highland in the centre of southern France, and it is still a byword for "alternative" lifestyles.On Wednesday, though, a 200-strong posse set out to hunt the wolf. No one has actually seen the wolf, but apocrypha in the villages insist that a policewoman fired at it from 20 yards and missed. Last weekend, the beast struck again, and an expeditionary force was mustered, including troops from the nearby base. An unlikely coterie of crack French troops, huntsmen, shepherds and Brigitte Bardot has come together in pursuit of the "wolf of Larzac", a beast said to have cost farmers 50 lambs since May.

"But now I'm married to an English girl, of course things are different I would like my child to know both cultures.". I have no reason to call them liars."In addition to Mr Botham's action against the Sun article, he has joined Allan Lamb in suing Imran over an "offensive personal attack" on them in India Today magazine, which they say called them racist, uneducated and lacking class and upbringing. Imran, who denies libel, says his words were taken out of context.During his cross-examination by Mr Gray, Imran said he was aware of increased racism in England. "Had I, of course, not married Jemima, and I didn't know her when I held those views, I would always have wanted my children to grow up in Pakistan because children are very sensitive," he said.