Oxford United drew 3-3 with Wycombe Wanderers in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Wycombe’s training ground on Wednesday. Franny Green, Matt Green and Jamie Cook got the goals, as United fielded other fringe players such as Billy Turley, Adam Chapman
HARWELL scientists had to keep their Champagne on ice for another day after a planned NASA rocket launch failed to take off today. British experts working at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory had a key role in the Solar Dynamics Observatory
POLICE are investigating claims by an Israeli politician he suffered anti-Semitic abuse, while a pro-Palestinian demonstrator was injured in a collision with a ministerial car. Protesters and members of the Oxford Union heckled Israeli deputy
The Met Office this evening issued a weather warning for Oxfordshire overnight. The alert said that there was a moderate risk of severe weather occurring during this evening. The warning said that following today's snow showers, there
Red Bull boss Christian Horner expects more big manufacturing names to leave Formula One unless there are rule changes. The 36-year-old was speaking at the launch of the Milton Keynes-based team's new RB6 car, which has a Renault engine believed
A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of burglary. This arrest is in relation to two burglaries on January 15 and February 1, at MGJ Jewellers in St Martin’s Street, Wallingford. The man has been released on police bail until
THE human brain can only cope with about 150 friends – despite Facebook and other social network Internet sites offering you the chance to make thousands. That’s the verdict of Prof Robin Dunbar, head of Oxford’s Institute of Social and Cultural
Police are appealing for witnesses after a man exposed himself in Bretch Hill, Banbury, today. At 11.55am, a 44-year-old woman was walking through Princess Diana Park. As she neared the Prescott Close entrance, a man exposed himself,
Police this evening appealing for information after a house was burgled in Faringdon between 9.30am and 1.30pm on Monday. The burglars forced open a rear window at the property in Stanford Road and stole jewellery. At about 11.50am on the same
Mothers and toddlers showed it is never too early to get started on a spring clean – particularly when it comes to tidying up a city. The Roundabout Children’s Centre in Barton, Oxford, is one of the latest groups to register for the 2010 OxClean
A MAN accused of 12 sex offences against children was “only checking a girl’s temperature” during one of the alleged incidents, a court heard today. Jurors at Oxford Crown Court were told Edward Wakelin, 35, of Humfrey Road, Barton, touched
It’s a good job Green councillor Chip Sherwood doesn’t get paid by the word. ‘Silent’ Sherwood, who is hardly renowned for his verbal contributions to council meetings, was the subject of cross-party trash talking at this week’s crucial County Hall budget
DIDCOT’S only day centre is to increase the number of people it caters for each week in a bid to cope with rising numbers of dementia sufferers. Didcot Day Centre, in Britwell Road, which is run by Oxfordshire County Council, already has a three-month
BMW is offering Swindon workers £10,000 to move to Oxford. The company is axing 100 employees from its Swindon plant, where door panels for the Mini are built, by the end of the year. The manufacturer is offering any workers who are
IT WOULDN'T be a venue that springs to most people’s mind when they think of a romantic dinner with their partner. But couples in Wallingford are being invited to a Valentine’s Day candlelit dinner in a church. The newly refurbished
Charlie Longsdon is hoping a soft palate operation has done the trick for Songe ahead of the totesport Trophy Hurdle at Newbury on Saturday. Longsdon, who trains at Hull Farm stables, near Chipping Norton, decided to take the course of action after the
“IF anyone can make it happen, I believe we can...” That is the pledge from the Crown Estate, which has taken control of the city’s Westgate Shopping Centre. The organisation has promised to create a high-quality shopping centre once
A DECISION not to give an Oxford University academic a reference was “highly surprising”, an employment tribunal was told today. Dr Cecile Deer, pictured, has launched a claim of victimisation by sexual discrimination against Professor Geoffrey
MUM-OF-TWO Amanda Elliott is getting in shape for the OX5 Run after both her young sons were treated at Oxford Children’s Hospital. Mrs Elliott, 37, made several visits to the hospital on the John Radcliffe site in Headington last year for treatment
