RESIDENTS in Pitts Road, Headington, were being 'piledriven round the bend' by the noise of a nearby building site, reported the Oxford Mail's Chris Gray in April 1976.

Kathleen Luckett, left, and Delia Bowen were among the locals who got in touch with the paper that month saying that vibrations from the work were rattling windows, door, radiators and even their crockery.

Mrs Luckett, who lived at number 17, told our reporter: "Having the noise going all day is just indescribable."

The cause was a new kind of piledriving equipment being used a few yards away from the street on Oxford City Council's new Laurels development.

A spokesman for the city's architect's department said the workmen had taken careful measurements of the vibrations and assured all involved that they were 'well within safe limits'.

History does not record whether the construction company was ever persuaded to turn down the volume, but Chris Gray is still very much making a joyful noise as a columnist at our sister paper the Oxford Times.