Archive

ALMOST £7,000 has been handed to community projects in Blackbird Leys by councillors. The Leys Youth Programme received £2,761 from Blackbird Leys Parish Council to cover half the cost of its Building Together Project, one of four projects to gain funding

TEACHERS at a comprehensive school have vowed to step in to help pay to run Wantage youth club if funding is cut. Staff at King Alfred’s School say the Sweatbox is too important to lose if Oxfordshire County Council decides to stop funding it along with

A luxury apartment in a former coaching inn that dates from the 16th century is on the market for £285,000. The ground-floor property in White Hart Mews is part of the Grade-II listed former White Hart Hotel in the centre of Chipping Norton. It includes

Anyone looking for rustic charm and plenty of character might want to consider a converted farmhouse. Three-hundred-year-old Old Upper Farm in Woodeaton has many period features such as flagstone floors, open fireplaces, window shutters and seats and

Lenny Henry talks about life after his divorce and how throwing himself into his work helped to heal the wounds. Shakespearian actor, stand-up comedian, TV presenter, children’s character, and... the face of Premier Inn. No one could accuse

Laura Howard didn’t go to drama school. She won a part in a sitcom aged 14 and hasn’t looked back since. But having quit her role as Cully, DS Barnaby’s daughter in Midsomer Murders, after an incredible 13 series, the world is her oyster and the 33 year-old

Acting always seems to have got in the way of Laura Howard’s attempts at a normal life. She took her A levels, but didn’t go to university because a film part came up, followed by the role of Cully in Midsomer Murders. So having quit the

Do you have a penchant for pies?, the Crown and Tuns website asks? Is the Pope a Catholic? Are Simon Cowell’s trousers too high? Is Chris Moyles the most irritating man on earth? Have the landlords Kathy and Anton Hayter met my husband in a former

THE show by folk-rocker Richard Thompson at the city’s New Theatre, on Saturday was, our spies tell us, every bit as thrilling as you might expect from one of the greatest living guitarists. Richard, despite being a Londoner, is a very familiar face

When the upkeep of 89-year-old Barbara Elliott’s home became too much for her, she was unsure what to do. She spotted an advertisement for a retirement living development in Banbury and decided to take a look. Mrs Elliott, who had been in her home for

KATHERINE MACALISTER is happy to report that she and Mr Greedy did indeed eat all the pies... Do you have a penchant for pies?, the Crown and Tuns website asks? Is the Pope a Catholic? Are Simon Cowell’s trousers too high? Is Chris

THE FIGHTER (15). Drama/Romance. Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Jack McGee. Director: David O Russell. Nominated for seven Oscars, The Fighter is an incredible story of triumph over adversity both in and

BRIGHTON ROCK (15). Drama/Romance/Thriller. Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren, John Hurt, Andy Serkis, Steven Robertson, Phil Davis, Sean Harris. Director: Rowan Joffe. Rowan Joffe, son of Oscar-nominated film-maker

Tim Hughes is captivated by the buzz around Californian singer-songwriter Sea of Bees. YOU might say that Julie Ann Baenziger is not your usual California girl. And she would be the first to agree. There’s something off-kilter about this

TIM HUGHES on why this Chinese New Year is so special for the Original Rabbit Foot Spasm Band. HAPPY Chinese New Year! As I’m sure you knew, today marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit. And one group of guys will be celebrating

Shakespearian actor, stand-up comedian, TV presenter, children’s character, and... the face of Premier Inn. No one could accuse Lenny Henry of sticking rigidly to one thing. “You’ve got to present a moving target,” he says, and he’s only half-joking

HAPPY Chinese New Year! As I’m sure you knew, today marks the start of the Year of the Rabbit. And one group of guys will be celebrating harder than anyone this side of the Yangtze River. They are, appropriately enough, the Original Rabbit Foot Spasm

YOU might say that Julie Ann Baenziger is not your usual California girl. And she would be the first to agree. There’s something off-kilter about this quirky Sacramento singer-songwriter… a touch of the eccentric coupled with a keen creative edge and

Nominated for seven Oscars, The Fighter is an incredible story of triumph over adversity both in and out of the boxing ring. The film provides all of the usual emotional jabs and upper cuts as its working class hero defies the odds for one shot at glory

Rowan Joffe, son of Oscar-nominated film-maker Roland Joffe (The Killing Fields, The Mission), makes an auspicious directorial debut with this new adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel. John Boulting’s 1947 adaptation of Brighton Rock is one of the classics

RESIDENTS fear a £57m Oxford University development will add to their mounting parking problems. The university wants to demolish three buildings at its Old Road Campus, near the Churchill Hospital, to make way for new medical research facilities. Neighbours