I DO wish John Tanner would get his facts right. In his letter (Oxford Mail, February 5) he states “the Tories plan an above inflation increase in council tax of 2.75 per cent”. However, the Government’s latest preferred measure of inflation, CPI, was
THANK you for printing my recent letter about Temple Cowley pools. I write now in response to Bob Timbs’ comments on the proposed closure of the pool (Swimmers seek pool’s reprieve, Oxford Mail, February 5). His comments are horrifying! What has happened
DID I really read (Oxford Mail, January 27) Chris Halford’s pathetic eulogy to the good old USA? Does he know nothing of the history of Haiti, and how the USA strangled the island economically? In 1979 the USA imposed the Caribbean Basin Initiative,
I THINK the police should keep their old-style uniform and helmets for parades and ceremonies. The Fire Service replaced their uniforms for black shirts and combat-type trousers, yet when seen at the Armistice parade, the uniform leaves a bit to be desired
TWENTY years ago, my dad, Frank Harold Buggins, originally of Wootton, near Woodstock, and now living in Witney, wrote a small book of memoirs of his time in the Second World War. He served in 17 Field Regiment 78th Division. The book
I WAS pleased to read that the future of the Royal British Legion Club in Marston is now secure, thanks to a loan from a benefactor. What I would like to know, however, is why a tax bill was allowed to spiral to £54,225 in the first place? I read that
I live on the edge of the Eastern Bypass, which my dog-walker friends call ‘muck alley’. It is bad enough on the cycle track/footpath side of the road, but the other side is even worse. Everyone seems to drop their rubbish while stopped at the traffic
Oxford Harlequins will host rivals Chinnor Oxfordshire Cup if they can win through to the semi-finals. Quins must defeat Grove on Sunday and then Henley 2nd in the quarter-finals, but the cup holders will be clear favourites to set up a pulsating clash
Oxford's veterans proved no match for an Oxford University under 21 side in the city club’s centenary fixture. The teams, who are pictured together at the Southern Bypass ground, did, however, manage to produce an entertaining spectacle. Oxford RFC
Oxford Blues Alex Cheesman and Ian Kench made their Sale Sharks debuts in the 40-7 LV Anglo-Welsh Cup defeat to Bath on Saturday. Kench, who has now completed his studies at Oxford, replaced Dean Schofield at lock, while Cheesman came on for Jordan Davies
The Oxfordshire-based Bootleggers produced an impressive display in the Capetown Tens. Bootleggers, who are managed by Oxon referee Anthony Swift and were coached by Oxford University director of rugby Steve Hill, were pipped at the quarter-final stage
Alchester coach Chris Kimber hailed his players’ efforts for reaching the Southern Counties Senior Vase final. The Oxfordshire club, who are in their first season of league rugby, will host Drifters in the final on February 27 after a superb 20-8 victory
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Sean Cunningham (Oxford Brookes) scored a try and was red-carded as Oxfordshire defeated Berkshire 28-0 in South West Region A of the National Under 20 Championship. Nick Gardner (Oxford Harlequins) and Kevin O’Connor (Oxford Brookes) also crossed the
The Pegasus Theatre and I go back a long way. When I first reviewed there in 1973, it was still called the Oxford Youth Theatre and I was not very far from being a youth myself. I would never have dreamed of calling myself one, of course. Outside of courts
FORMER Headington Roadrunner Mara Yamauchi was more than satisfied after finishing sixth in her comeback race in Japan on Sunday. Yamauchi, who was forced to sit out the World Championships in Berlin last summer with a foot injury, clocked 1hr 10mins
Pat Read, of Headington Road Runners, completed a remarkable achievement by running his 100th Oxford Mail cross country league race at Cirencester, finishing in 222nd position. He is the first Headington athlete to reach his century. Read made his
Novelist Somerset Maugham is reputed to have said that the only way to eat well in England is to have breakfast three times a day. I am not sure I could go that far, but one excellent ‘full English’ cooked from local ingredients by a Michelin-starred
