Archive

  • Go down to the woods in the National Forest

    Spinning pit head winding gear, blackened miners’ faces thick with dust, and open cast mines gouged out by big boys toys. I grew up close to the Leicestershire coalfield, and loved it. There was something exciting about that patchwork of rolling

  • Mini plant to open its doors to the public

    THE chance to tour the vast assembly hall of Cowley’s famous Mini Plant is just one of the highlights in this year’s Open Doors event. Open Doors is staged each year by Oxford Preservation Trust and the University of Oxford. In the first week of

  • Boys' Toys Make For Great Bond Getaway At Beaulieu

    JASON COLLIE and sons have an unashamedly macho time among the guns and Bond cars at Beaulieu THERE are certain things that make a father proud. They shouldn’t in this grown-up 21st Century world, but they do. My little mildly macho box

  • Wilderness festival comes with a touch of magic

    Tim Hughes talks to Jo Vidler, director of this weekend’s wonderful Wilderness festival DEEP in the woods of the ancient Wychwood Forest, things are stirring. Between the trees of the Cornbury Estate, just outside Charlbury, Something

  • Ellen is ready for her Cropredy escapade

    Tim Hughes talks to Ellen Smith, one of the fresher names playing at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention THEY’re folk – but not as you know it. Fusing good old English roots with rock and pop, Ellen and the Escapades have created a sound all

  • Climate research set to blossom at county primaries

    SCHOOLS across Oxfordshire are being offered the chance to take part in a live science experiment, and practise their gardening skills to boot. Last year the Yarnton based Edina Trust worked with three primary schools in Oxfordshire and 11 more

  • CRICKET: Shipton want Perera to shine

    Shipton-under-Wychwood are hoping that new overseas recruit Gehan Perera will help them escape relegation in their first season in Home Counties Premier League Division 2 West. Perera, an all-rounder who has played first-class cricket in

  • Acclaimed film maker Stephen Blackman

    FAMILY and friends from around the world have paid tribute to a widely-respected cinematographer, musician and director for television and film. Stephen Blackman, who died suddenly of a stroke last month at the age of 55, achieved fame as a cinematographer

  • Local shares (PM)

    AEA Technology 0.055 BMW 4743 Electrocomponents 219.4 Nationwide Accident Repair 61.5 Oxford Biomedica 2.2 Oxford Catalysts 66.5 Oxford Instruments 1262.5 Reed Elsevier 569.25 RM 78.75 RPS Group 245.25   Courtesy of Redmayne

  • Exciting times ahead as community grows

    CARTERTON is going from strength to strength as yet more investment is made in the town. Aldi has already opened a large supermarket in the town centre and now Morrisons has applied for planning permission to open a store. The store should

  • Royal Mail delivers third-class service

    Sir – Once again Royal Mail fouls things up. The whole fiasco is a third-class service, for which we pay a hell of a lot. On July 6 I posted off my Medic-Alert emblem (fortunately I do have a spare) for a replacement band. Waiting several days

  • Having a Wild time in the countryside

    THERE was once a time when music festivals were all about... well, music. Try telling that to those attending this weekend’s Wilderness festival. The three-day event at Cornbury Park, Charlbury, may offer a packed line-up of bands and artists

  • Council fully behind Witney performance space project

    Sir – I write in response to the letter from Mr J Whittle in last week’s Gazette. I would like to place on record that I think Robin Martin-Oliver’s The Space project is an absolutely fantastic one and would be superb for Witney. I have worked

  • Sale of bank is good news for customers

    Sir – News that the Co-operative Bank is to take over Witney’s Cheltenham & Gloucester branch next year is very much welcome. Not only because it hopefully secures the jobs of the C&G staff but it also gives Witney residents a real choice

  • Diamond Jubilee plaques stolen

    Sir –The Second Lease Club, a walking and social group for the over-50s based in Witney wanted to do something to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. We had some spare cash in the coffers and it was decided we should pay for some new gates to

  • Time to sort out immigration

    Sir – As you maybe aware, the first 2011 census data has just been published and I have been looking at the data. Isn’t it time we started to deal with mass immigration into this country properly? The figures are alarming reading. People

