http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/world-cup-winners-will-have-to-qualify-6353543.html
Seems the news was broken 10 and a half years ago, as ever I have my finger on the pulse of world football.
Pretty sure it does.
Not any more. Brazil was the last, I think.
Yeah rule was changed after France went out of Japan/Korea 2002 without scoring a single goal.
Well that's daft. Holders should have the chance to defend their title even more so in the World Cup because they're so infrequent.
Was it Norwich-related? Few links here: http://www.nufc.com/html/where-were-we.html
But there's nowt in the Norwich section, there's a Man City article I remember reading not long back. Otherwise I'm not sure mate, their archives confuse me.