Archive

  • Roll-out of broadband to rural areas may not be so superfast

    RURAL areas of Oxfordshire could still struggle to have superfast broadband guaranteed despite a Government push to get people connected. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced in last week’s Budget that the Conservative Government

  • Students sit down to sort the world’s worst woes

    MORE than 90 students from across Oxfordshire met up to put the world to rights. The sixth-formers – who came from nine schools from across the county and one from Cheltenham – gathered for a model United Nations general assembly. Pupils had

  • Diamond duo thank their lucky socks after 60 years

    THEY were united by a pair of socks, and they’ve been knitted together ever since. John and Olive Price, who met on a youth hostelling holiday with friends, celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary today in Wantage. They grew up just a few

  • Oxford United sign striker Kyle Vassell on loan

    OXFORD United have signed Peterbrough striker Kyle Vassell on loan until the end of the season. The 22-year-old adds to United's attacking options and goes straight into the squad to face Carlisle United on Saturday. Vassell signed for Sky

  • Obituary: Rally enthusiast revived historic race

    PHILIP Young, who has died aged 66, was a prolific face of motorsport who founded the East Hendred-based Endurance Rally Association. He was known in rally circles for reviving the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge, the famous race of five cars which

  • Council frustration as vandal cases dropped

    YOBS have got away with vandalising council property in Witney on the vast majority of occasions over the past six months. Witney Town Council had to spend £10,500 between July 7, 2014, and January 12, 2015, after vandals wrecked council-owned

  • Sixth series of Downton Abbey to be the last

    DOWNTON Abbey will bow out at the end of the next series, ITV has said. The hit period drama, which has attracted millions of viewers around the world, is set in an English country house and has made stars of many of its cast. The west Oxfordshire

  • Tests reveal how our babies measure up

    MUMS across the globe will have the security of knowing that their baby is developing properly thanks to new methods developed and trialled by county medics. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUHT) has become the first in the world to use

  • For Art's Sake with Yasmin Sidhwa

    Yasmin Sidhwa of Pegasus Theatre reports that young people do care about war — and they like to have their voices heard What do young people in the UK feel about war? Would they sign up to fight for their country? What would they die for? What

  • Levison Wood's chosen walk of life

    Levison Wood, who trekked the length of the Nile for TV, loves being on the road, he tells Katherine MacAlister Levison Wood, the explorer, photographer and writer, who recently returned from walking the length of the river Nile, as documented

  • Review: Pub Grub @ The Rusty Bicycle, Oxford

    You've got to admire the Rusty. It’s one of those great Oxford pubs which is genuinely at the heart of its community. Quirky, relaxed and friendly, it may only have been around for six years (it was previously a dive called The Eagle), but has

  • Builder’s tea? Leaf it out

    Marc West develops a new appreciation for the humble cuppa at a sophisticated tea ceremony in Summertown As far as I’m concerned, it’s always time for tea. Being a true Brit, I love a nice cuppa and of all the many varieties now available,

  • Prospect of Labour taking seat is fanciful thinking

    IN THIS world, there are a handful of brave people willing to stand up for opinions that almost everyone else considers laughable – the world is flat, the moon landing was faked or even that the Royal Family are lizards. One such courageous individual

  • We won’t see benefits from £100m investment

    WITH reference to the report Your say is wanted on Bicester’s bid for garden city status (March 19), I was drawn to the paragraph “Announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in December, it will pump £100m of investment into Bicester to deliver

  • Budget failed to tackle austerity and inequality

    GEORGE Osborne’s final Budget lacks long-term value for Oxfordshire. It is notable that the possibility of stopping cuts to the National Health Service has not been taken and there were no increases in alcohol or cigarette duties which could have

  • Lye Valley road plan is no solution to traffic problem

    OXFORDSHIRE County Council has realised that Oxford has a traffic problem – that is the good news. The bad news, however, is that one of its proposals for easing congestion involves building a road over the golf course in Headington, and connecting

  • Schoolchildren need more space to play without delay

    I AM concerned at the further delay in deciding the planning application for a replacement railway bridge at Aristotle Lane and the much-needed enlargement of the play space for children at SS Philip and James’ Primary School. Phil and Jim has

  • Personalised stories come out as winner

    Play inspired by Tom Daley’s admission meets favour with Giles Woodforde Billed as the world’s first show based on coming out stories, Outings consists of more than 20 such real-life accounts. The show was inspired by the coming-out YouTube video

  • Welsh National leave us Spellbound

    Welsh National Opera paid its annual spring visit to our region last week with a programme of three shows united under the the title Spellbound. This was entirely appropriate for the two welcome revivals of the much admired company productions

