A large island long believed to be located in the English Channel a few miles off the county of Hampshire and separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent, does not exist, according to scientists.
Although the island appears on marine charts, world maps and on Google Earth and Google Maps, it's a figment of the imagination, Oxford University's Department of Geography has concluded.
'It's bizarre,' said Professor John Franks. 'We took a ferry from Southampton to examine the island but when we arrived at the location there was nothing there except sea and a rocky outcrop.'
The phantom island has long featured in the popular imagination and was even believed to have Ceefax.