Archive

  • CRICKET: Beardall can't save Oxon Under 12s

    Charlie Beardall provided the only bright point in a disappointing season-opener for Oxfordshire Under 12s, as they slipped to a six-wicket defeat aganst Berkshire. Beardall was the only batsman to put up any resistance as Oxon's closest rivals produced

  • FOOTBALL: Gareth stars in Italy

    Oxford student Garath McCleary gave another demonstration of his star potential by shining for England Colleges Under 19s in an international football tournament in Italy. McCleary scored twice as England finished third in the seventh European Tournament

  • ANGLING: Page on top with record haul

    Steve Page, from Headington, won the latest Carp League 2006 match on a record-breaking day on Lower Court Lake,Chadlington. o Page landed 226.4.0 of fish a record weight for the venue, beating the old mark of 211lb. Second came Richard Brain with

  • CYCLE SPEEDWAY: Horspath keep 100 per cent record

    Leaders Horspath Hammers kept up their 100 per cent record in the British Premier League with a 103-73 victory at Sandwell Lions. They were in cracking form, as they stormed into a 52-36 lead at half-time. Although Lions staged a revival after the

  • MOTORSPORT: Alonso tips Ferrari for Britisgh Grand Prix

    Fernando Alonso has tipped Enstone's Renault's world title rivals Ferrari as the favourites for tomorrow's British Grand Prix. World champion Alonso has dominated the season so far, but he expects to start the Silverstone race as the underdog behind

  • FOOTBALL: United won't face Scarborough

    Oxford United now know exactly who they will be facing in the Nationwide Conference next season. It follows Scarborough's announcement yesterday that they are not going to appeal against the Conference's decision to relegate them. They were demoted

  • TENNIS: Plucky Danny is national champ

    A remarkable display of courage and determination has helped Danny Robbins complete a sensational turnaround. A keen sportsman who regularly turned out for Garsington Football Club, Robbins's life was changed completely when he contracted an infection

  • GREYHOUND RACING: Greenacre tipped for Cesarewitch

    Greenacre Lin, trained by Cowley open race specialist Brian Clemenson looks the pick in the £5,000 William Hill Cesarewitch final on Tuesday. The black bitch, one of the top stayers in the country blitzed her field to win in great style in Tuesday's

  • FOOTBALL: Lee takes helm at Kidlington

    Former Oxford City boss Paul Lee has been named the new manager of Hellenic League side Kidlington. He takes over from Kevin Walton, who stepped down at the end of last season following their relegation from the Premier Division. Lee has brought in

  • CRICKET: Students pass Twenty20 test

    Oxford's students turned up the heat to thrash their county rivals as the summer sun beat down on The Parks last night. Given the ideal conditions, it was just a pity that Oxfordshire couldn't serve up a competitive finale for the 300-strong crowd.

  • WORLD CUP: Ticket scam mars journey out

    Simon Oliver, from Wallingford, recounts his journey out to watch England play Paraguay. Reads his views of the game in Monday's Oxford Mail Our trip out to Germany yesterday was marred when about half of our party discovered they were victims of

  • Today's closing local share prices

    AEA Technology 109.5 BMW 2641 Electrocomponents 245 Isoft Group 58.25 Oxford Bio 27.5 Oxford Instruments 204.75 Reed Elsevier 528.75 RM 180.5 RPS 202.25 Torex Retail 78.25 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Today's closing share prices

    AEA Technology 109.5 BMW 2641 Electrocomponents 245 Isoft Group 58.25 Oxford Bio 27.5 Oxford Instruments 204.75 Reed Elsevier 528.75 RM 180.5 RPS 202.25 Torex Retail 78.25 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Cabbages & Kings

    The five young men were survivors of a post-finals bottle party. Now mid-morning, they were smartly dressed, if a little ruffled around the edges, ties long gone and shirts undecided about remaining behind trouser waistbands. They sat on the wall of

  • The Omen (15)

    John Moore's remake of The Omen remains faithful to the 1976 horror classic starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. The underlying plot and characters are the same; so too are most of the grisly death sequences, including a sticky end for a meddlesome

  • Sounds of the future

    Hundreds of bands across Britain are competing for the prize of a lifetime a chance to play at one of this summer's top festivals. Our Local Heroes contest has spurred on ambitious unsigned bands, hoping to get a crack at the big time. The contest,

  • Ready for Pack drill

    Frank Sinatra is like an old jacket I put on," says Louis Hoover, co-founder and star of The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas. "Of course I have to switch the accent, but the rest comes naturally. And I like to think that after all these years, you can