  • Live review - The Tiger Lillies @ Cornerstone, Didcot

    Murder, perversion and kicking a baby (“or maybe an old lady”) down the stairs… ah, yes, all in a night’s entertainment when the Tiger Lillies perform. The trio’s dark, alternative cabaret act mixes tales of death and no end of nastiness with superb

  • Mods are ‘Notts’ for faint hearted

    An explosion of profanity of the highest order signals the arrival of East Midlands duo Sleaford Mods on stage at the O2 Academy Oxford. And that cuss, far too rude to print here, encapsulated the gig that was to unfurl: angry, assaulting, funny and

  • Climate change: a very hot topic

    In my job on Christian Aid’s Oxford team, I am often asked: “Climate Change. Is it really happening? How can you be sure?” Meeting Christian Aid partners in Bolivia answered that question for me. Landing in Rurrenabaque, the heat of the Amazon

  • I had no suspicions over clergyman, until now

    I was amused and a little amazed to find my recent remarks concerning Michael Ramsey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, to be such a source of outrage to reader Glena Chadwick, who wrote to complain to my editor about them. They concerned, you

  • Forlorn girl’s rise from heartbreak to Harrods

    Hannah Stephenson on the tragic and tough childhood of shops guru Mary Portas We know Mary Portas as the Queen of Shops, the hard-hitting, tough-talking red-head troubleshooter who helps struggling retailers turn their businesses around. Shop

  • March bulbs put magic in the air

    Val Bourne revels in the way warm sunshine generates a resurgence of her beloved Spring Cottage garden Spring has officially arrived at Spring Cottage and there’s magic in the air. Bare branches are clothed in flower, hellebores galore hang their

  • Love is in the air for birdlife

    Oxford Ornithological Society secretary Barry Hudson looks how the county’s birds are getting together for spring rituals As the lengthening day-light informs us of the turning year, the birding enthusiast and, to a lesser extent, casual avian

  • As Raphaelites unite

    Theresa Thompson sees a new exhibition celebrating legacy of a Renaissance master and his pupils’ works Immediately, you see a difference. For one, there are larger works than usual displayed in the intimate drawings gallery at Christ Church Picture

  • Stories that are worth the wait at Oxford Literary Festival

    The Oxford Literary Festival comes to a close on Sunday. Here we highlight five big events from the remaining few days KAREN ARMSTRONG – Fields of Blood Today (Thursday), 2pm Britain’s foremost scholar of world religion Karen Armstrong follows

  • Remake of famous fairytale is a ball

    Slavishly adapted from Disney’s classic 1950 animated musical, Kenneth Branagh’s live action version of the fairy-tale romance doesn’t skimp on the period detail. Sandy Powell’s luxurious costumes, Dante Ferretti’s opulent set designs and Patrick

  • Nibbles - The Nut Tree, 1855 and more

    * There is so much exciting stuff going on this week I can scarcely contain myself. Must be something in the air. Spring perhaps. There is a new cocktail bar opening this weekend at 15 St Clement’s called Be At One. More details to follow.

  • Byte-size service really delivers

    Katherine MacAlister doesn’t have to wait for long to sample the delights of the new Deliveroo revolution Would the alarm bells go off Ghostbusters style? Would the Deliveroo men be sliding down poles into special suits, bikes ready as we pushed

  • School goes out into the wilderness

    Starting Up with Steve Brown @ Daylesford Cookery School Ever since moving to the Cotswolds two years ago to take up the position of head tutor of the Daylesford Cookery School, Wilderness festival has been high on my list of things to do.

  • Hunger Games star’s food for thought

    Hollywood actor Stanley Tucci tells Katherine MacAlister about new films he is working on and his passion for food You would expect Stanley Tucci to be discussing his varied movie career, his life in Hollywood, or his roles in films such as The

  • RUGBY: World Cup trophy set for Oxford visit

    THE Rugby World Cup trophy will be in Oxford for two days in August, just weeks before England bid to win the tournament on home soil. Rugby's biggest prize, the Webb Ellis Cup, will be at St Hugh's College in Saint Margaret's Road on August 22

  • City now covered by its giant web of Wi-Fi

    FREE Wi-Fi is now available in most of the the city’s museums, libraries and community centres. Funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, the Super Connected Oxford project has seen the hotspots

  • Highlights - Judge Jules, Young Guns and more

    Electronica M-Band The Bullingdon, Oxford Tonight Tickets £6 on the door. The M-Band are the hottest thing to come out of Iceland since all that lava from that unpronounceable volcano, with comparisons made to John Hopkins and Caribou.