Darrell Bellinger has the destiny of the 2010 overall and senior men’s titles in his own hands after producing a dominant display in the penultimate round of the Oxford Mail Cross Country League at Cirencester Park. The Oxford City ace will go into the
You don’t have to spend a fortune when serving up a St Valentine breakfast, but as love can be expressed through the gift of food, it’s worth seeking out fresh local ingredients and making a bit of an effort to get it right. This recipe is a very
Oxford City’s combined under 15/17 girls’ team now lead the standings by a massive 117 points going into next month’s final round of the Oxford Mail Cross Country League. Lauren Hawtin led the way at Cirencester, winning in 11.31 – 16 seconds clear of
Four new captains got in the swing during their drive-in ceremonies at Hadden Hill. Men’s captain John Robinson, Mary Green (ladies), Athar Chaudhry (Hadden Old Golfers Society) and Jordan Williams (juniors) all drove in for their years of office. The
MOTHERS and toddlers showed it is never too early to get started on a spring clean – particularly when it comes to tidying up a city. The Roundabout Children’s Centre in Barton, Oxford, is one of the latest groups to register for the 2010 OxClean Spring
A funeral service for Harry Jones (pictured), a former president of the Oxford Bar Billiards Association, will take place at Oxford Crematorium on Friday (10.30am). Mr Jones, 80, of Balfour Road, Blackbird Leys, died at home on Sunday, January
A BUILDING which has been boarded up for seven years could soon be demolished to make way for housing. Marywood House, a former home for people with learning disabilities in Wood Farm, Oxford, has been empty since Oxfordshire County Council
Oxford City Stars were saved by the crossbar as they beat Chelmsford Chieftains 3-2 in their English National League Division 1 South clash. Going into the match a place behind the Essex outfit, Stars stunned the home crowd when Alan Green made the most
Simon Ellam starred with a score of 16,710 as leaders Comrades Club won 5-0 at home to Headington Conservative Club in Section 2, writes PETE EWINS. Dave Barnes (5,660), Barry Orton (2,620) Chris Alexander (4,440) and Adam Thorn (9,110) completed the
SCHOOLCHILDREN designed and built their ideal ‘city’ after studying their homes in Rose Hill and Iffley. Pupils from Rose Hill Primary School got to grips with printing using polystyrene for the three-week project with Modern Art Oxford and
Garsington Sports A thrashed nearest rivals Yellows 6-0 to claim the Gladiator Beer Seller Wednesday Night League title – with two weeks to spare. Phil Wilkins led the way for Garsington with a hat-trick of fives in his 15-doll haul, while Steve Greenough
HOMELESS people in Oxford are set to enjoy hot, freshly-cooked meals from hotel chefs. Staff at the Holiday Inn, at the Pear Tree interchange, will create stews, soups and other dishes for people using the Porch Steppin’ Stone centre in Magdalen
The queue outside Jamie’s Italian seems much shorter, and often non-existent, since the opening a couple of months ago of Fire & Stone in the former Old Orleans premises just opposite. (OK, former Co-op premises – as was Jamie’s once, too –
There is nothing new about Englishmen paying foreigners not to attack them, as we and our allies are now doing in Afghanistan. We were doing that here in Oxfordshire more than a thousand years ago – though evidently the system went badly wrong 1001 years
If the Oscars were truly awarded on merit rather than the baubles of a popularity contest then Colin Firth would be collecting a golden statuette as Best Actor in a Leading Role on March 7. However, the British star’s mesmerising portrayal of a gay professor
It’s in the DNA of most club nights that they have a short lifespan. Trends come and go, bands rise and fall and nights can go from having queues out the door to struggling to make their hire fee back in no time at all. It takes a special formula for
Pictures on show at the Mary Ogilvie Gallery, St Anne’s College, and at Oxford Town Hall have been described by David Cameron as “a treasure trove of creativity and personal expression which are great examples of art and poetry that will stir the
While Welsh boys Kids In Glass Houses may be named after a Glassjaw lyric and share a record label with bands like Slipknot, they’ve always been as much a pop as a hardcore band. Their debut, Smart Casual, consisted entirely of slick, crafted slabs of
Things have never been better for the Maccabees. They’re about to start their biggest tour to date – which is completely sold out – and they have never looked or sounded more assured than they do now. Clearly excited to be back and playing live after
