Other scientists are honoured for work in biotechnology and gene research

Other scientists are honoured for work in biotechnology and gene research.John Sulston, a genome researcher who lists among his interests “avoiding people” but is described by Downing Street as “a scientific and moral leader”, is knighted.The director of the Roslin Institute, which cloned Dolly the sheep, is honoured for “services to animal genetics”. Professor Grahame Bulfield is appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, as is John Bridgeman, former head of the Office of Fair Trading, for investigating companies on behalf of consumers.. For the woman who adores perfume and is not terribly superstitious, news has arrived of what must be one of the cosmetics industry’s most bizarre offerings – a Titanic fragrance based on essences discovered in 80 phials that sank with the vessel 88 years ago. For the woman who adores perfume and is not terribly superstitious, news has arrived of what must be one of the cosmetics industry’s most bizarre offerings – a Titanic fragrance based on essences discovered in 80 phials that sank with the vessel 88 years ago.
The essences, manufactured in Britain, would have been marketed in America in 1912 if Adolphe Saafeld, the Manchester salesman who carried them in his first-class compartment, had survived the Atlantic crossing.Now the American salvage company RMS Titanic, which has exclusive rights on the vessel and discovered the phials, will try again on his behalf.

“It’s the smell of that perfume which really captures the Titanic for me,” said Graham Jessop, the wreck recovery manager. “Seeing her through the porthole of a sub is a bit like seeing it on television but experiencing that smell brings it all home.”Despite lying two and a half miles beneath the waves for the best part of a century, the perfumes have preserved their attraction, insists the company.Mr Jessop, a Yorkshireman who lives in France, where 5,000 salvaged Titanic artefacts are conserved, said the perfume would also “bring Mr Saafeld back to life again”. The salesman’s granddaughter was “thrilled and delighted” by the idea, said the firm’s historic adviser, Denis Cochrane.The phials of pure perfume extracts were “still intact apart from one, and the name of the manufacturer was still on them”, added Mr Jessop.If the market in Titanic memorabilia is anything to goby, Mr Jessop may be on a winner. Handwritten Titanic menus are valued at £2,000 to £3,000.The remaining contents of the vessel, which sank on its maiden voyage, are spilt between her broken bow and stern sections. Salvage teams want to retrieve them all by 2012 in time for an exhibition to mark the centenary..

Snow is likely to return to many parts of Britain tomorrow, making New Year’s Eve travel doubly difficult and Hogmanay in Scotland an Arctic evening, the Met Office predicted last night. Snow is likely to return to many parts of Britain tomorrow, making New Year’s Eve travel doubly difficult and Hogmanay in Scotland an Arctic evening, the Met Office predicted last night.
Although the present cold spell is likely to end on Monday, rain associated with a depression coming in from the Atlantic is likely to turn to snow in the north and west as the weather system moves over Britain in the next 48 hours, forecasters said.The only snow expected today is likely to fall as showers in coastal areas, but freezing temperatures will continue over the weekend, and were last night expected to drop to more than ten degrees below zero in many places. Roads across the country are expected to be as dangerous as yesterday, when the AA recorded its busiest day of the year, with about 3,000 call-outs an hour.An AA spokesman said last night: “Conditions have been hellish to drive in, especially in the North East, Cumbria and parts of Scotland People have been hit hard. Traffic increased with people going away for the New Year, shoppers going to the sales and others going back to work. We have dealt with thousands of flat batteries and engines frozen like blocks.” He said the company had put on 700 extra patrols to deal with the emergency calls, and warned that things could be even worse on Tuesday when millions of people return to work.”We would urge motorists to take the car out for a half-hour spin before Tuesday morning.