Teapot prompts journey

A broken teapot led a former US Marine to strike up an unusual long-distance relationship with a British school - culminating in a 7,000-mile journey to visit it.

Gregory Pischea, a retired teacher, first heard of Flying Bull Primary School in Portsmouth, Hants, after a teapot he ordered over the internet arrived - broken - and wrapped in a copy of the local newspaper The Portsmouth News.

Intrigued by the newspaper, Mr Pischea, 56, from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, read a small article about a vandalism attack on the school's minibus, felt moved to help and sent a 20-dollar (£11) donation.