  • Resourceful aid

    An Oxford computer firm has pledged to raise £45,000 to sponsor a resource room on the surgical floor of the Oxford Children's Hospital, due to open in January next year. John Chelsom, managing director of the CSW Group, which provides electronic systems

  • Mum’s big obsession

    In 1985, Jackie Floyd watched a television programme about the discovery of the wreck of the RMS Titanic. Fascinated by the tragic tale of the White Star liner, which sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, she began to read books

  • Solve the burning issue

    News that a school has broken rules that only parents can apply suncream to pupils will no doubt spark an onslaught of complaints from the political correctness brigade. In a small victory against many of the ludicrous rules that now govern our lives

  • Buzz stop

    The term 'institution' can mean many things, and, on the whole, most of these definitions are far from positive. After all, it can refer to: (a) a place of correction or recuperation, or (b) a body or establishment that has existed for years and has

  • Family's fundraising tribute to proud dad

    The widow of a Bicester father-of-three killed in a car crash last year is helping organise a fun day in his memory to raise money for the Oxford Children's Hospital. Joanna Buddin, 29, of Mulberry Drive, Bicester, was five months' pregnant with her

  • Hay fever cause

    I am replying to Robin Spokes's letter about the cause of so many people having coughs and chest congestion (Oxford Mail, May 27). I have suffered from hay fever for many years, mainly runny nose and eyes, but for the last two or three years, have

  • How we fought for the beaches

    Abandoned British tanks at Dunkirk . . . Everyone knows about the brave Tommies who escaped on the famous "little Armada" of boats as the Germans advanced through France. But the experience of the soldiers of the 4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light

  • Yamamoto signs Super Aguri F1 deal

    The Leafield-based Super Aguri F1 team has signed Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto as its test driver and reserve race driver for the British, Canadian and US Grands Prix. Yamamoto has raced in Super GT and All Japan Formula Nippon Championship in Japan

  • Remembering when England triumphed

    THE 2006 World Cup has prompted some superb publications. Perhaps the best of the bunch is Geoff Hurst's book 1966 World Champions (Headline, £20), with a foreword written by England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the final

  • Today's local share prices

    AEA Technology 109 BMW 2634 Electrocomponents 244 Isoft Group 53.5 Oxford Bio 28 Oxford Instruments 204.25 Reed Elsevier 530 RM 182.5 RPS 203 Torex Retail 78.25 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Today's local share prices

    AEA Technology 109 BMW 2634 Electrocomponents 244 Isoft Group 53.5 Oxford Bio 28 Oxford Instruments 204.25 Reed Elsevier 530 RM 182.5 RPS 203 Torex Retail 78.25 Courtesy of Redmayne Bentley, Abingdon

  • Elegy for a lost world

    HAV A NOVEL JAN MORRIS (Faber, £16.99) by Sarah Hesketh Last Letters from Hav was first released in 1985. In it, Jan Morris vividly realised the portrait of a nation which had apparently sat at the crossroads of history, absorbing a myriad of cultural

  • Counting down to murder

    S IS FOR SILENCE SUE GRAFTON (Macmillan, £16 The last person to see Violet Sullivan was her seven-year-old daughter Daisy. Wearing a lavender-and-white sundress, and holding in her arms a tiny Pomeranian pup, she wafted out of the door. It was July

  • Local author

    Andrew Parker Seven Deadly Colours (Free Press, £7.99) is the second of three books on vision by Andrew Parker, an Oxford University zoologist who is also a research leader at The Natural History Museum in London. According to his publicist, he "also

  • Book events

    ANDREW PARKER oTalk: Local actor and historian Robert Hardy discusses The Great Warbow, his history of the longbow and crossbow, in Charlbury War Memorial Hall at 2.30 pm. Tickets: £5 adult/£2.50 child, in aid of community centre, from New & Things

  • Poppies with a strange past

    One of my favourite gardening anecdotes is all about a poppy called Perry's White. It was bred in the early years of the 20th century by Amos Perry, a famous Edwardian nursery owner from Winchmore Hill, Middlesex. Perry used a mixture of five annual and

  • Cinemas for Jun 16 -22

    Odeon, Magdalen Street, Oxford: Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, 12A, daily 1.30*, 4*, 6.30*, 9pm*. Poseidon, 12A, Fri, Mon-Thu 1pm, daily 3.30, 6, 8.45pm. The Wild, U, Sat-Sun, 1pm. Box office 0871 2244007. Odeon, George Street, Oxford: Hard Candy

  • Paperback round-up

    Hide-And-Seek With Angels: A Life of J. M. Barrie Lisa Chaney (Arrow, £9.99) oWhen James Matthew Barrie died, in 1937, his funeral was an occasion for national mourning. A succession of novels and long-running plays had brought Barrie enormous wealth

  • Is Iranian cinema a force for social subversion?

