PLANS to build on one of Headington’s last remaining car parks have caused anger among residents. The car park behind Waitrose is owned by Oxford City Council and has been earmarked as a site for potential student accommodation or housing. The idea
ANDY FFRENCH checks out some of this week’s book releases, and marks them out of five. Bloodline by Lynda La Plante is published in hardback by Simon & Schuster, priced £18.99. La Plante’s current heroine Anna Travis isn’t a patch on predecessor
The magical world of Alice in Wonderland comes to Oxford on Saturday and there is fun for all the family. “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast,” said the Red Queen in Alice In Wonderland. Which
KATHERINE MACALISTER talks romcoms and blogging with Cleopatra’s girlfriend. You’d think that writing award-winning chick flit would be enough for any aspiring 34 year-old author. But not Lucy-Anne Holmes. Not only is she a successful novelist
THE TREE OF LIFE (12A). Drama. Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken, Tye Sheridan, Laramie Eppler, Fiona Shaw, Irene Bedard, Jessica Fuselier. Director: Terrence Malick. If a film-maker ever warranted
RACHAEL O’CONNOR enjoys a colourful night out at the 02 Academy. Last month saw the third annual Oxford Pride Festival sweeping the city to celebrate lesbian, gay, bi, and trans life in Oxfordshire. The loud and proud 10-day celebration
KATHERINE MACALISTER enjoys a spot of people-watching, Pimms and some food at Malmaison’s delightful new roof bar. The elderly man in the purple Victoria Beckham dress, immaculate grey wig and large matching stilettoes paraded past me, calf
TIM HUGHES talks to Benjamin Francis Leftwich, a star of Truck, Bestival, and almost every outdoor gathering this summer. AT the tender age of 21, Benjamin Francis Leftwich must feel a huge weight of expectation on his shoulders. This week
Tim Hughes talks to a national treasure – with the biggest laugh in showbiz: the great Ruby Turner. IT takes a special kind of talent to catch the eye of a musician as exacting as Jools Holland. The kingmaker of British music is famously
STUDENTS in Oxford are being priced out of halls and forced into private accommodation, residents have claimed. East Oxford residents say fees in purpose-built student accommodation are being set artificially high, meaning students are moving into shared
T he notion of combining two men, four days fishing in the west of Ireland, and a seven-seater vehicle might strike you as a tad indulgent. Trust me, it is not. By the time you have loaded a Kelly Kettle, two boat seats, three holdalls loaded
ONE of the smartest advances in motoring in recent years has been the one-touch, folding hard-top roof. And one of the smartest one-touch folding hard-top roofs is that fitted to the Volkswagen Eos. The car’s name comes from the Greek
WHEN mum Nicholle O’Driscoll opens her charity shopping ex-travaganza tomorrow, she believes her mother will be looking down and smiling. Mrs O’Driscoll, 43, and her mother Isobel Course would often hit the shops together for a girlie day out
MORE than £57,000 has been raised for a new base for a cafe for homeless people in Oxford in just more than two months. The Gatehouse, which offers free refreshments six days a week, was earlier served notice earlier this month by Oxford City Council
Oxford Bus Company managers have apologised to women competing in the Race for Life for failing to provide enough buses on the day of the run. They admitted they struggled to cope with a “sudden rush” of passengers to the Pear Tree park-and-ride
A PLAYGROUP that faced closure is now back on track and hoping to solve every working parent’s nightmare — childcare in the summer holidays. Rainbow Bicester, formerly Rainbow Playgroup, launched a new holiday service which will leave youngsters little
THE current focus for hubbub, hullabaloo, and not a little hype, in modern motoring is undoubtedly on electric cars. Mitsubishi Motors is as active a player as any car maker in stoking the flames of the latest ‘green revolution’. Its awkwardly-named
JEMMA Cooper flung herself off a 200ft high platform to raise cash for the hospital that saved her older sister’s life. Miss Cooper, 18, was one of 17 daring fundraisers to do a bungee jump at The Midget pub in Abingdon on Sunday. So far she has collected
AEA Technology 3.3 BMW 6102 Electrocomponents 249.4 Nationwide Accident Repair 95.5 Oxford Biomedica 6.8 Oxford Catalysts 78.5 Oxford Instruments 976.25 Reed Elsevier 5.6 RM 150.5 RPS Group 244.8 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon
The abrupt departure in the week of the opening of Opera Holland Park’s Susanna, Claire Meghnagi — her reason unspecified in the announcement to the first-night audience — left the company with just five days to hire and rehearse a successor in
CAMPAIGNERS have lost their bid to overturn a plan to build a giant incinerator at Ardley. A High Court judge announced his decision this afternoon. The incinerator at Ardley Fields would be capable of burning up to 300,000 tonnes of waste a year
IT WOULD be difficult to imagine Russell Brand or Ricky Gervais taking a break from stardom to stand behind the counter of an antiques shop in deepest West Oxfordshire. But that is what comedy legend Ronnie Barker chose to do after deciding
Oxford United have received a bye in the first round of the Johnstone Paints Trophy.The second round will be played in the week starting October 3.
