Researchers claim to have located the long-lost remains of King Alfred the Great beneath a car park in Winchester, Hampshire, where the ninth-century monarch died and was buried, but say the University of Winchester is obstructing their attempt to excavate them. The find, attributed to a 13-year search by author and historical researcher Graham Phillips, matters because Alfred is one of England's most celebrated early kings and his grave has never been definitively identified, echoing the 2012 discovery of Richard III under a Leicester car park.

According to Matt Everett of Dragonfly Films, the production company behind the revelations, evidence was presented to the university's archaeology team but the excavation bid was shut down, with academics reportedly saying it "leads to a dead end". Everett said the university did not properly examine the material he supplied and could have sent students to scan the ground for anomalies with minimal effort or damage. The reported discovery has been given added resonance by its timing, coming days before England's World Cup quarter-final against Norway, one of the ancestral homelands of the Vikings whom Alfred famously fought.