Archive

  • Blue plaque honours morris dance legend

    A MORRIS dancer whose chance encounter with the godfather of British folk music triggered the revival of the tradition across the country has been honoured. The descendents of William Kimber were among 200 people who gathered in St Anne’s Road, Headington

  • Gene jabs could ease Parkinson's

    AN INJECTION of genes to the brain could substantially reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, scientists at biotech firm Oxford BioMedica have discovered. The treatment, ProSavin, improved walking and dexterity by up to 61 per cent in the nine patients

  • Oxford lady celebrates her 100th birthday

    VERA Allen, who lives in Barton, will today celebrate her 100th birthday with her family. After getting a card from the Queen on her birthday yesterday, she will be joined by family and friends for a birthday tea at Townsend House care home in Bayswater

  • Oxford's Cowley Road gets ready for a party

    TOP OXFORD jazz outfit the Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band are swapping the muddy fields of Glastonbury for the more genteel surroundings of Oxford’s South Park. Fresh from three shows at Glastonbury Festival’s Bourbon Street Jazz and Blues Stage, the

  • F1 racer Jenson on grid for Blenheim Triathlon

    FORMULA 1 racing driver Jenson Button and his girlfriend, model Jessica Michibata, will be racing at the 7th Blenheim Triathlon on Sunday. The former F1 world champion will be competing at the event for the first time, against defending champion Tim

  • Dark irony on buses

    Sir – Oh, the dark irony of sitting on my bike, stuck in a traffic jam of buses on St Aldates, reading the advert on the back of a Stagecoach bus telling me that lung cancer is no joke. My husband, Mike Woodin, died of lung cancer aged 38. Never smoked

  • Mr Gray is ‘very real’

    Sir – I was shocked to read the letter from Edward Richardson in the May 19 edition. Mr Gray is indeed a very real person, widely respected and admired by the many who know him. One might say this was universally so by those in the hospitality industry

  • ‘Bounder’ ruins it all

    Mr E Richardson (Letters, May 19), you are a bounder. There we were enjoying the ramblings of ‘Christopher Gray’ — inane chat that is amusing sometimes but with no link with reality. Now you have confirmed that ‘CG’ is a fictional creation, all readers

  • Lesson for others

    Sir – I was surprised that the local media ignored the visit to Oxford on Tuesday, May 17, of the former President of South Africa, Mr F.W. de Klerk. He was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela and it is accepted that he was instrumental

  • Intimidating cyclists

    Sir – Dr Okely (Letters, May 12) is correct: “many cyclists” ride dangerously on pavements, creating both a perceived and an actual threat to vulnerable pedestrians. David Dixon is entirely wrong to claim that Dr Okely supports new legislation because

  • Influencing outcome

    Sir – Ted Mellors (Letters, May 12) is technically quite right: there are circumstances in which AV might not deliver a winner with more than 50 per cent of all votes cast. Where we differ is on the likelihood of such circumstances actually arising in

  • Unopposed rule

    Sir – People seem to have forgotten that in 1997 Mr Blair appointed Lord Jenkins to report on electoral reform. Ten months later his commission produced a very thorough study. Blair welcomed their proposals, and if he had stood up to Brown and other

  • Food for thought

    Sir – West Oxfordshire District Council insists that its high number of cancelled parking fines is due to them generously giving members of the public “the benefit of the doubt”. Interesting. As far as I can tell, in Oxford “benefit of the doubt” means

  • Thanks to bus firm

    Sir – On Thursday evening, May 19, my partner and I caught a 2D bus from Summertown to Keble Road just before 7pm. Somehow we managed to leave a rather valuable camera on the bus. I telephoned the Oxford Bus Company as soon as we got home and to my amazement

  • Peril of parked cycles

    Sir – For many years pedestrians have had to step on to the road in several places in the centre of Oxford, risking injury from vehicles, because bicycles are parked on the pavement. Chris Emlyn-Jones and David Dixon in separate letters (May 19) now