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An 83-year-old man has been charged with sexual offences against a child in connection with incidents that occurred in the 1980s. Alfred Cooper, of Dorchester on Thames, has been charged with five counts of indecent assault on a child under

The prospect of declaring your love for someone while cooped up in a noisy restaurant on Valentine's Day is the ultimate passion killer for many people, writes Sappho Lauder. Sitting at tables crammed together like sardines with views obscured

Walk into any high street record shop and their racks spill over with love song compilation albums. Normally called something appalling like 5001 Of The Most Illness Inducing Love Songs In The World EVAH, and containing a cornucopia of the

Have you guys ever given serious thought to where you buy your Valentine’s flowers? It says a whole load about how you rate your loved one and, while we know there are many ladies who will appreciate the fact you bought them any flowers at

A STORY inspired by an old house at Water Eaton, on the outskirts of North Oxford, is to be released as a film next year. How I Live Now will be directed by Kevin MacDonald, who made Idi Amin biopic The Last King of Scotland and documentaries Touching

SEVEN out of Oxfordshire’s eight Government forests could be sold under controversial plans. The Government has included 321 hectares of land, the equivalent to around 400 football pitches, among sites it could sell to the highest bidder. These are

A man is due to appear before magistrates this today charged with wounding with intent and causing bodily harm with wanton furious driving. Rohan Crooks, 33, of Sturge Avenue, London, has been charged following an incident in Cuddesdon Way, Blackbird

POWER cuts are killing business and driving customers away from a Wantage shopping centre, according to traders. Five blackouts have hit all 10 shops at Grovelands Shopping Centre, Savile Way, in the last month, the latest on Tuesday. Karann Rowland

CAMPAIGNERS against plans to merge Elms Road Nursery with Botley Primary School have urged parents to speak out before a consultation ends later this month. Oxfordshire County Council has issued a statutory notice for the closure of the nursery

Police are appealing for information after a 17-year-old boy was assaulted in Banbury. The boy was walking along an alley between Prescott Close and Mold Crescent shortly after 1pm on Friday, when he became involved in an altercation with a man.

A 33-year-old man has been charged with wounding with intent and causing bodily harm with wanton furious driving. Rohan Crooks, of Sturge Avenue, London, has been charged in relation to a hit-and-run incident in Cuddesdon Way, Blackbird Leys, in October

OXFORD CITY Stableford: 1 D Fitzgerald 40pts, 2 S Tabor 38, 3 C McMahon 37. OXFORD LADIES Bisque Par: 1 P Smith level, 2 S Dudding -2. CHIPPING NORTON Winter League – 4th round: 1 C Denton & S Kench 48pts, 2 R Blackwell & T Young 45, 3 D Howlett

Vikings Club have opened up a three-point lead at the top of the Johnsons Buildbase Oxford League Premier Section after beating Masons B 4-1 in a rearranged match and demolishing Democrats Club 5-0, writes PETE EWINS. Alan Lacey (6,990), Ian Moss (4,130

A family were overcome by toxic fumes caused by cleaning products at their home in Clare, near Watlington, on Tuesday. Two fire crews were called to the incident on the main road in the hamlet at 5pm. They cordoned off the house and used fans to ventilate

TRAIN operator Wrexham & Shropshire, which links Banbury with Telford, Shrewsbury and North Wales, stopped operating on Friday. The company, which began life in April 2008 as an open access operator, running without a Government subsidy, said it had

KNITTERS are being called on to help parents overcome the loss of a child. Sharon Darke and other volunteers are to hand out “memory boxes” to parents who have lost children at the Horton Hospital, Banbury, as well as the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford

A DOORMAN has gone on trial accused of raping a customer at an Oxford nightclub. Yasser Al Joumaa was working at Plush Lounge in Park End Street when he is alleged to have forced an 18-year-old woman to give him oral sex in a toilet cubicle

Oxfordshire's Jake Wilson scored a try as the South West Under 18s beat London division 27-5 in a friendly. Meanwhile, Oxon’s Josh Poole, Ben Pointon and Peter Moore are in the South West Under 16s squad for this weekend’s divisional festival. JUNIOR

A woman has given one of her kidneys to a complete stranger so her friend can get a new one. Emma Shields could not give friend Helen Morgan a kidney as they were not a biological match. So she gave one of hers to a person in Ireland

EDDIE Pepperell is back in England action tomorrow when he plays in the Jones Invitational Cup. The 20-year-old Drayton Park member and teammate Andrew Cooley (Chobham) are representing the English Golf Union (EGU) at Ocean Forest Golf Club, Sea Island