Theatre is good for you – in fact it’s good for everyone. That’s the conclusion of Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Our Country’s Good, a play that focuses on the story of how a group of brutalised 18th-century convicts are redeemed by art, as they put on a performance
Seven Oxfordshire artists skilled in sculpture, painting, printmaking stained glass and pottery are now displaying their work at the West Ox Arts Gallery, in Bampton Town Hall. They have called their exhibition, which continues until February 28
CELEBRITY chef Raymond Blanc visited school pupils today to teach them about French cooking and help them learn the language. The Michelin-starred chef gave a masterclass in making an apple tarte tatin to Year Four pupils at The Manor Preparatory
Oxford Philomusica’s pair of concerts devoted to masterpieces of the Baroque promised to “enliven the winter evenings”, and last Saturday’s offering, the second of the two, certainly did just that. In fact, it did more; this delightful programme
TANIA Cannon, who has died aged 43, had a promising career as a dancer and dance teacher cut short by multiple sclerosis. She started ballet lessons when she was just three, and by the age of five was dancing competitively in all-England competitions
The genius of Gaetano Donizetti as a writer of both tragic and comic operas is being illustrated by English National Opera in two productions overlapping at the London Coliseum. First up is a brilliantly sung revival of David Alden’s 2008 Lucia
This concert could have been a big disappointment. It was originally planned as a test run for internationally renowned cellist Natalie Clein, who wished to learn Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante – a work described as: “a summit of the solo cello repertoire
WITNEY’S first female GP, who celebrated her 100th birthday two months ago, has died. Dr Hilary Macfarlane, who lived at Longlands Nursing Home, in Cassington, passed away in the early hours of Saturday. She celebrated her 100th birthday on Sunday,
GEOGRAPHY master Stewart Pether, who survived when a bullet hit his brandy flask during the D-Day landings, has died aged 93. Born into an Oxfordshire farming family in 1916, he became a pupil at Magdalen College School, where he excelled at sport.
Gosh – there are some amazing young Oxfordshire artists emerging at the moment. I say this having just visited a new exhibition space at the Jam Factory, in Park End Street. Eleven is the first exhibition curated by Oxford-based Creative Collective and
The narrow dividing line between tragedy and unintended comedy was illustrated last year at the National Theatre when Helen Mirren’s Phèdre provoked laughter from the audience with excesses of jealous fury. It was evident again last week at the Playhouse
Few stories better illustrate the pitfalls and pain of show-business life than that of Judy Garland – which is why it is such a familiar one. A spoilt and cosseted child star, she became a queen of the screen yet never really believed in her looks
Circus has changed a lot over the past decade or two. Shows like Cirque du Soleil moved away from the gritty, sweat-and-sawdust performances of the traditional ring, and gave it a glitzy showbiz presentation in which the whole event flowed smoothly. What
Lee Mack’s latest tour has been much anticipated; one of the biggest names on the circuit, his show at the New Theatre last week had been sold out for ages. Understandably so. A bit older at 40 than the average stand-up, he could teach a few of them how
A man was arrested today in Stanford in the Vale following a report that a horse was being mistreated in a field behind the White Horse Business Park. The man, aged 33, is in police custody. Insp John Turner said: “We responded to the
Police stopped 25 people as part of speed checks in Witney today. The checks took place between 8am and 10am in Burford Road and police said they were organised 'as a result of community concern'. Twenty-four of the drivers exceeding the 30mph
‘Elle est fou. Ma mère est loony. Ma mère est complètement . . . weird.” Thus speaks Winnie, the eight-year-old heroine of Alan Ayckbourn’s 73rd full-length play My Wonderful Day who is brilliantly and most convincingly portrayed – in a performance
The weird and wonderful objects at the Pitt Rivers Museum inspired an exhibition of dolls created by students on the foundation art and design course at Oxford Brookes University. They have made such a good job of their dolls, than any one of their creations