  • Voice of reason

    Sir – We in Oxford Pedestrians’ Association (OxPA) wish to add our voice to the many tributes paid to Paul Cullen, who chaired our organisation from 2000-2010. With his background in traffic consultancy, Paul was able to hold all road users in mind whilst

  • Harassed by a rabbit

    Sir – On Sunday, May 15, I was in Cornmarket Street enjoying a coffee outside. As you know, many street artists perform there. One woman, in particular, imitates a statue and keeps perfectly still on a plinth of some sort. Suddenly, I heard a loud shout

  • Thanks, Mr Hudspeth

    Sir – We in Oxford Pedestrians’ Association wish to pay warm tribute to councillor Ian Hudspeth for his many years of hard work and the good he has done for pedestrians in Oxford. We hope that his wisdom and experience will continue to inform decision-making

  • ‘Real reason’ for exit

    Sir – Ian Hudspeth’s departure from the county council cabinet (Report, May 19) needs explaining. He landed Oxfordshire taxpayers with an expensive and unnecessary incinerator in the wrong place. He diverted scarce funds to the costly white elephant

  • Carving up land

    Sir – CPRE Oxfordshire and the Oxford Green Belt Network (OGBN) are dismayed that Cherwell District Council has given consent to Oxford University to build an access road across Green Belt land between Begbroke and Yarnton (Report, May 19). We strongly

  • ‘Opportunistic’ Ruskin

    Sir – After reading in this paper the previous correspondence about Ruskin College’s plan to build on highly-valued green spaces, I feel strongly that Ruskin is being opportunist in attempting to link its own plans with the city council’s plan to use

  • Ruskin facts corrected

    Sir – It is just as well that letters to the editor aren’t the editor’s responsibility to check since almost every point in the two lead letters about Ruskin Fields on May 19 was wrong. There is no rare wildlife on Ruskin Fields; they are not held in

  • Regrettable implications

    Sir – Councillor Young raises some interesting points in her letter (Letters, May 12) concerning members of the council going against the advice of officers on planning applications and how this will be more difficult when area committees are abolished

  • Oxford Brookes University's conference bid for club

    OXFORD could get a new conference centre, as more light is shed on the future of a former Cowley workers’ club. The new centre will be created if Oxford Brookes University completes a deal to buy the Lord Nuffield Club, it is claimed. Residents launched

  • 'Market's stalling' traders warn city

    TRADERS and shoppers say more needs to be done to promote Oxford’s Gloucester Green markets. The Oxford Mail spoke to stallholders and customers at the Thursday antiques market after Oxford City Council announced a review. The council wants to improve

  • New fight looms over homes plan

    RESIDENTS in Wallingford fear more homes could be built on their doorstep after South Oxfordshire District Council was told to re-examine its housing strategy. In October last year, the council cut the number of homes proposed for its preferred housing

  • Round-clock drive to update Cotswold Line on track

    WHILE most people were enjoying a relaxing bank holiday weekend, a small army of railway engineers was working flat out on modernisation of the Cotswold Line in west Oxfordshire. The passage of the last Worcester to Oxford train of the day

  • Bible's history under debate

    OXFORD: Broadcaster Melvyn Bragg will give a free lecture next week on the impact of the King James Bible, as part of events to mark the 400th anniversary of its publication. The lecture, at 6pm next Wednesday, is at the University Church of St Mary

  • Spectacular visions to give open-air pool new life

    THIS spa, with spectacular views of the Thames, is a bold architectural statement that would surely transform Abingdon’s image as a riverside town. It combines healthy living, luxury and architectural brilliance. But look carefully at the architects

  • Fact files on honey

    It takes 700 bees a lifetime to make one jar of honey. Bees are the only insects that produce a food eaten by man. The average worker bee produces about 1/12th of a teaspoon in her lifetime. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection

  • The Sweetest of Stories

    On discovering that I wrote food articles for The Oxford Times, writer Elizabeth Gowing pressed her recently published book into my hands, suggesting I might enjoy reading it. “If you like honey, you will love this book,” came a voice from

  • X-Men: First Class

    Very good things come to those who wait. After the sinking ship of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and the pounding headache of The Hangover Part II, the omens were distinctly ill for this summer season. Thankfully British director Matthew

  • Jubilant scenes at the Whitsun revels

    If you are one of those dreary people wondering how much all those Bank Holidays last month cost the economy, spare a thought for the inhabitants of Oxfordshire of previous centuries. Before the industrial revolution — and of course long before

  • Milton Jones: New Theatre, Oxford

    If I were to be a stand-up comedian, I should like to be Milton Jones. I’d like to have a large audience — such as he had in the New Theatre on Sunday evening — in the palm of my hand, gurgling with constant delight at my outrageous and ingenious

  • We Are The In Crowd/Mayday Parade: Oxford O2 Academy 2

    Despite the gnarly rain that ended the Bank Holiday weekend, the O2 Academy’s top room still drew a sold-out crowd for a punk pop double-header, which featured two of the genre’s fastest rising young US acts. First up were New York quintet

  • Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis: Sheldonian Theatre

    In Danksagung an den Bach, one of 20 Friedrich Müller poems set by Schubert in his narrative song cycle Die schöne Müllerin, a lad arrives at a mill hoping for employment. Another attraction is that the miller has a pretty daughter. But the lad is painfully

  • Nathaniel Rateliff: Jericho Tavern

    It’s not a bad time to be a male folk singer right now. Normally the genre is the preserve of the same ten thousand people who wake up every day hoping that Bob Dylan will announce the release date for a new studio album, but recently the dust- throated

  • Glengarry Glen Ross: O'Reilly Theatre

    First prize: a Cadillac Eldorado car. Second: a set of steak knives. They will be awarded to the month’s top salesmen, and, my, what raw emotions they raise in David Mamet’s 1982 play Glengarry Glen Ross. The knives may be a big step down from the car

  • Rod Stewart: Newbury Racecourse

    With a two-year residency at the Colosseum in Caesars Palace said to be beckoning, Rod Stewart was always a good bet to get the racecourse ground in Bank Holiday party mood on Sunday in the latest Newbury Live event. The racecourse has hosted a

  • Preview of Peter Egan and Richard Briers at The Mill at Sonning

    ‘A conversation between two outstanding performers that includes triumphs and failures, laughter and more laughter, wit and wisdom.” That’s what is promised by the Mill at Sonning when Richard Briers (above) and Peter Egan are reunited on stage at a gala

  • Chiltern Rail chief signals retirement

    CHILTERN Railways’ chairman Adrian Shooter is to retire at the end of the year after 18 years leading the company. Mr Shooter has been at the helm of Chiltern Railways, which runs trains between London Marylebone and the West Midlands, via Bicester and

  • Oxford United sign Michael Duberry

    CHRIS Wilder has made former Chelsea centre back Michael Duberry his sixth signing of the summer. The centre back, who moved from Chelsea to Leeds United for £4.5m in 1999, joins the U's on a two-year deal. Duberry played in the Leeds

  • Baldry to debate the Bribery Act

    Banbury MP Tony Baldry is the guest speaker at a special seminar run by law firm Spratt Endicott. Mr Baldry, a practicing barrister, will share his employment law expertise with delegates at the event which is focused on the implications of the new Bribery

  • Getting business booming

    A special event focusing on business development is taking place at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford. Get Oxfordshire Business Booming will feature speakers including former BBC Dragon’s Den panellist and business mentor, Rachel Elnaugh and award-winning

  • Join dancers for the big lunch event

    OXFORD’S youngsters will be entertaining crowds as the community sits down to enjoy a lunch together this Sunday. Pegasus Street Dance youth group will be performing at The Big Lunch event at Oxford Castle. Residents are invited to bring along friends

