Archive

  • Good food tried: Branca

    Now there's a job we'd all like. Working for the Good Food Guide, swanning around the country incognito, stuffing our faces in the country's best restaurants, and being paid for the privilege. Branca, Walton Street, Jericho OK, you might need to hand

  • Interview: Matchbook Romance

    Finding the perfect name for your new band is notoriously tricky. So it was with Matchbook Romance. "I came up with it -- but I don't know how!" explains drummer Aaron Sterne. "We were sitting around a kitchen table and got delirious." But what does it

  • Rugby fixtures - Saturday

    Games to be played on Saturday, February 7, 2004 ENGLISH NATIONAL LEAGUE Div 1: Wakefield v Henley. POWERGEN JUNIOR VASE 6th round: Wallingford v Old Dunstonians (2). ENGLISH CLUBS CHAMPIONSHIP Powergen South West Div 1: Clifton v Oxford Harlequins. Midlands

  • Car ban idea abandoned

    PLANS to pedestrianise part of Witney's High Street have been dropped. Instead, improvements will be made to the High Street and Market Square to make the area more pedestrian friendly. Last year, the county council, together with West Oxfordshire District

  • Review: Sugar Daddies,The Oxford Playhouse

    A Christmas tree twinkles beside the bay window of the spacious London flat in which Alan Ayckbourn's new comedy Sugar Daddies is set. The action begins with Santa Claus himself entering through the front door. Are we in for more festive fun (and fiascos

  • Redefield march on

    Redefield A continue to dominate Division 1 of badminton's Five Disciplines League after trouncing Feathers B 150-40. Heather Titcombe, Caroline Ashdown, Nicky Watkins and Dave Soanes did the damage in the sixth round of matches hosted by Gosford Hill

  • Wallingford close in on Twickenham

    Wallingford have been boosted by the return of four backs from injury for their Powergen Junior Vase sixth round tie at home to Old Dunstonians on Saturday (2pm). Wingers Gavin Hull and Lee Lewis and centres Donald Jenkins and Kieran Murphy, who missed

  • Football fixtures - Sunday

    Games to be played on Sunday, February 8, 2004 MORRELLS OF OXFORD SUNDAY LEAGUE League Cup 3rd round: Chalgrove v Highfield, Blackbird Sunday v AFC Rileys, AFC Vikings v Cold Arbour, Marston Village v Northway, Wolvercote v South Leigh, Rose Hill v Mason

  • Something's Gotta Give (PG)

    Perennial bachelor Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) has never dated a woman his own age. In fact, if a woman is over 30, he's just not interested. Harry much prefers the company and attention of younger women and is completely infatuated with his latest

  • Brock warning

    Banbury United manager Kevin Brock has warned his side they will have to be strong mentally and physically, at the Dr Martens Eastern Division's second-placed side King's Lynn. "They are excellent at home record and it's a very intimidating place to go

  • Stadium back on track

    Remedial work is being out at the Kassam Stadium following the crowd safety scare at Oxford United's Division 3 game against Kidderminster. Structural engineers from stadium builders Birse carried out an inspection of the roof of the South Stand on Thursday

  • Football fixtures - Saturday

    Games to be played on Saturday, February 7, 2004 NATIONWIDE LEAGUE Div 3: Leyton Orient v Oxford Utd. RYMAN LEAGUE Div 1 North: East Thurrock Utd v Oxford C, Thame Utd v Enfield. Div 2: Abingdon Tn v Ware. DR MARTENS LEAGUE Eastern Div: King's Lynn v

  • Interview: The Zutons

    First there was The Beatles, then The Farm, The Las, and more recently The Coral and The Stands. Will Liverpool ever stop exporting great rock bands? Judging by Merseyside's latest offering, let's hope not. The Zutons are a four-piece who play bluegrass

  • Review: Big Fish (PG, 125mins)

    "In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from the fiction, the man from the myth. The best that I can do is tell it the way he told me . . . it doesn't always make sense, but that's what kind of story this is." Steve

