20 Daily Express Monday, April 6, 2020
British army’s success in seizing
the Merville Gun Battery
overlooking Sword Beach.
After the war the Duke was
awarded the prestigious
Dickin Medal for being the first
bird to arrive with a message
from enemy lines on D-Day.
Oliver Pepys of auctioneer Dix
Noonan Webb said: “This Dickin
Medal is extremely important – itis the animal equivalent of the
Victoria Cross and very few have
been awarded.
“Consequently, given their
importance, scarcity, and the
British public’s love of animals,
they generally generate a lot of
interest when they do come up
for sale.”
To date, 32 Dickin Medals have
been awarded to homing pigeons.
The medal will be auctioned in
London on April 22.Hard-up councils’ £27m
raid on art treasures as
fresh cash crisis looms
A CAT indulged with
treats is one of the fattest
seen by a rescue centre.
Sootie was taken in by
the charity when her
elderly owner died and
was found to be 1st 8lb
- twice the healthy
weight.
She struggled to clean
herself and is now on a
special diet after arriving
at the charity’s National
Cat Adoption Centre
in Chelwood Gate,
West Sussex.
Centre boss Danielle
Draper said: “Sootie is
one of the largest cats
we’ve had in care here
and we were all quite
shocked to see her.”
She added it was hard
not to give in to pleading
meows for treats – but
Sootie now has a higher
risk of diabetes, arthritis
and heart trouble.
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A GALLANTRY medal awarded
to the homing pigeon who was
first to bring news of the D-Day
landings back to Britain is tipped
to sell for £8,000.
The Duke of Normandy was a
cock pigeon whose owner
volunteered his beloved bird for
the war effort ahead of the Allied
invasion of Normandy.
On June 6, 1944, the Duke
made a 26-hour flight to London
from Normandy with news of the:KDWDFRRdNSLJHRQPHGDO
By James Somper
By News ReporterTOWN hall chiefs have raided
their collections of valuable art
and historic treasures to raise
£27million after a decade of
funding austerity.
Paintings by Picasso and
LS Lowry, Ming vases and
ancient Egyptian treasures are
among 2,280 pieces of pub-
licly-owned exhibits that have
been sold to pay for new librar-
ies and residential care homes.
The sales, uncovered by hun-
dreds of freedom of informa-
tion requests, reveal that rare
paintings, sculptures and
artefacts worth more than
£27million from 70 per cent of
Britain’s 408 councils have
been sold since 2009.
The largest individual sale, by
Northampton Borough Council
in 2014, was an Egyptian lime-
stone statue called Sekhemka,
dating from 2450-2300BC.
It broke the world record for
ancient Egyptian art sold at
auction when it was bought by
a private collector in America
for £15.8million – although
only £7.7million was received
by the council.
The sale saw Northampton
Museum stripped of its ArtsLowry’s
A Market
Place,
Berwick-
upon-
Tweed,
was
sold for
£542,Croydon
Council
received
£2.2million
for the sale
of a Ming
dynasty
moon flaskAncient
Egyptian
statue
Sekhemka
sold for
£15.8mCouncil England accredita-
tion, which can give local
authorities access to funds
for the arts.
Croydon Council, in
south London, was also
stripped of its Arts
Council accreditation
after it sold 24 pieces
of Chinese porcelain,
donated to the council
in 1959.
The sale raised
£8million at auction
in Hong Kong in- A Ming
dynasty moon
flask was the
most expen-
sive item,
going for
£2.2million.
And a
Lowry paint-
ing called A
Market Place,
Berwick-
upon-Tweed,
was sold by
Cambridgeshire
County Council for
£542,250 in 2009.
By Paul Jeeves