  • Soundbites - Big Feastival, Henley Festival and more

    * Pop star-turned-gentle-man farmer Alex James has once again proved his agricultural credentials by planting part of his Kingham farm with cereals — with a bit of help from local schoolchildren. The celebrity cheese-maker was joined by pupils

  • Francis Hamel hits the circus

    Sarah Mayhew Craddock speaks to an acclaimed Oxfordshire-based artist The son of a clergyman and an English teacher, the artist Francis Hamel was born in London in 1963. He studied at Summer Fields prep school in Summertown and, perhaps pivotally

  • Oxford’s right to look silly is being threatened

    Is this the end of Oxford as we know it? Whisked from the Bourgeois’ pointy head hat flies, Throughout the heavens, reverberating screams. The beginning of Jakob van Hoddis’ poem Weltende (World’s End) captures the feeling of panic that is striking

  • The old-style aristos were absent from Dickie’s do

    What a strange assortment of luvvies, lords and lags – well one at least – was assembled last week at the service of thanksgiving for the life of Lord ‘Dickie’ Attenborough. Acquainted though we were (see picture), I was unable to be present.

  • Great speakers, settings and educative capacity

    I have heard nothing but praise, richly deserved, for the Weston Library, fashioned at a cost of £80m from what used to be called the New Bodleian and now providing a wonderful new space for public enjoyment, with cafe, shop, exhibition rooms and lecture

  • Here’s a sight for poor eyes

    Reg Little talks to the academic whose high-tech specs could soon be helping the blind Three years ago, Dr Stephen Hicks was being hailed as the man who would one day put the nation’s guide dogs for the blind out of work. It seemed a little fanciful

  • First-timers urged to vote for satire

    Katherine MacAlister meets one half of a comedy duo keen to start their election campaign at home Jonny & The Baptists, all one of them, are holed up in New York when we speak, appearing off Broadway while writing a new show, desperate to return

  • An explosive experience at Atomic Burger

    ‘Who’s she, mum?” my teenage son asked, peering at the large poster of Pamela Anderson resplendent in her second skin of a red swimming costume. “She was in Baywatch,” I reply, trying not to feel 175 years old. “What’s that?” he continues, his innocent

  • Witch way to bake really wicked cake

    Helen Peacocke tells how she had to devise one Winnie cake, then do it again for a library’s revamp The first time I created a cake to celebrate that wacky witch Winnie, I copied Korky Paul’s illustration featured in Valerie Thomas’s Happy Birthday

  • Musicians set for a landmark year

    Nicola Lisle talks to members of Woodstock Music Society ahead of this weekend’s concerts, which mark the start of their 40th anniversary year Forty years ago, a small group of amateur musicians got together to provide some entertainment for the

  • Burglars steal computer from Wantage home

    BURGLARS broke into a home in Wantage and stole a computer. The break-in happened sometime overnight on Monday at the house on Grove Street, police said. They said the computer monitor had diagonal cracks across the screen.    

  • Young reporter scoops top radio award

    A TEENAGER from Headington will take to the airwaves after winning a reporting award. Sixth former Tim McGovern was told just five minutes before appearing live on BBC Radio Oxford that he had won the station’s Young Sports Reporter award.

  • Getting hung up on Her Majesty’s missing portrait

    SHARP-EYED Tim Hallchurch MBE, right, spotted that the Queen’s portrait was missing at the county council meeting earlier this week. The Tory county councillor for Otmoor was not happy that the picture had been taken down and made his feelings

  • Building on Green Belt is not key to housing crisis

    NO ONE can doubt the need for more housing in central Oxfordshire, both for those on housing waiting lists and to provide for those currently unable to afford to buy or even rent, within easy reach of their jobs. Oxford City has 46,000 people commuting

  • Hot party ends science festival for volcanologists

    THE Oxfordshire Science Festival came to an explosive end with a VIP reception for some of the county’s leading scientists – including volcanologists. The reception at Oxford’s Natural History Museum on Tuesday was hosted by Diamond Light Source

  • Story museum's latest display is quick on the draw

    THE latest offering from the Story Museum in Pembroke Street is shifting the emphasis away from the verbal, and into the visual. The Draw Me a Story exhibition takes visitors on a hands-on journey through the illustration process and features the

  • Children see the world from a new point of view

    THESE pupils had the world at their fingertips as they swapped the classroom for a giant balloon. The four metre high Earth Balloon is on tour as part of the Oxfordshire Green Schools Project with help from environmental charity Groundwork, which

  • GOLF: Eddie Pepperell eyeing major chance

    Abingdon golfer Eddie Pepperell believes the US PGA Championship in August is his best chance of playing at a major this year. The 24-year-old, ranked 125 in the world, made his major championship debut at the US Open in 2013. However, he has

  • COMMENT: Back Bullfinch promises...put money where mouths are

    THERE was much hand-wringing and lots of solemn promises just a few weeks ago when the Serious Case Review revealed the failures in the Bullfinch sex abuse scandal. Findings revealed in the review, not least that more than 370 children were identified

  • You’d better step on it if you want to run the OX5

    MORE than 1,200 have signed up to the Oxford Mail’s OX5 Run at Blenheim Palace, and time is running out to break the record with less than 24 hours to get involved. Registration for Sunday’s run to raise money for Oxford Children’s Hospital ends