    Back in the late 1970s, the so-called Cinema of Moral Anxiety anticipated the rebellious spirit of Polish society in the run-up to the formation of the Solidarity trade union. It would be tempting to suggest that Iranian film-makers are currently reflecting

  • The Omen and Runaway Vacation

    Released worldwide on June 6 (06-06-06 no less), John Moore's remake of The Omen remains faithful to the 1976 horror classic starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. The underlying plot and characters are the same; so, too, are most of the grisly death sequences

  • Axe falls on software jobs

    Troubled health software company Isoft, which employs 300 people at its headquarters in Banbury, is to axe almost a quarter of its workforce. The company confirmed about 150 of the 700-strong UK workforce would be made redundant, although a precise

  • Time for action on flytippers

    Flytipping in Northfield Brook is costing Oxford City Council thousands of pounds (Oxford Mail, June 3) The council wants the Environment Agency to install cameras, which the latter says are not cost effective. The council should not leave it to someone

  • Kia specials breeze in

    Kia has introduced two special edition Picantos. The Picanto Zipp! and Zipp+ both feature a panoramic electric folding canvas sunroof which opens at the touch of a button. Paul Williams, managing director of Kia Motors (UK), said: "The Zipp! models

  • Hot Polo piles on pressure

    The Volkswagen Polo GTI helps keep the hatchback heat on, coming with a 1.8-litre turbocharged petrol engine The Polo GTI can accelerate from 0 to 62mph in 8.2 seconds, and has a top speed of 134mph. Prices start at £14,810 for the three-door GTi,

  • University rated country's best again

    OXFORD has made it five in a row as Britain's top university in a new edition of The Times Good University Guide. It stretched its lead over Cambridge, which had enjoyed an unbroken nine-year run at the top until being overtaken by Oxford in 2002.

  • Magdalen Bridge to shut on May Morning until 2010

    MAGDALEN Bridge in Oxford will be closed and protected by police and security staff until 2010 in a bid to prevent May Morning revellers jumping into the River Cherwell. The 25ft-high bridge was closed between 3am and 9am this year to prevent students

  • police apology to Sikh 'not enough'

    OXFORD'S most senior policeman has personally apologised for the way his officers treated a Sikh man after his turban was torn from his head when he was attacked. Rattandeep Singh Ahluwalia was assaulted in Queen Street in the city centre by two men

  • Colleges will retain control of admissions

    OXFORD's colleges have rejected plans to deprive them of the final say over which students they should admit. Proposals outlined last year would have given Oxford's central departments the right to over-ride decisions made by the colleges. But the

  • Thousands to be consulted over permits

    THOUSANDS of car owners in Oxford are to be asked whether they want to pay for the parking permits they get free. Those living in 26,000 homes in parking zones across the city will be questioned as part of consultation into plans by Oxfordshire County

  • Parking charges set to rise

    RUSH-HOUR on-street parking charges in Oxford are set to rise by 170 per cent and will become some of the most expensive in the country. Oxfordshire County Council wants to put up the one-hour parking charge in 600 on-street spaces across the city

  • 'One-man crime wave' arrested

    A MAN police have described as a "one-man crime wave" has been arrested as part of a major operation targeting Oxford's worst criminals. Police officers involved in the ongoing Operation Backlash spotted the man, who is well known to the city's autocrime

  • Didcot wants to be one of fastest-growing towns in country

    COUNCIL officials are bidding to make Didcot one of Britain's fastest growing towns and they have applied for 1,500 homes over and above the thousands already planned. In exchange the town could expect millions of pounds in Government funding for infrastructure

  • Central South region to be abolished

    ABINGDON will continue to play a key role when a new Thames Valley News replaces Central South Television at the end of the year. But jobs will be lost and that has angered staff and unions. In a nationwide shake-up of ITV regional television, Central

  • All-women college votes to admit men

    OXFORD'S last remaining all-female college, which was founded in 1893, has finally bowed to financial pressures after governors voted on Wednesday to admit male students and academics. The St Hilda's College ballot resulted in a two-thirds majority

  • Fears for adult courses as fees rise

    FUNDING cuts to adult learning courses are taking their toll across Oxfordshire with roll numbers dwindling as fees rise. Subsidies for recreational courses, such as flower arranging, art and photography, have been diverted to the Government's new priorities

  • Park-and-ride considered for towns around county

    NEW park-and-ride sites in Witney, Bicester and Abingdon are being examined as part of a multi-million pound investment in Oxfordshire's public transport. Car use and traffic jams on the county's main roads are becoming such a problem that Oxfordshire

