Gold watch recovered from body of richest man on the Titanic sells for £1.2m
A gold pocket watch that was recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic has been sold for a record-breaking £1.175 million.
The watch was sold to a private collector in the US at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, for the highest amount ever for Titanic memorabilia, the auctioneers said.
The timepiece was expected to fetch between £100,000 and £150,000.
Its original owner, John Jacob Astor, 47, went down with the ship on 15 April 1912 after helping his wife on to a lifeboat.
Rather than try his luck with another lifeboat, the impeccably dressed businessman, a prominent member of the wealthy Astor family, was last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with a fellow passenger.
His body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean seven days after the sinking of the ship, which hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York, and his 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with the initials JJA, was found.
Mr Astor was thought to be one of the richest people in the world at the time of the Titanic‘s sinking, with a net worth of about $87m – equivalent to several billion dollars today, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.
“At first, Astor did not believe the ship was in any serious danger but later it was apparent she was sinking and the captain had started an evacuation after midnight, so he helped his wife into lifeboat four,” Mr Aldridge said.
Mrs Astor survived. Her husband’s body was recovered not far from the sinking.
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The watch was passed by Mr Astor’s son Vincent to the son of his father’s executive secretary, William Dobbyn.
The previous highest price paid for Titanic artefacts was £1.1 million at the same auction house in 2013 for a violin that was played as the ship sank.
The case for the violin was sold in the same auction as the pocket watch at Henry Aldridge & Son for £360,000.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said that the prices fetched by the Titanic memorabilia at the sale were “absolutely incredible”.
The Titanic leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage. Pic: AP
He said: “They reflect not only the importance of the artefacts themselves and their rarity, but they also show the enduring appeal and fascination with the Titanic story.
“112 years later, we are still talking about the ship and the passengers and the crew.
“The thing with the Titanic story, it’s effectively a large ship hits an iceberg with a tragic loss of life, but more importantly is 2,200 stories.
“2,200 subplots, every man, woman and child had a story to tell and then the memorabilia tells those stories today.”
Skies over the UK were turned shades of pink and green as the Northern Lights produced incredible displays for skygazers.
The impressive Aurora Borealis, usually only visible from northern parts of the British Isles, was visible across large parts of the UK overnight, including Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and, unusually, southern England.
The display was triggered after America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its first severe solar storm warning since 2005 yesterday as a huge geomagnetic storm raced towards Earth.
The NOAA said the G5 geomagnetic storm, which is considered extreme and is the strongest level of geomagnetic storm, hit Earth on Thursday and brought with it the risk of affecting communications, GPS and power grids.
Aurora displays occur when charged particles collide with gases in the Earth’s atmosphere around the magnetic poles.
The incredible display was also spotted across the northern US, Canada, Ireland and Northern Europe.
Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “It is hard to fully predict what will happen in the Earth’s atmosphere, but there will still be enhanced solar activity tonight, so the lights could be visible again in northern parts of the UK, including Scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of England.”
Here are some of the best pictures overnight from across the UK
St Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay. Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
Northwood, northwest London
Salisbury. Pic: Elena Toms
Great Malvern. Pic: Callum Welfare
Scotland. Pic: Sarah Mills
Bournemouth. Pic: Jamie Trowbridge
West London. Pic: Julia Toms
Kirtlington Quarry, Oxfordshire. Pic: Ollie Cavey
Watford. Pic: Tom Carroll
Near Hardy’s Monument, Dorchester, Dorset. Pic: Sam Williams
Somerton, north Oxfordshire
High Wycombe
High Wycombe
Watford
Windsor
And, here are some pictures of the display last night from across the world
Near Kroschel, Minnesota, US. Pic: AP
Above the village of Daillens, Switzerland. Pic: AP
Schierke, northern Germany. Pic: AP
Over a farmhouse in Brunswick, Maine, US. Pic: AP
Over lake near Szczytno, Poland. Pic: Reuters
A police officer has been shot in the leg with a crossbow during an incident in High Wycombe.
Police say the incident took place as the officer was responding to reports of a man in his 60s suffering a stab wound in the Buckinghamshire town.
A 54-year-old man, from High Wycombe, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Thames Valley Police say he has been taken to hospital under police supervision with potentially life-changing injuries after he was shot by an armed police officer.