  • Trial to give hope to cancer patients

    AN OXFORD hospital will soon have access to millions of pounds worth of new drugs for county patients. The Churchill Hospital, in Headington, has been named one of just 13 centres in a national clinical trial, set up by the charity Leukaemia and Lymphoma

  • Pub pulls together with little Fazer

    A PUB’S fundraising efforts have netted almost £500 towards a young boy’s dream of being able to run. Four-year-old Fazer Mossman has cerebral palsy and gets regular treatment at the Footsteps charity in Warborough. As a treat, he and his father Colin

  • Palace's Art Attack

    VISITORS to Blenheim Palace enjoyed cutting-edge craft and fabulous food at the weekend. Stalls and displays at the Art, Design and a Taste of Summer show, included original paintings, ceramics, furniture, jewellery, textiles, sculpture, glass

  • Man jailed for stamping and biting attack

    A MAN has been jailed for a “very unpleasant” attack in a Didcot pub. Daley Johnson bit a bouncer’s thumb and knocked another man to the ground before “stamping or jumping on him”. The 23-year-old was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court

  • U's throw open doors for fans' day

    OXFORD United are set to kick off the new football season with their biggest open day yet. The event takes place at the Kassam Stadium tomorrow and will give fans the chance to meet their heroes and pull on the team’s new home kit. Chairman Kelvin Thomas

  • Campaigners against NHS reforms

    CAMPAIGNERS staged a mock life-saving operation in Oxford city centre to protest against the Government’s proposals to reform the NHS. Anti-cuts pressure groups claim the coalition’s Health and Social Care Bill, now going through Parliament

  • CRICKET: Oxon women hammer Wilts

    A record partnership, two maiden fifties and a first five-wicket haul fired Oxfordshire to a 210-run victory over Wiltshire in ECB Women's County Championship Division 5 South & West at Charlbury. Megan Burton hit 82 not out and Rhian Todd

  • YOUTH FOOTBALL: Tower Hill double

    Tower Hill Under 12s pulled off a league and cup double in the Giles Sports Witney Youth League. Having won 13 of their 14 games and drawing the other to finish top of the A League, they beat Eynsham 1-0 after extra time in the Knockout Cup final at

  • SCHOOLS' FOOTBALL: Vale claim cup glory

    Vale of White Horse Under 15s lifted the Hobbs Cup for the third successive year with a 4-1 win over Mid Oxon in the final at Chipping Norton. It gave Vale a trophy double after their recent success in the Wright Cup. And it meant their only defeat

  • House prices rise again

    House prices in the county have risen for the third month in a row. Latest figures for April from the Government’s Land Registry show the average price of an Oxfordshire property now stands at £238,740, a 0.9 per cent rise on the previous month. The

  • 'Clumbsy' clowns around in Abingdon

    TRADITIONAL fun with a modern twist is being promised as the circus rolls into Abingdon. Circus Ginnett dates back to the early 1800s, and its 2011 show features artists from Britain, Holland, Australia and Hungary. The traditional family circus will

  • Local share prices (AM)

    AEA Technology 4.2 BMW 5347 Electrocomponents 294.8 Nationwide Accident Repair 94 Oxford Biomedica 5.8 Oxford Catalysts 82.5 Oxford Instruments 757.25 Reed Elsevier 552.75 RM 146 RPS Group 244.1 Courtesy of Redmayne

  • Train cleaners in strike action

    Cleaners on First Great Western trains are to strike tomorrow in a protest over pay. The workers, who are contracted from service provider Mitie, voted 100 per cent in favour of action starting tomorrow and continuing on Friday, June 10. But company

  • CRICKET: Banbury concede walkover

    BANBURY gave High Wycombe a walkover in round two of the Home Counties Premier League Twenty20 competition. The teams were due to meet at Wycombe on Monday, but Banbury conceded the fixture as they could not raise a side. Thame Town’s home clash with