  • Absence inspires exhibition

    THE idea of absence is explored in a photographic exhibition in Jericho. Artist Sharon Boothroyd’s pictures at Art Jericho look at children and fathers who are separated from each other. Ms Boothroyd, of Hollow Way, Cowley, said: “I looked

  • RUGBY LEAGUE: Dynamic duo boost Cavaliers

    Jack Briggs and Johnny Morris both grabbed a hat-trick of tries as Oxford Cavaliers finished top of the West of England Division with a 56-28 win against Somerset Vikings. The result means Oxford will now host the winners of theSomerset Vikings

  • Jubilee Fund grant aids play days

    A PLAYSCHEME for disadvantaged children in Oxford is £2,000 better off this summer, thanks to a Jubilee year grant from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation. The OCF is driving Oxfordshire’s Jubilee Fund, encouraging people and businesses to raise

  • GOLF: Latest results

    RESULTS CHECKSHAW GIBBS OXFORDSHIRE FOURSOMES LEAGUE Section 3 Shrivenham Park 2 (3½pts), North Oxford ½ (½) (Shrivenham Park first): S Tanner & S Fernandes bt D Titcombe & N Allen 6 & 5; D Hawkins & M Davis halved with J Gale

  • £150k initiative to support degenerative research

    DRUG discovery company Summit is to receive up to £150,000 from a Government initiative to support research into neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Summit, based at Milton Park near Didcot, is researching potential treatments for diseases

  • BAR BILLIARDS: Didcot's smotth victory

    Didcot Conservative Club bounced back from last week’s reverse to beat Democrats 5-1 in Group A of the Johnsons Buildbase Summer League. Jenny Florey, Sue Atkins and top-scorer Dave Tooke put the home side 3-0 up. Eddie Tebby pulled a game

  • New stores create more than 130 jobs

    TWO major stores are opening at a new Oxford retail site, creating more than 130 jobs. Bosses at homewares specialist Dunelm Mill will today welcome Oxford Lord Mayor Alan Armitage to cut the ribbon on its new shop which has taken on 110 workers

  • Cropredy kicks off a magical month of festivals

    FESTIVAL season is well and truly here, with Oxfordshire residents spoilt for choice for their August entertainment. Folk festivals, food festivals, and fundraisers all take place throughout the month and today the Oxford Mail looks at what’s in

  • Theatre boost

    Creation Theatre is staging a fundraiser at the Town Hall in St Aldate’s on Sunday, August 19. Lord Mayor Alan Armitage will attend the event in the Old Courtroom at 1pm.

  • Policing issues

    Residents can meet police at a drop-in session on Sunday. Officers from Thames Valley Police will be at Botley Baptist Church in Westminster Way, North Hinksey, from 6pm to 7pm.

  • Questions over caesarean study

    An Oxford University academic has questioned research which suggested caesarean births damage brain function. An American study found smaller production of the UCP2 protein in caesarean mice births compared to natural births. But Prof Martin

  • Jobs boost as survey firm plans to take on more staff

    A COMPANY that specialises in providing geological surveys for oil and gas giants has announced a major expansion. Bosses at Neftex based at Milton Park, near Didcot, say they will take on another 50 staff after winning a series of contracts worth

  • 'Emotional' 12,000-mile ride to Cape Town comes to an end

    IN THE last year, they’ve battled blistering heat, civil war, homesickness and fatigue. But an Oxfordshire couple celebrated as their 12,000-mile cycle from London to Cape Town finally came to an end on Tuesday. Loretta White, a doctor at Oxford

  • Bikers in crash

    Two German bikers were recovering in Oxford’s JR Hospital after colliding with a car on the A4130 on Tuesday at about 6pm. One had a broken leg while the other had a broken collar bone.

  • A34 delays

    Traffic was delayed on the A34 northbound at about 9.30am yesterday after a lorry broke down at the Milton interchange. One lane was blocked on the slip road until the lorry was removed.

  • AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Saints play-off hopes bid blown away

    Oxford Saints’ play-off hopes ended with a 42-24 defeat at home to Milton Keynes Pathfinders on Sunday. In a disappointing display, Saints were kept at arms length by the Buckinghamshire side who now meet Peterborough Saxons in the play-off semi-finals

  • Neighbours sorry to bid Exeter College farewell

    IFFLEY Road residents have said they are sorry to lose a “good neighbour” as Exeter College prepares to sell off nine houses. The college has decided to sell the houses, which are on a 1.19-acre plot and are valued at £6.75m David Barton, of Iffley

  • Unlikely liaison of a left-wing stage director

    The left-wing theatre director Joan Littlewood stands revealed as the supreme champagne socialist — for which, on this occasion, read claret socialist — through her long and intimate friendship with Baron Philippe de Rothschild. The woman who made

  • Aldi stops selling the things I like

    Aldi’s advertising agency has found an amusing way to cash in on the Olympics with a cheeky TV promotion for its orange juice. “Look you can see the bits,” says the old lady ‘star’. Then she adds: “The shorts those athletes wear are much too tight

  • Friends on and off the beach

    Since it’s summer (of a sort), let us begin on the beach, or rather with a reference to it. W.H. Auden is driving from London to Oxford, for his installation as the university’s Professor of Poetry, in June 1956. His slightly nervous passenger Stephen

  • Byron, George Street, Oxford

    Restaurant chain founder and boss Tom Byng sportingly supplied details of how to make one of his ‘proper’ hamburgers for the benefit of readers of Helen Peacocke’s food page some weeks ago. That being so, one might pause to wonder why anyone would

  • BOWLS: Semi-final agony for Banbury duo

    Carole Galletly and Caroline Campion suffered semi-final heartbreak in the Women’s National Championships at Leamington. The Banbury Central duo went down by three shots to Kathryn Rednall and Margaret Insley, from Felixstowe and Suffolk BC.

  • Super supper - or was it dinner?

    While our evening meal wasn’t described as a ‘kitchen’ supper, it was certainly classified as a supper rather than a dinner, which led to a fascinating discussion between my friends and me about the naming of meal times. Corin Willett, Katherine

  • Linora's Quark Gratin

    When I meet up with the freelance women writers of The Oxford Times, we arrange a lunch put together by contributions from us all. Last week our lunch took place in artist Valerie Petts’s attractive Mediterranean-style garden where we enjoyed, among

  • BOWLS: Headington secure title treble

    Headington A made it a hat-trick of championships in the Oxford & District Bowls League, sponsored by Yarnton Nurseries. The champions wrapped up the title with a game to go after a 4-2 home victory against Banbury Chestnuts. Shiplake are

  • Momentous days of Robert Grosseteste

    Everyone knows that Oxford has a split personality, but the ‘Gown’ part of it is strange indeed: elusive; still evolving; and perpetually surprised at finding itself on this earth at all, let alone sitting by a river in an English city. For the university

  • Brave and Step Up 4: Miami Heat

    Having almost completely stalled their creative engines with Cars 2, Disney Pixar heads for the ancient Scottish highlands in Brave, a computer-animated fable of female empowerment. The film signals a return to form for John Lasseter’s team

  • BOWLS: Trio land county honours

    ALLAN Hall and Bob Joiner secured their first domestic competition victories at the Oxfordshire Bowling Association finals at Peppard BC. Hall trailed 7-4 to Brian Bloomfield after nine ends and 11-10 after 16 ends of their Officers Cup final,

  • Hairspray, Stagecoach Theatre Arts: Headington Theatre

    Can an all-singing, all-dancing production of a hit film and stage musical be put together in just a week and a day? That was the question posed by the Stagecoach Theatre Arts team, and the answer became clear last Friday night at the Headington Theatre

  • Court rules baby custody case must be settled in Portugal

    THE Appeal Court has ruled that English judges cannot intervene in the case of a baby boy whose estranged parents live in the UK and Portugal. The court heard yesterday that an arrangement was agreed for Baby L to travel between the countries

  • BOWLS: Oxfordshire move to brink of crown

    Oxfordshire got back to winning ways in the Home Counties League, running out 136-105 victors against Middlesex, and taking 19 points from the available 22. They now face Bucks at Thame on September 1 in the final game of the campaign, where a