  • Public-spirited people care for Lewis memory

    Sir, BBOWT has been managing the C. S. Lewis Reserve since 1969 in keeping with the donor's wishes that it be managed as a nature reserve. It has always been cared for by local volunteers who give freely of their time for the benefit of the wildlife and

  • Destructive scheme

    Sir, At a time when millions of viewers are turning on nightly to enjoy Bill Oddie's Springwatch on BBC2, it is saddening to see many acres of Oxfordshire countryside turned into wildlife deserts under the Government's 'set-aside' scheme. Fields in

  • No time to waste

    Sir, Congratulations on your in-depth report into rubbish recycling (June 2). Everyone who does not want a rubbish incinerator on their doorstep should respond to the consultation and say so. My own preference would include large composting facilities

  • Winners and losers

    Sir, You recently published a letter and a report (May 26) about rental fees for bowling greens owned by the city council. I am very pleased to confirm that the council wants to encourage the elderly and disabled to enjoy recreational activities in

  • Buses are wrong target

    Sir, I see that the Green Party has again jumped in with both feet without bothering to look fully into the legal situation behind the timetabling of the tour buses (Letters, May 19). Like all buses, they are required to register a timetable and adhere

  • Discriminatory gesture

    Sir, The recently announced closure of Magdalen Bridge for another three years of May Mornings is a discriminatory gesture against the townspeople of Oxford, specifically those residing in East Oxford whose primary access route to Magdalen Tower is via

  • It's not for me

    Sir, At the foot of his page (June 2) Christopher Gray takes an anonymous correspondent to task for failing to understand the correct use of the apostrophe in "its" and "it's". Although the writer did not use green ink, it is unlikely that anyone bold

  • The real Narnia

    Sir, I assume that Mr Ronald Brind (Feature, May 26) will have studied the life and works of C. S. Lewis extensively before organising tours to places associated with Lewis and will be able to discuss with his patrons the merits of the writings of the

  • No pressure on bins

    Sir, The new Liberal Democrat administration in the Town Hall have pledged to extend the green waste and cardboard collections, now only enjoyed by about 25 per cent of the city at the most, to everyone within months. I have already discussed this with

  • Hopes and desires

    Sir, Re: your recent letter from Mr Montgomery (Headington United: aka Get your filthy football club off my hallowed portals'). I thought at first that this was a spoof and was in fact really rather pleased. Brightened up Friday morning anyway. Then

  • New approach needed

    Sir, Your issue of May 26 carried a front-page article and an editorial on the House of Lords decision regarding the Trap Grounds. The article referred to local residents who are trying to defend this unique site as "Environmentalists", suggesting that

  • No obstacle left

    Sir, I happened to be out of the country when the judgement of the House of Lords in the Trap Grounds town green case was reported in your edition of May 26. This, therefore, is my first opportunity to correct an inaccurate statement contained in the

  • Time for rethink

    Sir, Oxford City Primary Care Trust's proposal to concentrate the primary health care facilities for the central area of the city (including five or more general practice surgeries) on to one single site a the Radcliffe Infirmary has now received three

  • Rat-run suffering

    Sir, As a resident of Horspath, I must protest. We recently won the battle to keep our railway bridge, thankfully, which acts as a traffic restrictor in the village and this has been augmented by chicanes and speed bumps in various locations. However

  • Flying the flag

    The cross of St George has made its customary appearance as the England football team prepares to compete in the World Cup. David Cameron has it flying from his bicycle and Tony Blair says it will fly from 10 Downing Street on the days that England

  • Leopard and its spots

    All the posturing over car-free days and free evening parking on the streets of Oxford by county council leader Keith Mitchell and his critics has thrown more heat than light on the debate about traffic and congestion in the city. Of far more significance

  • Slicker Corsa steps up supermini battle

    Vauxhall has set the summer motoring scene sizzling with pictures of the new Corsa supermini, due to go on sale in the UK this autumn. Despite the blow to the firm's Ellesmere Port factory, with the cutting of 900 jobs there, Vauxhall is forging ahead

  • Hospital neglect 'hastened death'

    A CORONER has accused an Oxford hospital of neglect following the death of a woman who was left untreated for more than a year after her illness was detected. Experts said that Shirley Cyprien would still be alive if she had received treatment for high

  • Oxford criminal murdered girl

    A TEENAGER convicted of ofences in Oxfordshire has been jailed for murdering a girl he had sex with in Northern Ireland. Thomas Purcell, 18, who now lives in Belfast, admitted battering Megan McAlorum, 16, to death with a log in a forest after they