The witch hazel flowers, those marmalade concoctions of yellow, orange or red ribbons that appear in winter, have partly opened and then stopped in freeze-frame. They look hunched up with cold and I feel a little the same, caught in a winter no-man’s-land

WOODSTOCK Harriers’ Steve Naylor came through one of the toughest races of his career to finish a highly creditable 16th at Parliament Hill, London. Naylor entered the event for the first time, and at 15km, it was the longest course he has faced so far

OXFORD City’s under 17 girls won team bronze at the South of England Cross Country Championships. Lauren Hawtin led the team home, crossing the line in 14th place, with Jade Walker (26th), Imogen Kempton (48th) and Rebecca Byren (59th) making up the

NORTH Oxford Conservative Club snatched the Kidling-ton Indoor League crown from Gin’ll Fix It with a 6-0 win over their rivals in a thrilling title decider. Gin’ll Fix It needed just a draw to be champions going into the final round of matches. And

Former Bicester mini and junior chairman Tony Walton is looking to attract an Oxfordshire team to play in the Istanbul Sevens. Istanbul Ottomans RFC asked Walton to seek a British entry to the tournament on May 14 and 15. Contact him on 01869 244277.

Have a fun day rehearsing and singing a major piece of music in concert under the guidance of a professional conductor. At the same time, raise money for a good cause. That was the idea five years ago, in the first Come and Sing concert for Oxford

Oxford City Stars were unable to stop Wightlink Raiders marching on at the top of English National League South Division 1 as they slipped to a 5-1 home defeat. Raiders’ visit had been much-anticipated, but the match failed to live up to expectation

The last time actress Liza Goddard passed through Oxford professionally, she was touring in play number. 71 by Alan Ayckbourn, Life and Beth, in early 2009. Two years on, she’s at the Playhouse again next week, starring in number 74, Life of Riley (to

PHOTOGRAPHS capturing the battles between environmental protesters and private bailiffs in the 1990s have gone on display at Oxford’s Pegasus Theatre. Jericho photographer Adrian Arbib, 47, has put on display images captured during his three months with

TONY Payne has driven in as Frilford Heath’s new men’s captain. Payne, who has been a member for 18 years, works for Oxford City Council’s environmental health department. The seven-handicapper, who lives in Brize Norton, joined the club from Oxford

POLICE believe a man who sexually assaulted a woman in East Oxford may have exposed himself to another woman in December. A 34-year-old woman was walking along Bullingdon Road at about 4am on Sunday. When she got to the junction with St Mary’s Road,

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Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus has a famed connection with Oxford. In 1966, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor added their very considerable presence to an Oxford University Dramatic Society production at the Playhouse. “A huge entourage

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Head coach Alec Smith says Bicester have a lot of regrouping to do before they can consider promotion back to Southern Counties North. Smith’s men have won their last three matches in the BB&O Premier Division, having lost every league game in a disastrous

Two lorries crashed on the A34 this morning, spilling grain across the carriageway and causing long delays for commuters. Police were called to the incident at 6.09am on the southbound carriageway between the A4185 Chilton Interchange and the M4 Junction

THOMAS Roby is a lucky young man. He was fortunate that no one was killed by his act of lunacy when he grabbed the steering wheel of an Oxford Tube coach on the M40 and caused it to crash. And as he sits in his cell this morning, he should ponder that

I Owe the Oxford Mail (Saturday 22 and Monday 24 January) a double set of thanks. Firstly, your double page spread last week clearly set out the costs and usages of the 20 libraries we are proposing to cease funding as part of our budget cuts and will

Let’s get this clear: I’m appalled by the prospect of our libraries closing and support the campaigns to keep them open unequivocally. That said, I am against some of the extreme positions that I read in this paper, and that I heard at the recent public

I know the Oxford Mail has been inundated with letters objecting to the county council’s appalling proposal to withdraw funding from 20 of our 43 precious libraries, and I’d like to thank you for all your support in this campaign. As you have reported

THE fight against the proposed libraries here in Oxford has produced a perfect platform for the Labour party’s recovery from the beating they so justly deserved at the last election. East Oxford MP, the Hon Andrew Smith, spoke eloquently of his support

THIS is the horrific moment a drunken bus passenger grabbed the steering wheel of a double-decker express coach on the M40, causing it to crash. Thomas Roby was captured on CCTV wrestling the driver for control of the Oxford Tube coach as it

IN the present economic climate, councils must make savings – and libraries will be involved. The council seems intent on closing libraries and figures have been produced showing the cost of running them. Suggestions have been made for saving money

