For centuries, scholars the world over have argued over the whereabouts of the lost kingdom, ruled over by one of the Greek heroes of the Trojan war.After a two-year odyssey of his own, an amateur British historian claims to have located the mythical land of Ithaca - the island homeland of Homer's legendary Greek hero Odysseus. Now thanks to 21st-century computer technology, space photography and the obsession of a management consultant from Surrey, the riddle may have been solved.

Robert Bittlestone, backed up by two classical experts, believes the island described in the epic poem is now part of the Ionian tourist destination of Cephalonia.

Using satellite imagery and 3D global visualisation techniques developed by Nasa to look for clues, Mr Bittlestone, the chairman of the UK management consultancy Metapraxis, came up with his theory after undertaking field trips in western Greece and using his computer to analyse literary, geological and archaeological data.