Archive

  • Peugeot powers on to 206 triumph

    THE 250,000th Peugeot 206 has rolled off the Ryton production line in Coventry just 18 months after its UK launch, writes David Duffy. All versions of the 206 are built at Ryton including the glass-topped Roland Garros model which is unique to the factory

  • Why I love my new Rover

    Businessman John Penny joined the rush for Rover cars last month and is delighted with his motoring move, writes David Duffy. Mr Penny picked up his gleaming 2.5-litre V6 British Racing Green Rover 75 Club from Kernahan of Witney. He said: "If this is

  • Street cred with the flying Falco

    Ask anyone remotely interested in motorcycles to name an Italian big twin sports bike and they are almost certain to come up with the name Ducati, writes John Gilbride. The Italian manufacturer has a reputation for hi-tech sports bikes which until recently

  • Recent winners

    Congratulations to the winners of our World Super Bike Championship, Donington round, contest: 1. Michelle Johnstone, of Hemel Hempstead 2. K.K.H. Brown, of Stechford, Birmingham 3. Paul Paxford, of Tilehurst, Reading 4. Suffia Maggs, of Thetford, Norfolk

  • Church unveils plans for new school

    Plans for a new Catholic secondary school in Oxford have been unveiled by church authorities. The move, announced by the Archbishop of Birmingham, would see St Augustine RC/CE Upper School close. The Cardinal Newman RC Middle School in Cricket Road, Cowley

  • Rugby Union: De Glanville shows off skills

    Former England captain Phil De Glanville will be giving instruction at a Nike Rugby Skills Course at Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre Oxford on May 22 (6.30-10pm). For further information, contact Oxfordshire's youth development officer Lynn Evans (tel 01865

  • Speedway: Staechmann on Cheetahs duty

    Jan Staechmann makes a welcome return for JT Commercials/Fox Oxford Cheetahs as they take on Poole Pirates in the first leg of the Speedway Star KO Cup at Wimborne Road tonight (7.30pm). The dashing Dane was a victim of team changes during the winter

  • Rugby Union: Skipper axed for Cornish trip

    Skipper Darren Cassidy has lost his place in the Oxfordshire side for their Tetley's Bitter County Championship quarter-final against Cornwall at Redruth this Saturday. Cassidy, who led the side to the top of South Pool 2 with victories over Kent, Dorset

  • A giant man for a giant job

    Sixty years ago this week, Blenheim-born Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister. Peter Unsworth recalls the hero-worship of one of the great leaders of the twentieth century I don't claim to be unique in this respect, but I come from a house where

  • Boffins get a helping hand

    Scientists who want to set up their own companies are being offered a pioneering training scheme over the Internet, writes Maggie Hartford. The six-month Business for Bioscience course, developed by Oxfordshire BioLink and Oxford Brookes University, will

  • Pupil, 15, in court on killing charge

    A 15-year-old Oxfordshire schoolboy, who was charged with unlawfully killing a teenager, has appeared in court for the first time. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with unlawfully killing James Dawson, 16, following an incident

  • Worker who lost finger keeps cash

    Factory worker Martin Casey, who lost a finger in a workplace accident, has been allowed to keep 119,000 in damages after a six-year legal battle, writes Madeleine Pennell. Mr Casey, 46, of Deacon Way, Banbury, fought off an Appeal Court bid by his former

  • BMX park on track

    A BMX park is on track for its grand opening on July 9. Bicester Town Council announced plans for a new BMX and skateboard park, to be built on land next to the paddock at Garth Park, Launton Road, earlier in the year. The BMX park, which will cost a

  • Crews called to spate of crashes

    THE emergency services were kept busy with a spate of minor accidents on the county's roads yesterday. A man in his 80s was taken to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital after being struck by a taxi in Botley Road, Oxford, at 2.45pm. He was not believed to

  • Police arrest four over rape of girl

    Four teenage youths have been arrested after a 14-year-old schoolgirl was raped, writes David Horne. They were questioned by detectives investigating the "shocking" attack on the terrified youngster after she was cornered by a group of five young men.

  • Jury told how head ran abuse campaign

    A former headmaster of a special school for children with behavioural problems used his position of trust to run a campaign of sexual abuse against pupils, a court heard. Dr Alfred Reeves is alleged to have touched, kissed and committed sex acts with

  • Nippy nipper sought after cycle pile-up

    A small cyclist who sped off after knocking down a Sunday School teacher is being sought by police. The child, who wore a grey jersey and rode a dark-coloured bicycle, left Dorothy Holloway, 52, of Wenrisc Drive, Minster Lovell battered and furious. She

  • Inquiry begins into Paddington crash

    A public inquiry into the Paddington rail crash, which claimed 31 lives, was opening in London today. Inquiry Chairman Lord Cullen said everyone should ensure lessons were fully learned from the crash for the sake of those who had suffered. Those injured

  • Football: Jemmo is shown the door

    OXFORD United have released Nigel Jemson, the striker who hit 23 goals in the first season of his first spell with the club, but couldn't find the net in his second. He joins goalkeeper Paul Lundin and midfielder Eddie Newton in heading for the exit door

  • Biking briefs

    Italian job Owners of the Italian-made Cagiva Raptor and Navigator machines will be able to insure the V-twins for annual premiums of 250 in a new scheme announced by UK importer, Three Cross Motorcycles. Annual third-party, fire and theft premiums are

  • It pays to shop around

    CAR prices are coming down in the UK, but it still pays to shop abroad according to a new survey by What Car? magazine, writes David Duffy. The magazine saved 500,000 shopping for 100 best-selling cars in the UK's biggest ever survey of European dealers

