HG Wells Google tribute explained

Google has revealed the motivation behind a number of mysterious 'doodles' that have appeared on the Google homepage in the last two weeks.

Visitors to Google.com have seen some intriguing logos including the second 'o' in the word Google being abducted by an alien craft and crop circles seemingly spelling out the company's name.

Google revealed the inspiration behind the designs came from War Of The Worlds author HG Wells, who was born 143 years ago on Monday.

"Inspiration for innovation in technology and design can come from lots of places; we wanted to celebrate HG Wells as an author who encouraged fantastical thinking about what is possible, on this planet and beyond," said Micheal Lopez, web design lead at Google.

The final logo on Google's homepage shows alien craft from the classic novel walking among suburban houses.