  • Loving it lite: McDonald's

    Eating out with children can fill the most professional parent with dread and horror -- particularly with five of them to contend with. However, it is well-documented that the mere mention of a trip to the hallowed Golden Arches should induce impeccable

  • F1 team may move its base to Far East

    Top Oxfordshire Formula One team has refused to rule out the possibility of abandoning the UK due to a ban on tobacco sponsorship. A spokesman for Enstone-based F1 team Renault, sponsored by Japanese tobacco brand Mild 7, has declined to comment on the

  • Regulars will fight to save pub

    PUB-GOERS and neighbours are fighting plans to demolish an Oxford pub and build an apartment block in its place. The Plasterers Arms in Marston Road, Oxford The Plasterers Arms in Marston Road could be bulldozed to make way for a four-storey building

  • Cats proves it's top dog

    Theatre audiences have proved there's life in the old Cats yet, after Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical beat almost a decade of box office records at Oxford's New Theatre. A scene from Cats Almost 40,000 tickets were sold for Cats during its three-week run

  • Postal strike called off for new talks

    Threatened strike action by Oxford post office workers has been called off after union bosses and management agreed to further talks. Plans for a ballot for industrial action which would have caused another round of disruption to deliveries after last

  • MP bids to break plans deadlock

    Oxford West and Abingdon MP Dr Evan Harris has stepped in to try to break the deadlock of a seven-year dispute over the future of a famous house at Boars Hill near Oxford. Yatscombe Hall in Boars Hill after the fire Yatscombe Hall, a three-storey house

  • Quins play rearranged game

    Oxford Harlequins travel to Clifton for a re-arranged South West 1. The original game in September was abandoned just before half-time because of an injury to the referee. Quins were leading 7-0 at the time. Paul DeLange or Lee Donnelly will replace the

  • Hockey fixtures - Saturday

    Games to be played on Saturday, February 7, 2004 SOUTH LEAGUE Premier Div 1: Oxford Univ v Spencer (Wandsworth). Middlesex Berks Bucks & Oxon Regional: Banbury v Milton Keynes, West Hampstead v City of Oxford. Div 1: Abingdon v Newbury, Mill Hill

  • Wolvercote duo march on at Reading

    Wolvercote's Paul Stedman and Steve Mullins booked their place in the next stage of this year's ABA Championships after recording points boxing victories at Reading University. Stedman claimed his place in the Home Counties light-welterweight final with

  • Cash machine dragged away

    RAIDERS used a Land Rover to pull a cashpoint machine from out of the shop, smashing glass window panes in Bicester before making off with a large amount of cash. Police were called at 11.21pm on Wednesday night to Balfour Convenience Stores in Kingsley

  • Saulsbury turns down switch

    Thame United have had a massive boost ahead of tomorrow's visit of Enfield with skipper James Saulsbury rejecting a move to local Ryman League Division 1 North rivals Oxford City. Player-manager Mark West said: "It's great news, he is vital to us. We

  • Interview: Post-match Pinter

    A casual game of football produced an unexpected result when two of the players decided to team up again -- after becoming successful actors. From left, Jason Watkins, Toby Jones and Douglas Hodge Jason Watkins, who recently finished filming for the new

  • Plain delicious

    The delicious smell of Alex Mackay's cooking hit me as soon as I opened his front door in Wheatley. His dining room table groaned under an abundance of beautifully-prepared simple fare, from roasted red peppers to asparagus with freshly-grated parmesan

  • Blood donor nears century

    Peter Small is well on the way to achieving a rare ambition of donating 100 units of blood. The National Blood Service presented him with the Emerald Award in recognition of donating more than 75 units --a figure achieved by only three per cent of the

  • Lucas backs asylum protest

    Oxfordshire MEP Caroline Lucas is backing campaigners who are opposed to the detention of asylum seekers at Campsfield House. A monthly protest outside the immigration detention centre in Kidlington was among a series of demonstrations held across Europe