  • Power cut in East Oxford

    RESIDENTS in the Cowley Road area of Oxford lost electricity for nearly four hours this morning. According to Southern Electric, 16 properties in the Kenilworth Court and Kenilworth Avenue area lost power between 5.30am and 9.15am. The failure

  • Fly to the Past show cancelled

    THIS year's Fly to the Past show has been cancelled, organisers announced this morning. The show was due to take place at Oxford Airport in Kidlington on Sunday, September 2. A statement from the show’s producer Francis Rockliff released this

  • Pubs: New lease of life for Tavern

    ONE of Oxford’s oldest city centre pubs, which closed more than a year ago, is to reopen next month after a £225,000 refurbishment. The St Aldate’s Tavern has been leased from its owner Merton College by the City Pub Company, which started trading

  • Lords coincidence

    WITH the success of Team GB and their gold medal tally mounting all the time, we now have the news that the Government has dropped its plans to reform the House of Lords. I may be suspicious but could there be a connection? It will be interesting

  • Bicycle dangers

    JAMES Styring (On Yer Bike, Oxford Mail, August 7) says: “There is no precedent of cyclists killing or seriously injuring pedestrians in Oxfordshire.” Perhaps he didn’t notice the report (Oxford Mail, June 7) this year about a cyclist ignoring

  • Rhyme on waste

    I ENCLOSE a poem which I wrote this morning. I hope you like it. WHAT A WASTE There are some things in life that make me feel bitter Like people who walk around dropping their litter It ruins our countryside and mars our view To

  • ATHLETICS: Fernandez tests Marathon course

    Abingdon Amblers runner Paul Fernandez found the noise deafening after he was chosen to take part in a dress rehearsal for the men’s marathon at the London Olympics. The aim of this dry run was to test out the filming by the Olympic Broadcasting

  • Pubs: 'Landlords have been turned into tax collectors'

    AFTER a lifetime working in pubs John Bellinger quit the trade last year. The 58-year-old and his wife Trisha left the Bell Inn in Adderbury in April after six years behind the bar. Mr Bellinger now works as a bus driver for Oxford Bus Company

  • Pubs: Enterprising landlords remain ready to invest

    WANTAGE landlord Peter Fowler has invested £250,000 in The Shoulder of Mutton since he took over two years ago. And the Wallingford Street pub won White Horse Camra’s pub of the year in April. Mr Fowler, who leases the pub from Admiral Taverns

  • Pubs: Last orders for 50 pubs in five years

    FIFTY Pubs in Oxfordshire have called last orders in the past five years with campaigners blaming beer tax hikes and supermarkets for choking the trade. The Oxford Mail can reveal that an Oxfordshire pub has closed every 36 days since 2007.

  • Ban the bomb

    On August 6 and 9, 1945, two nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. They killed twice as many people as who live in Oxford. Today each nuclear warhead on the missiles carried by Britain’s Trident submarines could each kill

  • Justice has been served

    I WRITE in response to P Howard’s letter (Oxford Mail, August 1) calling for the ‘farce’ concerning the county council and Waterstock Golf Course to be brought to a close. He or she may be pleased to know that the end is now almost in sight, with

  • A totally different era

    HOW can anyone with a modicum of commonsense even compare exhaust emissions? either petrol or diesel, between the ’60s and those today? Advances in exhaust emission control have advanced at the same pace as modern engine technology, including the

  • Happy Morris memories

    I GREATLY enjoyed your articles celebrating the centenary of William Morris and car production in Cowley, Oxford. However, I must correct one picture caption found on the top of the page in the August 2 edition. The cars shown outside his cycle

  • Our 'must have' culture is creating a lazy society

    l IS humanity (especially in the Western world) becoming lazier? In all we do we constantly look for shortcuts in life which become used complacently and usually forgetting the roots that have kept humanity going for centuries. While I do advocate

  • ATHLETICS: Naylor in new best at Chipping Norton

    Steve Naylor set a course record in winning round four of the Mota-Vation Series at Chipping Norton. The 33-year-old, from Woodstock, clocked 20mins 53secs for the 4.25-mile course to surpass the mark of 20.53 set by former Witney Road Runner Mathew