  • Blue Peter award for Oxfam worker

    HE may have saved millions of lives and received an OBE from the Queen, but yesterday one man received the biggest honour of all – a gold Blue Peter badge. Professor Paul Sherlock retired after spending 37 years working for Oxfam as a water

  • CRICKET: Two-ton Hole fires Shipton into final

    Persimmon Village Cup SIMON Hole’s second century in two days fired Shipton-under-Wychwood to a 14-run victory over Horspath in the Oxfordshire semi-finals. Captain Hole hit exactly 100 at Horspath, having made 106 not out the previous day against

  • Tributes to 'amazing doctor Ann'

    A CITY doctor and champion of assisted suicide has died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Dr Ann McPherson was last night described as an amazing woman by family, patients and Hollywood actor Hugh Grant, who was patron of a charity

  • COMMENT: Good days in store

    THREE hundred jobs are set to created by the arrival of a new Morrison’s store in Carterton. The town has been crying out for another supermarket for years, well now it is set to get one. It is hoped the store can help spark trade in the area and draw

  • Mystery grows over Tesco openings

    MYSTERY surrounds the location of a proposed new Tesco store in Abingdon. A spokesman for the supermarket chain unwittingly revealed to the Oxford Mail that it was planning to open another branch in the town by the end of the year. But, when later asked

  • Prime site sold for superstore

    SUPERMARKET chain Morrisons is set to open a new store in the centre of Carterton, we can reveal. A consortium which includes the UK’s fourth largest food retailer has confirmed it has bought the town’s Old Market site for an undisclosed fee

  • Speedway shut-out drove me elsewhere

    So the truth about Oxford Stadium (Thursday’s Oxford Mail) has finally emerged. Of course, the owners will deny selling to the city council for housing development – until it emerges that they have done just that. In recent years the stadium

  • Generous donations to sanctuary

    I wanted through your columns to say how I was heartened by the generosity of the people of Oxfordshire during our recent Tesco store collection week. So many people gave, particularly those whose circumstances probably left little to give, yet they

  • AUNT SALLY: Keith's cracking 15 proves in vain

    Keith Quinell clanged off 15 dolls, including a maximum six (5-4-6) for Kidlington Sports Club B – but it was still not enough, writes ANDY BEAL. Despite his efforts, Sports went down 2-1 to leaders Gladiators A in Section 2 of the Greene King Oxford

  • Wright's delight at new Oxford United facility

    OXFORD United centre back Jake Wright has given their new training ground the thumbs-up after they returned for their first week of pre-season training. The U’s used to train at Chesterton, but are now based at Rover Sports and Social Club in Roman Way

  • CRICKET: Dramatic win fully deserved

    OXFORDSHIRE captain Ian Hawtin felt their dramatic victory over Hertfordshire was well deserved on the balance of the season. Sunday’s 14-run success in the MCCA Trophy came after Oxon recovered from 17-4 and then defended their total of 163. It means

  • Putting pressure on stadium owners

    So the truth about Oxford Stadium (Thursday’s Oxford Mail) has finally emerged. Of course, the owners will deny selling to the city council for housing development – until it emerges that they have done just that. In recent years the stadium

  • Unfair criticism over police use of helicopter

    While normally my letters to you usually offer criticism (constructive, I hope) of Thames Valley Police, I am on this occasion coming to their defence regarding the use of the police helicopter for what many consider a minor offence. (Oxford Mail,

  • Speedway was at heart of stadium

    I AM writing in response to your report on the possible development of Oxford Stadium for housing (Thursday’s Oxford Mail) I would like to ask why there was no mention of speedway in the history of the stadium? Speedway racing started there

  • Sassy & Single: iPhone faux pas with the man in black

    Is it wrong to be just a little bit excited that last week I was ordered to “move aside” by one of US President Barack Obama’s Secret Service fellers? I know those men have probably been trained to kill with their little finger, but as I surreptitiously

