Chris Chataway beat Vladimir Kuts in the last few seconds of a magnificent race

England have

Chris Chataway, the 23-year-old Oxford blue, has broken the 5,000 metres world record by five seconds in what has been described as one of the most remarkable races seen on a British track.

He beat European champion Vladimir Kuts after a nail-biting finish in the London v Moscow match at White City athletics stadium in West London.

His time was recorded as 13 mins 15.6 secs.

Kuts led the race nearly all the way but despite the furious pace Chataway stuck to him like a limpet, never more that a metre behind.

The first mile was covered in just 4 mins 24.4 secs, after which Kuts put in an extra burst of energy to get away from the other runners. But he couldn't shake off the Briton.

Seven weeks ago the two competed in the 5,000m in Berne at the European Championship. The Russian had won but Chataway had learned his tactics.

An ecstatic crowd, numbering around 40,000 and chanting "Chat-a-way", was joined by millions of TV viewers watching live via a Eurovision satellite link-up.

Kuts finished the second mile in 8min 54.6sec as the tension mounted.

Then Chataway drew on his reserves of strength to beat the Russian in the last few strides.

Overall Moscow won the athletics match by a long margin - 103 points to 56 - but the event will no doubt be best remembered for this dramatic duel. 

The book sold 400,000 copies in the US last year

Law Lords ruled the media can publish extracts from former MI5 officer Peter Wright's memoirs, because any damage to national security has already been done by its publication abroad.

But they agreed Mr Wright's book had indeed constituted a serious breach of confidentiality, the principle at the heart of the government's case against him for the last three years.

Despite the defeat Home Secretary Douglas Hurd claimed the ruling "vindicated" the government's attempts to preserve the life-long "duty of confidentiality".

However, Shadow Home Secretary Roy Hattersley, said the ruling now made the Government's position "demonstrably absurd."

He said in using the legal system the government had behaved in a "scandalous way when it must have known it would lose in the end".

These were genuine matters of public importance that the public should be allowed to know about.

Mr Wright was condemned by the Law Lords as a traitor for disclosing security service secrets, but his lawyer, Malcolm Turnball, said their criticism of his client was unjudicial and "reeked of bad losing".

He argued allegations about confidentiality had already failed to convince an Australian court in an earlier attempt by the British government to prevent publication of his client's book.

Mr Wright was apparently ill, and unable to comment on today's verdict.

With the ruling, injunctions imposed against The Observer, The Guardian and The Sunday Times have been lifted. Outside the court Donald Trelford, editor of The Observer celebrated:

"At long last our democratic system has reached the obvious conclusion that these were genuine matters of public importance that the public should be allowed to know about."

Spycatcher is already an international bestseller with nearly two million copies sold.

In his memoirs as an MI5 officer Mr Wright alleges the security service operated beyond the law.

Some of his more controversial revelations include the claim that Prime Minister Harold Wilson was the target of an MI5 conspiracy and that ex-chief of MI5, Roger Hollis, was a Soviet mole in the 1960s.

ecstatic: remove from a position or office（狂喜的，入迷的）

vindicate:full of high-spirited delight（辯護(hù)；維護(hù)）