Hirst’s historic Chalford home flooded

Damien Hirst, the artist known for preserving sharks and cows in giant fishtanks, found himself in a pickle yesterday when he became the highest-profile victim of the latest Gloucestershire floods. Chalford Place, the 14th-century house being renovated by Hirst, was deluged with floodwater when the Thames and Severn canal burst its banks at Chalford, near Stroud. Hirst's builders spent the day trying to redirect the water using sandbags. They then stepped into help save the historic Roundhouse building nearby.

Meanwhile Hirst's £50m diamond skull is to go on show at the Hermitage museum in St Petersburg in March. The UK's richest artist, Hirst is part of an investment group that bought For the Love of God in August and originally planned to resell it. But after hedge fund managers and other art collectors lost money in the credit markets, the group has meanwhile decided to send the skull, studded with 8,601 diamonds and weighing 1,106.18 carats, on a tour of the world's best museums.