AN interesting quotation is writ large on the walls of the Oxford Spires Academy in East Oxford to inspire its students. It reads: “When I got my library card, that’s when my life began” – the words of American author and civil rights activist

Jamie Allen, 12, and Ryan Morrow, 11, from RTA Didcot Tae Kwon-Do, have been selected to represent England at the first Children’s European Championships in Estonia later this month. Under the guidance of eight Dan, Gary Miller, both boys received

RENAULT driver Vitaly Petrov was delighted after completing his first testing session in the new Lotus R31 car this week – although admitted he was hampered by a few technical problems. The Enstone-based team got their first chance to examine their new-look

John Carter said renewed passion for the game saw him become Oxford University captain less than five months after coming out of retirement. And having been elected as the Dark Blues’ new skipper, Carter is relishing the task ahead, especially after

BRITISH skating champion Katie Richardson yesterday helped unveil a revamped Oxford Ice Rink. The 15-year-old, from Wolvercote, took to the ice to perform her championship winning routine to celebrate the £700,000 facelift by Oxford City

A man has been arrested in connection with an attempted murder in Blackbird Leys, police said last night. Rohan Crooks walked into a police station in Islington, London, on Tuesday morning and was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

PLANS to pilot a major overhaul of the NHS in Oxfordshire are “fraught with risk and full of unknowns” a doctors’ leader has warned. County doctors are gearing up for a trial of controversial plans to let GPs decide how 80 per cent of the NHS budget

THE chief of Oxfordshire’s hospitals last night insisted its problems treating cancer patients on time and having enough staff were being fixed. Sir Jonathan Michael believed the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust would be able to continue to

SIR Jonathan Michael, the chief executive of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust, has pledged he and his staff will improve their service. The vow comes after the Care Quality Commission failed the trust in four areas after a recent inspection. The

Oxford University ran in four tries as they beat the Royal Navy 22-13 in an injury-shortened match at Iffley Road on Wednesday night. Dark Blues wing Luke Fenwick suffered a broken leg in the seventh minute and half an hour later, he was wheeled off

A collisiion between two lorries led to long delays on the A34 today. The crash, which led to the spillage of three tonnes of grain on the road, happened on the southbound carriageway near junction 13 of the M4 at Chieveley. Delays at times stretched

Until the felling of the Royal forest of Wychwood in the 1840s, Oxfordshire was one of the most wooded counties. Now only seven per cent of its area is woodland. It still has 457 hectares of Forestry Commission-managed woods, including a fragment of

UP TO 40 high-tech jobs will be created by gene therapy company Oxford BioMedica, which has paid £1.9m for a test drug manufacturing plant at Milton Park, near Didcot. It is buying the plant, with so-called 'cleanrooms' which prevent microscopic impurities

THE UPSIDE OF IRRATIONALITY by Dan Ariely (HarperCollins, £16.99)This is in much the same vein as Ariely’s first excellent book, Predictably Irrational, both books being collections of observations and experimental results from the fields of psychology

The short story is a beleaguered literary form. Although authors welcome the opportunity for brevity, concision, the chance to launch a few choice ideas in a limited space, novels are what really sell. When writers set out to make their name, a novel

SUGAR ISLAND by Sanjida O’Connell (John Murray, £17.99) After O’Connell wrote the factual Sugar: The Grass that Changed the World, she drew inspiration for her latest novel from a moving diary by British actress Fanny Kemble, who married an

The Branch Lines of Oxfordshire by Colin Maggs (Amberley Publishing, £16.99) delights and infuriates at the same time. Its explorations of local curiosities such as the still-operational Bicester Military Railway and the long-vanished Wroxton Quarry Railway

Chris Wilder is determined to get the best out of his Oxford United squad – and admits he was delighted nobody was interested in any of his players on transfer deadline day. The U’s manager said he was surprised by the lack of phone calls

THE Oxford Times today launches a countywide campaign to help improve the lives of hundreds of elderly people across Oxfordshire. Together with Age UK Oxfordshire, we are unveiling our Give An Hour campaign, which calls on readers to reinforce

AN OXFORD bar is encouraging drinkers to donate suits to help homeless people on to the career ladder. The Living Room’s Suit Amnesty campaign has been launched to coincide with Poverty and Homelessness Action Week. Staff are urging people to dig out

Residents’ concerns about a new £57m Oxford University development in Headington serve to highlight the contradictions at the heart of parking policy. The development, if it goes ahead, will not be allowed to have any more parking than exists at the

BLIND disability campaigner Colin Walsh is urging people in the south of the county to fight plans to axe free taxi travel for the disabled and pensioners. The 73-year-old Oxford resident, is urging residents to attend a public meeting about Oxfordshire

