From wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs to those who are less mobile, there is a walk for everyone along the River Thames thanks to 12 new specially designed routes. Click here for details

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THE whale which hit the headlines around the world when it was stranded in the River Thames in London earlier this year was suffering from a painful form of arthritis, scientists say.
The six-year-old female northern bottlenose whale had pitting on her atlas vertebra, which joins the spine to the skull, said Richard Sabin, from London's  Natural History Museum, who has been studying the animal's remains.

“It's a degenerative joint disease which in humans is called arthritis. It could have caused her considerable pain.”

Sabin, the museum's mammals curator, added: “Deep-diving whales put their skeletons through lots of punishment.”

A post-mortem examination carried out on the 5.85m-long, four-tonne animal in January found it died from severe dehydration while trying to head westwards back to its north Atlantic ocean feeding grounds.

It had not been able to feed for three days after swimming up the shallow river and was also suffering from muscle damage and reduced kidney function.

The whale's unlikely journey and failed rescue generated round-the-clock live as well as massive public interest.

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The Thames is absurdly underused, says the director of a festival celebrating London's 'greatest natural asset'.

A northern bottlenose whale that swam into the River Thames in January before dying had a bone disease similar to human arthritis, scientists said Monday.

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This is the dramatic moment a man was rescued from the Thames after plunging into the water with his bicycle.