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Britain is facing its coldest winter for five years after temperatures fell to -5C and six inches of snow is set to fall. The Met Office has warned there is the highest risk of a cold start to the winter since the bitter season of 2010/11. The usual probability of a colder than average start to winter is 20 per cent, but it stands at 30 per cent this year. A key reason for colder temperatures are the 'disturbed' polar vortex Arctic winds affecting the Atlantic jet stream (bottom right). And the La Nina atmospheric phenomenon, the opposite of El Nino, is bringing lower temperatures in the tropics. Forecasters said 6in (15cm) could fall above 1,000ft in northern England and Scotland, and 3in (8cm) above 650ft. Pictured: Mountaineer Alan Hinkes braves the conditions on Swirrell Edge in the Lake District (main image) and a motorist travels along the snow-lined B6277 near Garrigill in Cumbria today (top right).

Paul Chambers, originally from Lincolnshire and who used to specialise in building military flight simulators, was inspired to create the unique house because his wife, Sarah (pictured bottom right in the kitchen) did not enjoy living near noisy neighbours. The DIY house is situated 62 miles from civilisation in the nearest city, Newcastle, and includes a cosy living room (bottom left) and a wood burner made from a Chubb safe. In their new home they are truly at one with nature, and all sorts of wildlife can often be seen hanging around on their premises. He said: 'The early years were a major test, I doubted Sarah would want to stay in the Bush, but it has turned out to be her natural environment.'

The day before the election and the presidential race is on a knife edge. Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in most four-way polls by three or four points, according to data published Monday. That includes the CBS News and the ABC News/Washington Post polls, where she is ahead in both by 47 points to Trump's 43. Other surveys lean towards a Republican victory. The LA Times tracking poll, which has tended to show Trump at an advantage when other polls gave Clinton the lead, presently has the billionaire at 48 points to the Democrat's 43. The IBD/TIPP four-way tracking survey similarly shows Trump ahead, at 43 points to Clinton's 41. That's outside the margin of error for both surveys. A Bloomberg poll however has Clinton three points ahead, at 46 to 43, but within its error margin. Clinton was given an eleventh-hour reprieve on Sunday when the FBI said it had not found any evidence to change its July verdict of no charges for her use of a private email server while secretary of state. The polls were largely completed before the announcement.

Outrageous footage has emerged of a huge group of cyclists causing chaos on a busy London street when all decide to run a red light. Cars begin trying to turn out onto the road from a side street, but are unable to do so because of the group. As the light turns green for the main road again, more cars start pulling away, but find their path blocked by the vehicles that had just been trying to turn onto the road. To make matters worse, the group still does not stop and continues to weave in between the motorists as they collectively try to restore some sort of order to the traffic flow.

Coupon queen Kerenza Richards, from Somerset, has already bought all her gifts, ready to put under the Christmas tree - and she managed to bag £400 worth of goodies for just £6. Frugal mother-of-two Kerenza, from Highbridge, has spent the past year building up her Christmas haul - and by using online voucher codes, special offers and competitions, she has saved hundreds of pounds. Kerenza got Furbys worth £100 each for £2, Lego worth £89.99 for £2.23 and Ninja Turtles Toys worth £69.99 for free (all main picture) while paying next to nothing for lots of other items like cleaning products and food (bottom right) The only thing Kerenza still needs to buy is her Christmas dinner, but she's confident that she'll be able to feed five adults and three children for free - even though a typical festive food shop would normally cost her around £200. Ms Richards, 27, said: 'Christmas can be really expensive, especially when you've got children as well, but if you use coupons it can cost you next to nothing'.

The astonishing TV which showed marine iguanas attempting to outrun a knot of racer snakes on Fernandina Island was labelled 'the stuff of nightmares' by viewers as they hid behind the sofa. Hatchlings could be seen emerging from the sand of the Galápagos island in the Pacific Ocean in June for what is the snakes' best feeding opportunity of the year. The footage on BBC1 showed some iguanas outrun the snakes to safety by the sea while others were caught before the snakes wrapped themselves around them. When the crew saw the snakes for the first time, they were too shocked to film - and host Sir David Attenborough had never seen anything like it either, it was claimed. Among the millions of viewers captivated by the footage shown at 8pm last night was Olympic rower Will Satch, who described it as a 'real life horror film'.

The girl was left badly injured following the attack which she claims happened at one of jockey's homes in Chiseldon, Swindon. Brendan Powell Jnr, 21, Sean Mooney (bottom right) and Richard Condon (top right), both 20, were arrested and bailed until December. Powell Jnr returned to racing today at Kempton (pictured left and centre) in Surrey, where he finished third in the 1pm hurdles. The trio are said to have been at a party when the alleged attack took place. Powell Jnr's family is well-known in racing as he is the son of a Grand National winner and top trainer, Brendan Powell Snr.

Campbell (right inset) was killed, aged 45, on Coniston Water in Cumbria in January 1967 when his Bluebird K7 (top right) flipped over while traveling at speeds of more than 300mph (left inset). In 2001, engineer Bill Smith (left and bottom right) raised the craft from the deep waters and he has been trying to rebuild it ever since. Now, he is set to bring it back to life this week in what is an incredible achievement.

Liam and Dannie Roberts (pictured), from Wythenshawe,Greater Manchester, say they are still suffering with severe gastric illness four months after their stay at the five-star Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort in Cancun, Mexico (inset). They travelled with tour operator Thomas Cook in July but said their romantic two week getaway turned into a living nightmare when they were struck down with a nasty parasitic infection and salmonella. The couple were devastated when they both fell ill with abdominal pain, sickness and diarrhoea. After continuing to suffer symptoms when they returned home, the newlyweds visited their GPs, where Mr Roberts, 26, was diagnosed with parasitic infectioncyclospora and Mrs Robers, 23, with salmonella.

Amateur photographer Keith Jones has blended images of the height of Beatlemania in Liverpool with pictures of the city today to create a fascinating look at how things have changed over the past 50 years. The images include shots of the Fab Four outside the iconic Cavern Club (top right) and posing in Derby Square (bottom left). Other shots show fans lining up to see the band perform (top left) and how parts of the city such as Ranelagh Place (bottom right) seem to have remained the same despite the time gap.

A giant tornado in Italy has left two people dead in the latest nature disaster to hit the country. The whirlwind uprooted trees, overturned cars and damaged buildings when it lashed Ladispoli on the coast north of Rome. An Indian national, identified in media reports as farmer Surinder Singh, died after being struck by a piece of masonry blown off the edge of an apartment building. The other victim was a pensioner who was hit by a falling tree in the small town of Cesano, north of the capital.

A hard-hitting video (pictured) has been launched, in which men dressed as ISIS fighters give some of the reasons they ended up as jihadists, including having no friends and being unsuccessful with women. In one scene a dressed as an ISIS fighter says simply 'If only someone had stopped me' (inset). The video has been released in the run-up to a conference in Tunis, the largest ever gathering of charities dedicated towards stopping young people becoming radicalised and joining extremist groups like ISIS, or Daesh, as they refer to themselves.