Sir – Royal Mail could save a great deal of money by restricting deliveries to only 83 per cent of the inhabitants of these islands. One can only imagine the uproar that such a proposal would provoke. People could not accept that a public body

A doctors’ leader said this week that plans for GPs in Oxfordshire to form a major new consortium to purchase health services for their patients were “fraught with risk and full of unknowns”. That seems to us something of an understatement. Our report

Supposedly culled from newspaper stories, but clearly based on his own experiences, François Truffaut's La Peau Douce (1964) was not just a conscious reaction to the poetic romanticism of Jules et Jim (1961), but it was also an audacious attempt

Sir – Mr Mitchell has not responded to my question about opening the Central Library on a Sunday. Will he tell us whether the idea has been dropped? If not, will he tell us how much it would cost? Gerry Kendall, Oxford

Sir – Keith Mitchell sees no alternative to closing libraries and accuses the rest of us for failing to help him out on this. Here are thre ideas for him: Compress working hours for most county council sites, including headquarters, to a four-day

Sir – My father and his siblings all left school at 13. Libraries gave them not only the books to study from but a space to study in. They gained a variety of qualifications ending up as eg clerk to the Norwich Markets, an aeronautical draughtsman, head

Sir – One of the issues that the proposed library closures has brought to light is the disenfranchisement of Oxford city. Oxford city councillors are powerless to do anything about the proposed closure of libraries and youth centres in the city because

Sir – Controversial Northern Gateway scheme gets go-ahead was your headline on December 23. The report on the examination into the Oxford core strategy development plan is online at www.oxford.gov.uk/Direct/ CoreStrategyFinalInspectorsReport.pdf And

Sir – I was interested to read Chris Koenig’s report on the Oxford Farming Conference and The Oxford Real Farming Conference (How now brown cow, January 13). I have attended the Oxford Farming Conference since the Sixties and will continue to do

Sir – Your editorial (January 27) expresses concern about Oxfordshire County Council’s approach to Free Schools and, in particular, that its support implies a shirking of the council's responsibility to ‘deal with overcrowding [in schools] and in such

Sir – Keith Mitchell’s suggestion that authors oppose library closures because they have a vested interest is beneath contempt, but at least it shows that he expects the consequence to be that fewer books will be borrowed. Given the value of libraries

Sir – I am writing with reference to your article County Schools now in top third, (January 3). While you rightly praise the achievements of secondary schools which offer the A level, you fail to mention that the most successful secondary school in Oxfordshire

Sir – Your celebration (Record number of school’s pupils get Oxbridge offers, January 13) of the 36 Magdalen College School pupils who have achieved Oxbridge offers is of course just and fair, but at a time when Education Secretary Michael Gove is mauling

South & Vale Young Carers Project are co-ordinating a ‘Home From Hospital’ project within Oxfordshire hospitals. There are an estimated 11,000 young carers across Oxfordshire and a recent BBC survey of 4,000 schoolchildren revealed that one in 12 has

Forty years ago, London Weekend Television launched the finest period drama ever produced by ITV. It was originally conceived as a sitcom entitled Behind the Green Baize Door. But co-creators Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins were persuaded that events at

Sir – Last year our son was placed first of 16, on the list of children in catchment, but not offered a place at Wolvercote Primary. It soon became apparent that the catchment area would also be altered before our second son would be able to start.

Sir – It is well known that, like many governments before, the Coalition has opened the state cashbox, and has found much less in it than was hoped and, while desperately trying its hand at coping, has passed on much of the problem to county and city

Sir – With regard to your article (Shopping till you drop, January 20) by Chris Koenig, it was good to read that the plan to build the £22m shopping centre fell through. What a ghastly frontage it would have vandalised St Aldate’s with, between the

Sir – Your correspondent Hugh Jaeger (Letters, January 27) writes: “Richard Mann, of Cyclox . . . wants 20mph both enforced and extended to Oxford’s remaining 30mph roads. How many libraries or youth centres might have to close to fund such gestures?”

THE son of a man described as “as much a part of Oxford as Carfax” has written his life story after uncovering a treasure trove of personal belongings. Richard Cole said he was fascinated by the depth of dad Raymond Buxton Cole’s connections

In these comparatively austere times, it is a bit naughty to be talking about expensive wines, but as car journalists are still reviewing the latest high-spec BMWs, Mercedes and so forth, I am hoping you will cut me a little slack. I almost missed tasting

Why is Pinot Noir so popular? Almost certainly because it is silky smooth, elegant and so easy to drink. It is the kind of wine you can drink at any time and it always gives pleasure. With our Escarpment Pinot Noir Dinner Tasting coming up at The