  • The Angry Planet: BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall

    As I walked across Hyde Park to the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday afternoon, there was a great roar of delight from inside the park’s giant Olympic video screen enclosure. Andy Murray was on his way to Olympic gold. The triumphant sound proved

  • Preview of the Wilderness Festival, Cornbury Park

    There was once a time when music festivals were all about . . . well, music. Try telling that to punters at this weekend’s Wilderness festival. The three-day gathering, held at scenic Cornbury Park, Charlbury, may offer a pretty packed line-up of

  • Bohemian Pearl: Erin Singleton. Vesey Room, Bampton Library

    Tucked away near the church, in the picturesque town of Bampton, Erin Singleton, a perceptive artist, has mounted a thought-provoking exhibition on the 1930s through to the 1960s. Using wood, paint and different printing techniques, she selects found

  • Thoroughly Modern Millie: The Watermill Theatre, Newbury

    Thoroughly Modern Millie has become forever associated with Julie Andrews, and her presence in the original 1967 film doubtless meant that sniping critical comments like “initially most agreeable, but subsequently patchy 1920s spoof” had little effect

  • Health club to get refit after sale

    A HEALTH and fitness club which forms part of Oxford’s Ozone leisure complex has been sold. The Ozone Health and Fitness Club has been bought for an undisclosed sum by DW Fitness Clubs from the Firoka Group, which is headed up by former Oxford

  • Fresh calls for 20mph town limits

    FRESH calls were made last night for 20mph limits to be introduced in Oxfordshire’s market towns after news that police had started enforcing the restrictions in the city. In yesterday’s Oxford Mail we revealed Thames Valley Police officers had

  • Friends leave tributes to tragic teenager

    TRIBUTES have been left in a wood where the body of a 14-year-old girl was found. Friends left flowers in memory of Molly O’Donovan near Foscote Rise, Banbury. Her body was discovered on Tuesday morning, less than 24 hours after she was reported

  • Gluten free food prescriptions to be cut back

    FREE food prescriptions for coeliacs in Oxfordshire will be cut following a review. It had been planned to completely stop gluten-free food prescriptions in a bid to save £350,000 a year. But the county’s Clinical Commissioning Group yesterday

  • Teacher's £30 saves Manet for the nation

    WITH the Ashmolean Museum ’s deadline looming to save a Manet painting, art teacher Vicky Hirsch went online to donate £30 to the fundraising campaign. And it was her donation – the last before the deadline passed – which helped save the painting

  • OLYMPICS: Clarke can't believe fourth place in final

    Lawrence Clarke was struggling to come to terms with what he achieved after finishing fourth in the Olympic 110m hurdles final. The 22-year-old, from Christmas Common, near Watlington, has made huge strides this year, culminating with last night

  • River death ID

    A woman whose body was found in a Burford stream last Friday has been named as Wendy Leckenby. An inquest was formally opened yesterday into the death of the 59-year-old, whose body was found in the Mill Stream, near Church Lane, at about 9.35am

  • Taxi ordered to get paedophile to jail

    A paedophile pensioner jailed for 18 years was taken to prison in a taxi. James Summers was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday having been convicted by jurors of six rape charges dating back to the 1980s. The 79-year-old was sentenced

  • COMMENT: A fitting honour

    WHAT a beautiful idea. Art teacher Vicky Hirsch, from Botley, goes online to donate £30 to the Ashmolean Museum ’s Manet campaign and her donation, the last made before the deadline closed, helps save the painting from being sold abroad.