  • Motorworld first to open at motor park

    The new Motorworld VW dealership at Oxford Motor Park has opened for business ahead of its official launch at the end of May, writes David Duffy. Situated at the front of the new ten-acre estate facing onto Langford Lane, Kidlington, Motorworld is the

  • Chrysler's family-size pot of gold

    Chrysler's all-conquering Voyager people carrier is the world-beater but the best-seller nearly bit the dust even before it was born, writes David Duffy. Back in the late 1970s, Chrysler was in a cash crisis and Project T-115 came within a whisker of

  • Cowley race against time

    Workers at Cowley face a race against time to produce the new Mini, writes David Duffy. BMW wants to unveil the car to the world's press five months from now and have the car in the showrooms by mid summer 2001. A massive investment put at 350m by industry

  • Parent power hits home

    Education bosses received more than 1,300 protest letters as parents fighting a shake-up of Oxford schools pleaded again: "Don't do it", writes Mark Templeton. The deadline for objections on Oxfordshire County Council's plans to scrap the city's middle

  • Ofsted awards top marks to doomed school

    A school due to be axed under the Oxford schools shake-up has been praised by Government inspectors. Donnington Middle School staff and pupils were given top marks and withdrawn from "special measures" after a further visit from inspectors at Ofsted,

  • Reorganisation group 'don't know what they are doing'

    The people who will decide on the future of Oxford schools do not know what they are doing, a councillor has claimed The Schools Organisation Committee, which meets in July to finalise plans to scrap the city's middle schools, has been accused of failing

  • Football: Danny does it for Hooky

    Substitute Danny Clevely grabbed an extra-time winner to give Hook Norton a fantastic double as they added the Charity Cup to their Oxon Senior League championship with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Adderbury Park. The final finished 1-1 in normal time

  • Football: Groundsman crocked in taxi accident

    Oxford United groundsman Mick Moore is on crutches after a bizarre accident on his way to the Professional Footballers' Association dinner in London earlier this month. He explained: "I was in a taxi with several players and there were too many wanting

  • Athletics: Trio in Lanzarote tester

    Three triathletes from Banbury are to attempt one of the toughest events in their sport, the ninth Lanzarote Ironman. Calvyn Hobday, 32, Rob Strachan, 39, and Danny Halpin, 27- members of Team Cherwell Triathlon and Multi-Sport Club - will be among 800

  • Athletics: Harris burns off rivals

    Gary Harris and Simon Pritchard led the way home in the first race of the Mota-vation Summer Race Series when 170 runners endured a chilly wind at Charlton-on-Otmoor. After the first mile a pack of about seven or eight emerged with Banbury's Pritchard

  • Greyhounds: Results and runners

    Results from the Oxford Stadium meeting on Tuesday, May 9, and runners for Thursday, May 11 RESULTS, MAY 5 BAGS 12.02: 1 EASY DOLLAR 7-2, 2 Hot Charmer 4-1. Win: 0.00c/f. FC: 12.00c/f. Trio: (1x6x3) 6.50c/f. Trainer: Hepden. Time: 28.10. Egans Pride (

  • Review: Easter by Michael Arditti

    There is definitely something magnetic about a behind-the-scenes view of the Church of England, writes Philippa Boston. Although still a great national institution, it has taken so many knocks over the last few years that it has all the pull of a disaster

  • Paperbacks: w/c May 5

    Maggie Hartford offers a selection of good reads in paperback SORE SITES Will Self (Ellipsis, 10) Journalist Will Self has adapted Betjeman's "Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough" and wants to blitz the twee Cotswold village of Broadway, which is

  • Review: Stories to keep the reader guessing

    Jan Lee enjoys three crime novels, each latent with anguish Cotswold crime writer helps solve real-life mystery" is how the gentle but persistent Melissa Craig describes herself in The Man at the Window (Hodder, 16.99). She would like to devote herself

  • Review: Power Into Art by Karl Sabbagh

    Jeannine Alton looks at a book which tells the story of how the Tate's new gallery for modern art has been created in a former power station The ord has become so unmentionable that it's a real pleasure to salute one of the permanent and quite remarkable

  • After a close scrape . . .

    Suffering an injury, then having to endure a long journey into Oxford along the A40, followed by a perhaps even longer wait in the John Radcliffe Hospital's casualty department - it's the stuff of nightmares, writes Penny Studdy. But those living in and

  • Tarzan quits jungle for a personal Eden

    Reg Little talks to Michael Heseltine about his plans for life after politics Michael Heseltine leans back in his chair and contemplates life outside the political jungle. Ten days after announcing his decision to stand down as Henley's MP at the next

  • De Glanville shows off skills

    Former England captain Phil De Glanville will be giving instruction at a Nike Rugby Skills Course at Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre Oxford on May 22 (6.30-10pm). For further information, contact Oxfordshire's youth development officer Lynn Evans (tel 01865

  • Sing-a-long-a Sound of Music

    Here is your chance to burst into song and join in with your favourite numbers from The Sound of Music! The original Julie Andrews film will be screened with all the songs especially subtitled for the occasion, so that everyone can join in. In the spirit

  • Reorganisation group 'don't know what they are doing'

    The people who will decide on the future of Oxford schools do not know what they are doing, a councillor has claimed The Schools Organisation Committee, which meets in July to finalise plans to scrap the city's middle schools, has been accused of failing

  • Rover reaction

    Up in Longbridge, the party apparently started early around 10am yesterday, writes George Frew. That was when the news that the Phoenix Consortium had bought Rover for a tenner and intended transferring production of the Rover 75 from Cowley to the West