A CONVICTED drug dealer has gone on the run while on bail awaiting sentence. Leonard Heta, 22, was convicted by a jury at Oxford Crown Court after about £1,000 worth of cocaine was found at a flat in Summertown, Oxford, during a police raid last year
Police today released details of a man who has failed to appear in court at Oxford for sentencing on a drugs charge. Leonard Heta, 22, of Banbury Road, Oxford, was due to appear at Oxford Crown Court on January 29 after being found guilty by a jury
A 52-year-old coach driver has been charged after he was allegedly seen driving while using a mobile phone in Bucknell Road, Bicester. Ian Brown, of Harmans Way, Weedon, Northampton, has been charged with one count of driving without due care and attention
A MAN praised for his work with young people has been jailed for nine years for stabbing a 52-year-old in the street. Kenroy Ferguson is well known in East Oxford for his efforts to help organise community events, Oxford Crown Court was told yesterday
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A man has died after being struck by a limestone block at a construction site near Wallingford. Police were called to a house on the outskirts of Moulsford, near Wallingford, at about 11.17am yesterday. A 23-year-old man was taken to
A 23-year-old man has died after a limestone block fell on him in an industrial accident at Moulsford. The man was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, yesterday where he died from his injuries. Det Insp Kev Elkins, of Abingdon police station
Sir – As a senior citizen, I travel from Kidlington on the local buses. However, on two occasions recently, while travelling on Stagecoach buses to Cutteslowe and Summertown, I have been given tickets to Oxford city centre — despite specifying my destination
Four police officers were injured as they tried to control fans who clashed at last night’s Oxford United game at Luton. A senior Bedfordshire Police officer condemned the supporters who caused trouble at Kenilworth Road fixture, which the
Oxford United boss Chris Wilder admitted football can be a cruel game after his team lost to two stoppage-time goals at Luton. “Sometimes you don’t get what you deserve and we didn’t deserve to get beaten,” he said following the 2-1 defeat
HAVING ridden horses for more than 50 years, I would like to address the issues raised by Steve Plant (Oxford Mail, January 21) about these animals being in public places. To be able to ride a horse for a long hack, without using any roads, would be
YOUR correspondent (Oxford Mail, February 8) asked how I would deal with the piracy situation that the Chandlers had fallen victim to. Firstly, I would withdraw all foreign aid to Somalia, pending the hostages’ release. It is ludicrous
WHY is David Cameron such a big hypocrite? First he pledged to cut public services, then he changed his mind. Then he was going to raise taxes, now he’s not. Now he wants to help the poor. How does he plan to do this – or will he have
THE county council feedback following the consultation on the future of Headington subway, taken in spring 2009, stated that 58 per cent wanted to get rid of the subway. This consultation consisted of only 419 people out of the whole of the
AS A senior citizen, I travel from Kidlington on the local buses. However, on two occasions recently, while traveling on Stagecoach buses to Cutteslowe and Summertown, I have been given tickets to Oxford city centre – despite specifying
FOR those of us facing the daily battle of living with cancer, the love and support of family and friends is irreplaceable and we sometimes take this for granted. The pressure this throws on to the shoulders of our loved ones can be intolerable and
LAST week I went to the county council parking shop to get some visitor permits. Prominently displayed was a leaflet headed “the only sensible way to drive into Oxford”. It listed several reasons why it was not sensible to drive into Oxford. Among the
THE number of people asking for help to pay their fuel bills has increased by almost 50 per cent, an Oxford Mail investigation has revealed. Citizens Advice Bureau advisers saw 682 people in Oxfordshire between April and December last year
Abingdon United were made to work hard for a 2-0 victory at basement boys Bracknell Town in the Zamaretto Southern League tonight. Two second half goals made the difference in the Division 1 South & West clash after Bracknell had had the better of the