  • OLYMPICS: Injury took its toll, says sad England

    Hannah England said her Achilles injury had ultimately cost her a place in the Olympic 1,500m final. The 25-year-old Oxford City athlete was gutted to miss out on tomorrow’s showdown after finishing ninth in her semi-final last night. England

  • Summer sparklers mixed case, £96

    What better for summer than a spot of sparkling wine?  The quality of these wines has risen greatly over the last ten years and they represent superb value compared to Champagne. Try this selection of delicious sparklers for August and find

  • On The Eve by Bernard Wasserstein

    On The Eve by Bernard Wasserstein Wasserstein is a distinguished professor of modern history (at Oxford until 2000, but now at Chicago) and his latest book is a model of scholarship. I read in an online review that his style is ‘long-winded and

  • Re-telling city's myths and legends

    People currently not in work or education have the chance to bring Oxford’s rich literary history and mythological tales to life, thanks to a unique volunteer training programme run by The Story Museum. Twenty places are available for adults

  • New £8M sciences block at Oxford Spires Academy

    PLANS for an £8.2m building at Oxford Spires Academy were unveiled last night. The pupil academy wants to demolish its ageing science block and create a new building with science and art facilities. A new assembly hall for use by all 891 pupils

  • COMMENT: Spires Academy heading in the right direction

    WHAT more appropriate way can there be to celebrate Oxford Spires Academy’s first Ofsted report than by the launch of its bid to build a new £8.2m science block. Praised by Ofstead inspectors in April, this initiative will see the academy’s old

  • As Far As I Know by Roger McGough

    As Far As I Know by Roger McGough McGough made his name as one of the “Liverpool poets”, having played in the band Scaffold with Paul McCartney’s brother. His poetry performances have always been sell-out successes, but his treatment by the English

  • Body parts of soldiers 'kept in Oxford'

    THE body parts of soldiers killed in Afghanistan are reported to have been kept by the Ministry of Defence in Oxford without the permission of their families, officials have admitted. About six body parts and more than 50 tissue samples were reportedly

  • Dreadful weapons

    Sir – On August 6, 1945, a nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in Japan killing as many people as live in Oxford in an instant. Today each nuclear warhead on the missiles carried by Britain’s Trident submarines could each kill eight times that

  • Never give up hope

     Sir – Speedway supporters must never give up their hope of seeing our sport back in Oxford (Report, August 2). Of course, we all hope that the council will continue to maintain the support they have given to the Oxford Stadium over the years

  • Restore town brook

     Sir – I write with regard to the Bure Stream in Manorsfield Road, known to us locals as the Bicester Brook. My childhood memory is of a constant clear flow which comes from the well in Spring Close, situated in Queen’s Avenue. Since the

  • Use cycle tracks

    Sir – I have no objection to the millions of pounds being planned to improve facilities for cyclists provided they are used. I recently caught up with a cyclist on a busy main road, although there was a perfectly good cycle track alongside him.

  • Challenging claim

     Sir – Christopher Gray says he maintains his belief that The Merchant of Venice is an anti-semitic play (Gray Matter, August 2). My letter did not deny this possible reading but challenged his claim that this was beyond doubt, so that its

  • Last source of income

     Sir – Having taken over the family business in the Covered Market which I then ran for more than 15 years, we were eventually forced to close because of the council’s increasing rent demands, business rates, a measure of out-of-town competition

  • Market is treasured amenity

    Sir – Councillor Campbell surely makes an irrefutable case about how the city council should go about negotiating rents in the Covered Market (Report, July 26). It is certainly short-sighted and irresponsible of the council to treat this simply

  • Slow down

    There is little doubt that the announcement by Thames Valley Police that they will be finally enforcing the 20mph limits in Oxford will lead to more requests for similar limits from people in other parts of the county. Oxfordshire County Council

  • Urgent action needed to save seas

    From my earliest memories I’ve always been fascinated by the sea. As a child I loved paddling on the beach and discovering crabs in tidal pools. But it was those bracing walks on the east coast of Scotland that inspired me to learn more about the

  • Ethical dilemmas

     Sir – Concerns about 10,000 jobs in Oxford’s academic publishing industry, if publicly-funded research becomes freely available on the Internet (Report, August 2), are wider than job losses in Oxfordshire alone. The impact is already being

  • Frustrating phones

    Sir – I am writing regarding a concert I attended at the Sheldonian Theatre on August 2, where I was sitting in the upper gallery. At the beginning of the concert we were told that mobile phones should be turned off, and not just to ‘silent’.

