A battered flag which survived Scott of the Antarctic's doomed journey to the South Pole may have been saved for the nation after the Government blocked its export to the United States.
The flag went with Captain Robert Scott and Gestingthorpe explorer Captain Lawrence Oates on the race to the South Pole in 1912.
Scott and Oates -- who lived at Gestingthorpe Hall -- both perished but the flag survived. It was bought by an American last year for £35,287.
But arts minister Alan Howarth on Wednesday said it was part of England's "patriotic national heritage" and slapped a temporary ban on its export.
Museums and public donors now have three months to raise around £100,000 to save the piece of memorabilia.
He said Scott's flag and another belonging to Sir Ernest Shackleton should stay in the country.
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