  • Blind Date rapist is jailed

    A FORMER contestant on television's Blind Date was handed an indefinite jail sentence for the rape of a 15-year-old girl after plying her with cannabis. Johnny Law, 38, was jailed for a year in 2002 after giving a 15-year-old schoolgirl cannabis and

  • Sick-day problem worsening at city council

    SICKNESS absence at councils across Oxfordshire in 2005/06 cost taxpayers more than £6m. Last year, public sector workers at Oxfordshire County Council and the five district councils took a combined 119,762 days off ill an average of more than seven

  • Junk food taken from lunch boxes by teachers

    PARENTS marched on an Oxford primary school after their children were left in tears when lunch-boxes were inspected by teachers and chocolate and crisps confiscated. Keith Ponsford, headteacher of Bayards Hill Primary School in Barton, said staff had

  • Lecturers' pay dispute settled

    LECTURERS at Oxford Brookes University have agreed to do all they can so students can graduate on time but are calling on senior managers to resign following a bitter pay dispute. The University and College Union called off an exam boycott this week

  • Man killed by car

    A man who died after being hit by a car in Headington, Oxford, has been named as Anthony Oliver. The 29-year-old, of Marston Road, Marston, Oxford, was struck as he crossed the London Road, near the Co-op supermarket, at 1am on Sunday. He was taken

  • Agency cuts could avoid need for nurse redundancies

    WORK to cut the number of agency staff at Oxfordshire's major hospitals could avoid any nurses being made redundant as part of £33m cost-saving measures. Since July last year, senior nursing directors overseeing Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill

  • Gay marriage fight hailed 'question of justice'

    OXFORDSHIRE author Sheila Kitzinger said her daughter's High Court fight to have her gay marriage legally recognised in England is a question of justice. University professors Celia Kitzinger, 49, from Oxfordshire, and her partner, Sue Wilkinson, were

  • Caring for a hidden gem

    Ten years ago a derelict limestone quarry famed for fossils became a nature reserve and was also designated an official Site of Special Scientific Interest. While there will be no celebrations of the anniversary, everyone involved in the future of Kirtlington

  • Naked ambition

    A naked Lady Godiva lookalike will ride a horse across Oxford's Magdalen Bridge next month, flanked by a posse of Harley Davidson motorcycles. The traffic-stopping spectacle is being staged for Oxford filmmaker Vicky Jewson's new movie, a modern-day

  • You’ll pay to clear this away

    Three mattresses were left propped against a willow tree in Headington in the latest example of fly-tipping in Oxford. The mattresses were dumped in Horwood Close, a cul-de-sac just off London Road. Waste enforcement officers from Oxfordshire County

  • Reality stars watch their TV debut

    Laughter and tears, and a big thumbs up, were the first reactions of reality television stars watching a sneak preview of their show. The first episode of The Singing Estate - which turned 40 strangers from Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys into a classical

  • Shops cash in on Cup fever

    World Cup fever is hitting Oxfordshire's shops, with bumper sales of football kit and flags, TV sets and a run of money at the bookies. But a spot check by the Oxford Mail reveals that life is still going on as normal, with most of the county's village

  • More park and rides in store

    New park-and-ride sites in Witney, Bicester and Abingdon are being examined as part of a multi-million pound investment in Oxfordshire's public transport. Car use and traffic jams on the county's main roads are becoming such a problem that Oxfordshire

  • County rethink over £4 parking

    Oxfordshire County Council has been forced to rethink increasing rush hour parking charges in Oxford. County Hall transport chief David Robertson had been poised to rubber stamp a review of on-street parking tariffs yesterday, which would have seen

  • Hi-tech tills gets thumbs up

    Oxford shoppers have given the thumbs up to Pay by Touch - a system that allows goods to be purchased using only a fingerprint. The high-tech fingerprint recognition system had its UK launch in the Headington Co-op, in London Road, in March and was

  • Clown laughs off ‘scary’ ban

    Charlie the Clown has hit back at claims children are scared of big red noses and painted faces after he was dropped from a Bicester family fun day. The decision by town councillors to cancel Charlie's booking for the Bicester in Bloom event next month

  • Woman told to remove fence

    A woman yesterday told how she felt she was 'living in a prison' as her neighbour was told to pull down an illegal 2m-spiked fence after a four-year dispute. At Oxford Crown Court yesterday, Sylvanna Ho, 25, was given a 12-month conditional discharge

  • Staff defy sunscreen rules to protect pupils

    An Oxford primary school is leading the way in protecting children from the harmful rays of the sun - by allowing staff to top up pupils' sunscreen at lunchtime. Oxfordshire County Council has issued guidance to headteachers which says parents should