FARMOOR Reservoir will be filled with colour and music on Sunday as the Bangladeshi community holds its annual boat race. Hundreds are expected to join in the cultural celebration as Oxford’s Nowka Bais event has become a highlight of the Bangladeshi
THE founder of a festival that has raised thousands for an Oxford Children’s Hospital has vowed to dedicate this year’s event to his late baby daughter. Little Amber Phillpott lost her battle with leukaemia earlier this year, despite a desperate
FROM unicycling jugglers to singing rowers, Oxfordshire is boasting plenty of weird, wonderful and poignant events to keep people entertained this weekend. Here we look at some of the biggest attractions and talk to organisers about exactly what visitors
A SALTY, seafaring crowd of up to 1,150 ‘pirates’ will amble through Oxford tomorrow to raise more than £100,000 for the Sobell House Hospice Charity. The Oxford Moonlight Stroll will have a pirate theme and organisers hope strollers will be
A HUMAN fruit machine and a unicycling juggler will be among the attractions at a fundraising event in Oxford’s Bonn Square tomorrow. The event has been organised by care assistants Emily Kamal-Smith and Gwen Jenkins at the Highfield Unit in Warneford
A TRADITIONAL carnival float procession in Bicester could be ditched due to steep insurance bills. Organisers say the event could instead adopt into a “Notting Hill style carnival” walking parade after high insurance bills put off groups that used to
BUSINESSES have called on Cherwell District Council to make a u-turn over controversial parking charges as it is set to look again at the issue. On Tuesday, councillors will look at their decision to introduce evening fees and charging for blue badge
A CAMPAIGN to save a North Oxford war memorial from collapse has raised enough money for its restoration. Death watch beetles have been slowly destroying the unusual memorial at St Margaret’s Church, on the corner of Kingston Road and St Margaret’s Road
CROCODILES, entertainers and a parade will all feature in this year’s Witney Carnival. About 3,500 people are expected to attend tomorrow’s event, which raises thousands of pounds for charity. Committee chairman Charles Ford said: “It will be a very
A MAN has been convicted of slashing a love rival’s face in an East Oxford toilet. Jurors at Oxford Crown Court took just over an hour to find Calvin Souch guilty of wounding with intent. The three-day trial heard the 38-year-old attacked Carl Suter
DISABLED pensioners claim they are being victimised by a ‘penny pinching’ Oxfordshire County Council. From September, the cash-strapped council will make around 800 people with stairlifts in their home pay for the machine’s maintenance and upkeep. The
AEA Technology 3.5 BMW 6208 Electrocomponents 245.2 Nationwide Accident Repair 95.5 Oxford Biomedica 6.6 Oxford Catalysts 81 Oxford Instruments 974.5 Reed Elsevier 572.25 RM 150.5 RPS Group 244.6 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley
BLACKWELL’S Bookshop in Oxford has one of the most famous facades in the world. So, to make sure scaffolding did not get in the way of the popular view during a renovation project, a novel plan was thought up. Kidlington photographer Charles Spackman
HEALTH chiefs have admitted they were a long way from solving the problem of poor dental health for youngsters in Blackbird Leys. The Oxford Mail revealed in May how only 46 per cent of children in the Blackbird Leys estate, and 44 per cent of youngsters
OXFORDSHIRE are banking on experience as they look to revive their Western Division campaign against Shropshire at Whitchurch, writes ED MEZZETTI. They have brought in batsmen Richard Kaufman, Rob Williams and Charlie Knightley, who have played 42 Championship
North Leigh striker Matty Taylor says his commitment remains with his home club after signing a contract with the Evo-stick League (Southern) side. Taylor, who scored 40 goals in all competitions for North Leigh last season, had been offered
THIS weekend Silverstone will crown another winner at the British Grand Prix. But, perhaps the most unusual world champion will be taking the podium at Charlbury tomorrow. That is because the town is set to host the first Aunt Sally World Championships
EVERY day someone dreams up another use for solar energy, each more fantastic than the last. In the window of Pylones in Oxford’s Cornmarket Street, among the many gift ideas that fairly scream at the public with their array of brash colours, are easy-to-miss
REGARDING the report on homeless figures for Oxford (Oxford Mail, June 23), I was shocked to read of the numbers of people in inadequate housing, or needing a home. Can we, however, be sure that there wasn’t any double accounting in the numbers? Even
I AM vastly qualified and experienced in my career choice, but I recently applied for a position, as my contract is terminating in a couple of months. The contract specification was clear as well as the remuneration. As part of the submission
I WRITE regarding the story ‘Sikhs find a new place of worship’ (Oxford Mail, July 2). The story conveyed a misleading impression that the problem of finding a place of worship for the Oxford Sikhs has been resolved. We are writing this letter
THE father of the highest ranking Army officer to die since the Falklands said it was “criminal” families of military personnel may have been targeted by phone hackers. It emerged yesterday how phones of relatives of soldiers killed in action