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Metcalfe said: “Police officers attended and one was shot in the leg with a crossbow. He was taken to hospital but has since been discharged.
“Our thoughts are with the injured officer and we are doing everything to support him and his colleagues, as well as all others affected by the incident within the force.
“The assault victim has also been taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries. Our thoughts are with him as well.”
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Northern Lights visible in England and Wales
He continued: “We are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident at this time.
“There is a large police presence in the area as a result but there is no ongoing threat to the wider public. Anyone with concerns should speak to a uniformed police officer.”
The force has made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct over the incident.
No deportation flights to Rwanda will take off under a Labour government, Sir Keir Starmer has told Sky News.
The Labour leader told Sky News political editor Beth Rigby “there’ll be no flights” as he wants to “scrap the scheme”, which aims to send asylum seekers entering the UK illegally from a safe country, such as France, to Rwanda.
Earlier in the day Sir Keir confirmed Labour wanted to get rid of the Conservatives’ flagship scheme to reduce illegal immigration but a party spokesman said they would not stop flights already planned.
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But Sir Keir told Sky News: “There’ll be no flights. I want to scrap the scheme so that means the flights won’t be going.
“There will be no flights scheduled or taking off after the general election if Labour wins that general election.
“No flights, no Rwanda scheme, it’s a gimmick, it’s very expensive, it won’t work.”
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Migrants arrive in Dover
Sir Keir earlier announced his plan to tackle small boat crossings, which also included a new Border Security Command with “hundreds of specialist investigators”, new counter-terrorism powers to target people smugglers, hopes for a new Europol partnership and a rules-based asylum system.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Sir Keir’s plan “rank hypocrisy” and said everything the Labour leader announced today “are all things that we’re already doing”.
“Punching through the backlog, having more law enforcement officers do more, that’s all happening already,” he said.
“We’ve announced all of that more than a year ago. The question for Keir Starmer if he cares so much about that, why did he vote against the new laws that we passed to give our law enforcement officers new powers?
“They’ve now used those to arrest almost 8,000 people connected with illegal migration, sentenced them to hundreds of years in prison.
“And if it was up to him, all those people would be out on our streets so I think it’s rank hypocrisy of his position.”
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Sir Keir revealed Labour’s plan at a speech in Dover alongside his newest MP, Natalie Elphicke, who defected from the Conservatives.
Her defection has been met with outrage by some Labour MPs as she was seen to be on the right of the Tory Party, especially with her views on immigration.
She also faced criticism for supporting her ex-husband, former Dover MP Charlie Elphicke, after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two women. She has now apologised for supporting him.
Sir Keir said accepting Mrs Elphicke into the party shows it has changed and shows how the Conservatives are “no longer the party that can take our country forward”.
Sir Keir said Natalie Elphicke’s defection shows the Tories are no longer the party to govern. Pic: PA
Asked if he was ruthless, he said: “Yes, I’m ruthless in trying to ensure we have a Labour government who can change this country for the better.
“Not ruthless for my own ambition, not ruthlessness particularly for the Labour Party.
“I’m ruthless for the country.”
He added that the only way to bring about change in the UK is “if we’re ruthless about winning the general election and putting in place a government of public service”.
The latest polling, carried out by Survation and published on 9 May, has Labour winning the next general election with a landslide victory of 486 seats – 45% of the vote, with the Tories 19 points behind on 26%.
Taking an average of the most recent polls from each major pollster, Labour is set to win with 43.5% of the vote, with the Tories taking 23.5% and the Liberal Democrats 9.7%.
Sir Keir said he does not know if he can win a majority but he hopes so.
In May 2023 he ruled out any sort of deal with the SNP if he did not win a majority but would not rule out a deal with the Liberal Democrats.
On Friday he said: “I’m ruling out any sort of deal with the SNP before or after the election.
“Am I going for a majority Labour government? Yes, I am.
“That depends on whether we can earn the trust and confidence of voters across the country.”
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When pushed on whether he would do a deal with the Lib Dems, he again refused to rule it out, saying: “I’m going for a majority.
“That’s the answer I gave you two years, a year ago, it’s the same answer I gave you then.”
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