  • Woman taken to hospital after collision in Park End Street

    A WOMAN has been taken to the John Radcliffe hospital with suspected head and arm injuries after a collision in Park End Street, Oxford.  Ambulance crews were called to the junction with Frideswide Square shortly after 7am to reports of a collision

  • Sam Long sparkles in Oxford United win

    Sam Long hit the opener and made the second as a youthful Oxford United development side beat their Oxford City counterparts 2-0 yesterday. Jordan Graham scored the other goal after the break for the U’s, who used the match as an opportunity to

  • RUGBY UNION: Tag festival proves a success

    More than 650 children took part in Oxfordshire’s tag rugby festival at Gosford All Blacks on Sunday. Under 7 and 8 teams played in trophy, cup, bowl and plate competitions. Over 3,000 tries were scored on the day, while London Welsh players

  • CRICKET: Kevin Pietersen is a possible to play in The Parks

    Kevin Pietersen could play against Oxford MCCU in The Parks next month after signing for Surrey. The record-breaking batsman has returned to The Oval in a bid to press for an England recall, after being sacked in February 2014 following the Ashes

  • Restaurant staff devastated as thief snatches Easter egg

    A LARGE Easter egg being raffled off to raise money for Sobell House Hospice was snatched from an Oxford restaurant. Staff at Italian restaurant La Cucina in St Clement’s Street were devastated when the egg was stolen by a passerby on Saturday.

  • RACING: Unbeaten Limato bound for Ascot

    Limato , Wantage trainer Henry Candy’s unbeaten gelding, is set to make his eagerly-anticipated return at Ascot on Wednesday, April 29. The three-year-old, who capped four juvenile wins with an impressive display in the Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar

  • Seed planting session is a hit for gardening fans

    VISITORS to a community garden in East Oxford got their hands on seeds, plants, pots and tools at a special sharing event. Among the visitors to Barracks Lane Community Garden were Rowan Davis-James, three, who was at the session with mum Jess

  • Parky at the Pictures (DVD 26/3/2015)

    It's a bit of a dash through the DVDs on offer this week, for the simple reason that the majority of them aren't much good. We start with yet another of Daniel Radcliffe's increasingly tiresome bids to prove there is more to him than Hogwarts and Quidditch

  • Flood-hit store plans defensive extension

    A HOME entertainment store ravaged by flooding has put forward plans to protect itself should the rains return. Richer Sounds in Oxford’s Botley Road plans to raise the store and extend the property to guard against future rising water. Last

  • Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 26/3/2015)

    Distributors have been a bit slow on the uptake where this years nominees for the Academy Award for Best Film in a Foreign Language are concerned. Somewhat ironically, the eventual winner, Ida, was directed by a former Creative Arts fellow at Oxford

  • COMMENT: Bureaucracy threat to small businesses

    THE European Union often gets flak for wonky carrots or straight bananas. But it also throws up more serious issues such as the one highlighted today about changes to tax laws affecting our socalled kitchen entrepreneurs. Rules, such as VAT

  • Alex proves he’s well bread

    ROCK star Alex James proved he is top of the crops by joining youngsters to sow wheat at his West Oxfordshire farm. The Blur bassist yesterday invited members of the gardening clubs at Kingham and Bledington primary schools to his 200-acre farm

  • Online traders say tax switch is threat to their businesses

    BUSINESS owners who will be hit by new EU tax laws for trading online have vowed to continue their fight against Brussels. Witney-based author Juliet Souch has met with MEPs and senior members of the EU Commission to discuss the new laws, which

  • ATHLETICS: James Bolton earns silver at Banbury 15

    JAMES Bolton and Paul Fernandez were the county’s top performers at Sunday’s Banbury 15. Woodstock Harriers runner Bolton and Abingdon AC’s Fernandez came home in second and third respectively at the 15-mile event, behind winner Ollie Garrod from

  • AUNT SALLY: Three titles for Roger Goodall

    ROGER Goodall claimed three trophies, winning the sixer, singles and triples, at the finals night of the Kidlington Winter League. RESULTS Kidlington Winter League finals night – Top doll: F Sawyer. Sixer: R Goodall. Len Hill Competition

  • Children conga as caterpillars for a top charity

    CHILDREN and parents teamed up to conga their way through some charity fundraising. But the youngsters from Southmoor Pre-School, in Abingdon, added their own twist by dressing up as caterpillars and wiggled their way round the school field to

  • City is buzzing as book lovers flock to see the festival stars

    “A BOOK lover’s paradise” is how the Oxford Literary Festival has been promoted and that’s how it has proved at Blackwell’s. Book fans from across the globe have been enjoying debates, lunches, seminars and screenings with their favourite literary