  • TENNIS: Locals steal show

    Harrison Ridge and Elisha Gujral were the local success stories at Esporta’s Wimbledon Week tournament. The LTA-sanctioned event saw 150 juniors take part, with Ridge, from Henley, and Gujral, from Woodstock, winning the under 12 boys and girls singles

  • Motorcyclist dies in crash with car

    POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a 59-year-old motorcyclist was killed in a crash with a car in north Oxfordshire. The man, who has not been named, was riding a Yamaha motorbike on the B4100 from Baynard’s Green towards Bicester on Monday evening

  • FIA chief tests Mini WRC

    One of the most influential men in motorsport Mohammed Ben Sulayem has test-driven the new Banbury-built Mini John Cooper Works WRC. The FIA Vice President for Sport, and 14-time Middle East Rally champion, who has won more international rallies than

  • Sex sentence

    BANBURY: A man has been spared jail after performing a sex act with a 13-year-old boy. At Oxford Crown Court yesterday Daniel James was given two years’ supervision and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years. The 20-year-old

  • We will reopen, pledges owner

    OXFORD: The brewery which owns the Old Bookbinders Arms in Jericho said last night it aimed to reopen the pub as soon as possible. The Oxford Mail reported yesterday that the popular drinking hole had shut, with a To Let sign put up. But a Greene King

  • Oxford United get girls' academy thumbs-up

    OXFORD United will run a girls’ centre of excellence again next season. The club’s record of producing strong and promising players has helped it to be granted a licence by the Football Association. And that is despite the FA slashing the number of

  • Protest at Temple Cowley Pools meeting change

    CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save an Oxford swimming pool claim they have been left high and dry by the city council. A review of the council’s decision to grant itself planning permission to build a new pool in Blackbird Leys was set to be held on Wednesday

  • City to stage a half-marathon

    THE starting gun has been fired on plans for a race which could see up to 10,000 people pounding Oxford’s streets. The Oxford Half Marathon, which organisers hope will eventually attract similar numbers to the popular Reading Half Marathon,

  • Oxfordshire teachers threaten fresh strike action

    TEACHERS and civil servants could strike again this year if negotiations with the Government fail over controversial pension reforms, a union leader warned last night. The threats came in a day of action which closed 48 schools, and saw protests at

  • COMMENT: On track for a great city event

    WE HAVE spent the last couple of weeks telling you about events which have been called off. Disappointment has littered these pages with news of the cancellation of Cowley Road Carnival – in the road at least – and the delayed Barton Bash

  • Wheeling in: Nissan Juke Acenta Sport

    I do not possess a pair of kicks, hoodie, or a pair of boardshorts, so I felt distinctly unprepared to comment on a car that epitomises urban cool. Anyone with a grey hair or two on their head is likely to feel equally anxious about hopping behind the

  • Bahrain 'ready' for Grand Prix

    Bahrain's Grand Prix organisers insist they are ready to host the postponed race this season. The current season had been scheduled to begin with the Bahrain Grand Prix in March until political unrest led to the event being called off. The race's inclusion

  • Didcot's shops are beating recession

    DIDCOT has been named as one of the top 10 towns in the country for its ability to successfully fight the recession. A recent survey of the nation’s shopping centres found not every high street was failing, despite the economic downturn and

  • New premises for metal group

    A company which specialises in metal detectors for industry has moved into new premises after major growth. Fortress Technology Europe has more than trebled its workforce to 20 and uprooted from the Banbury Business Park to a 10,500sq ft facility on

  • Beer festival in honour of pub landlady

    MUSIC, dancing and fireworks will help keep the memory of a late pub landlady alive. A north Oxfordshire pub is preparing to celebrate its second beer festival in memory of Anne Prigent. The 41-year-old manager of the Horse and Groom