IN REPLY to Ken Roper’s letter about tailgating lorries (Oxford Mail, July 5) I’d like to take the gloves off. How dare he question my professional integrity? I am an ambulance driver and I have two main jobs. One is organ transplant work, which involves
I AM still waiting to hear from Valerie Dance. I received a letter from a reader, in December, 2010, to say Valerie was married and living on the edge of the Cotswolds. Could this reader, or anyone else who knows Valerie, pass this message
Abingdon United travel to Oxford City on Tuesday, August 2 as part of the build up to their Evo-Stik League (Southern) Division 1 South & West campaign. Friendly fixtures Jul 12: Winchester City (a); Jul 16: Reading Tn (a); Jul 23: Easington (a); Jul
EVEN allowing for the fact that people are more likely to cast their net wide during tough times, it is extremely disturbing to hear that the average number of candidates per graduate job vacancy has rocketed up to 83. DAVID DIMENT, Riverside
POPPY Smith led a med-al charge on a successful day for Abingdon GC in the Oxfordshire County Championships at the Phoenix Gym, Maidenhead. Smith’s superb floor routine won her the gold medal in the senior level two category and qualified her for the
STEVENTON’S Ami Measor has qualified for October’s Horse of the Year Show at Birmingham NEC – for the third time in a row. Measor was competing in the 1.20 Amateur Classic in Watford and went through from a field of 104. She came second to complete
JONNY Cater smashed an unbeaten 85, but it was not enough to save Oxfordshire's Development XI from a 23-run defeat against Middlesex Academy at Radley College yesterday. Cater, who played his junior cricket in Oxford but now plays for Buckingham, led
Two teams from Abingdon won titles in the AEGON Oxon Schools Championships. Our Lady’s, Abingdon, captured the Under 13 League Division 1 title. They enjoyed an unbeaten run that included wins against Bloxham, Headington, St Helen’s & St Katherine’s
MARK Jones was the fastest man home in Oxonian’s Witney ten-mile time trial. He crossed the line in wet and blustery conditions in 21mins 50secs, ahead of Richard Harrison (21.51) in second and Jesse Elzinga (22.09) in third. Clare Vallance was the
MUGGLES, mudbloods and magical folk descended on London last night, for the premiere of the latest – and last of the Harry Potter films. And among them was a dedicated fan from Didcot – who, thanks to his costume- making skills, bears more
WORK to get Blenheim Palace ready for this month’s CLA Game Fair is in full swing. The fair will take place at the stately home in Woodstock from Friday, July 22, until Sunday, July 24, featuring a host of displays and demonstrations of countryside
A VICTIM of paedophile Gerard Cullen fears for the safety of people in Oxford with the child rapist days away from being freed. Cullen, who raped and sexually abused two young brothers over seven years in the 1990s, is to be released this month after
MUGGLES, mudbloods and magical folk descended on London last night, for the premiere of the latest – and last – of the Harry Potter films. And among them was a dedicated fan from Didcot who, thanks to his costume- making skills, bears more than a passing
A mugger attacked a woman and stole her handbag in an attack. Police are appealing for witnesses after the incident in Blackbird Leys, at about 7.50pm last Friday. The 45-year-old victim was in Brambling Way when a man approached her and threw her to
A driver was taken to hospital following an accident on the A34 yesterday. The accident, which led to long tailbacks, took place shortly before 9am on the northbound carriageway between the Pear Tree and Botley interchanges. The man was not seriously
Skipper Simon Hole is taking nothing for granted when Shipton-under-Wychwood make the long trip to Carew in Pembrokeshire for the second national round on Sunday. Shipton were involved in an extraordinary six-wicket win against Goatacre in the last round
Serious Cricket Home Counties Premier League OXFORD can underline their Division 1 title credentials tomorrow, when they visit High Wycombe in a top-of-the-table battle, writes ED MEZZETTI. Leaders Wycombe have not lost yet this season, but Oxford
JOEY Beauchamp and Dave Langan admit there will be some nerves when they step out for their big night. The duo will tonight be rewarded for their service to Oxford United in a testimonial match at the Kassam Stadium that will see a huge array of stars
THE closure of the News of the World yesterday by News International should not fool anyone this is a first step to wiping this slate of sleaze clean. Yesterday’s decision by the Murdochs was a cold-blooded business decision, rather than a
Francis Vines’ new-look Didcot Town face the ultimate test when they host a full-strength Oxford United side at the npower Loop Meadow Stadium on Saturday. Chris Wilder has indicated all his first-team squad will play a part, meaning all
MEET Little Ted — he is South Oxfordshire’s most famous cat. Little Ted, a Persian Exotic, lives with his owners Elaine and Adrian Parsons, near Wallingford. Mrs Parsons, who works as a secretary in Abingdon, got Little Ted four years ago with his sister
PARENTS and children at West Witney Primary School are making every effort to make sure their school wins this year’s competition. If West Witney Primary School wins the £7,500 of building work up for grabs then it will create a new sensory garden and
A FORMER libraries chief has said that county branches remain in a “precarious” position – despite being saved from a funding axe. Don Seale warned that increased pressure on Oxfordshire County Council’s social services meant libraries could not be guaranteed