  • Need for local pools

     Sir – Swimming pools are no respectors of class, creed or colour. I swim regularly at the Ferry Pool and have come to know people with a wonderful diversity of racial, social and educational backgrounds, of occupations and interests, and

  • Enormous benefit

     Sir – I write in response to councillor Mathews’s letter (August 2) in which he appears to praise the efforts to provide an Eynsham to Botley cycle path on one hand, but pours cold water on it on the other. To put the facts straight, the

  • Dangers of jumping

    Sir – A few weeks ago a lad drowned following a jump from Donnington Bridge into the River Thames . Recently there was caution in jumping from Godstow bridge. Naturally, reports of caution and awareness of danger are a great public service. Today

  • Pay homage to past

     Sir – Harris Manchester College is to be congratulated on its ‘jewel’-like building proposal for Holywell Street. If the real thing is anything like the artists’ impression, it will be the most quality addition to Oxford since the Magdalen

  • Commitment to Oxford

     Sir – Ruth W. Cupp is to be commended for coming to the defence of Richard Burton’s involvement with Oxford and of Elizabeth Taylor’s. The 18-year-old Burton was directed as Angelo in an Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS) Measure for

  • Dreadful prospect

     Sir – Your report (July 26) does not mention the county council’s calculation that the city council’s proposed 40mph speed limit on the A40 past Barton and three or four pedestrian crossings between Headington roundabout and the flyover, would

  • Forcing traders out

    Sir – So the silly city council wants to raise market rents. Is not the real reason to force the tenants out, so the site can be closed and sold for flats which would be worth millions? R.W. Tucker, Kidlington

  • Park charges cause problems

    Sir – In October 2011, Oxford City Council introduced parking charges in Cutteslowe Park. I spoke at the scrutiny committee examining this, to explain that park-goers would simply park free in unregulated adjacent side roads and, not only would this

  • Game on

    Congratulations to our local Olympic winners, Andy Triggs Hodge and Zac Purchase, after their rowing triumphs at the weekend. Not only do they represent sporting excellence, they also embody the Olympic spirit the Games are all about. Mr Triggs

  • Keeping the flame alive

    With the London 2012 Olympics seeing the medal-hungry British public absorbed in the eventing at Greenwich, Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials is raring to go. Blenheim, in eventing’s most magnificent setting, follows hot on the trail

  • Juniors put on remarkable performances

    After a tense play-off against fellow English grandmaster Stephen Gordon, the top rated competitor, Gawain Jones, won the British championship last weekend. There were several remarkable performances by juniors in the main event. That by 17

  • Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 9/8/2012)

    The screen world has spent the last week digesting the verdict of the 846 film-makers, critics and distributors who have voted Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) the best picture in Sight and Sound's decennial poll. Some have taken the opportunity

  • Parky at the Pictures (DVD 9/8/2012)

    This is a momentous week for Hollywood anniversaries as 5 August saw half a century pass since the sad death of Marilyn Monroe, while 12 August will mark the centenary of Gene Kelly. As Kelly was based at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Monroe spent much

  • Take teddy along for a bedtime story session

    YOUNGSTERS are invited to don pyjamas and bring a teddy to a bedtime story event at Wantage Library tonight. And older children are invited to dress on spooky costumes for a later session with ghost stories at the Stirlings Road library. The

  • Blenheim trials ride after Olympic glory

    WITH the London 2012 Olympics seeing the medal-hungry British public absorbed in the eventing at Greenwich, the Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials is raring to go. Blenheim is due to take place from September 6 to 9. And organisers

  • SCALES OF JUSTICE: Oxford magistrates' court round-up

    Robert Anderson , 40, of the Causeway, Bicester, convicted of being in charge of a motor vehicle while above the drink-drive limit in Bicester Market Square on February 6. Had 79 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, above the legal limit of

  • Green Road subway branded ‘dangerous’

    A SUBWAY has been branded dangerous because it is being used by both cyclists and pedestrians. Cyclists passing through the underpass, which leads underneath the Green Road roundabout connecting Headington with the Risinghurst estate, do not have

  • SCALES OF JUSTICE: Banbury magistrates' court round-up

    Stuart Rima , 19, of Furlong Row, Clanfield, admitted stealing lead of a value unknown belonging to Poundstretcher at The Leys, Witney, between May 18 and May 25.Given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 costs.