Stories for 24 July 2004

Oxfordshire Business

Deal may create 200 jobs

Logistics firm Unipart is set to land another contract which could create up to 200 new jobs at its Cowley headquarters.   more...

£234,000 in bond prizes unclaimed

More than 4,000 Premium Bond prize winners in Oxfordshire have left a total of £234,000 unclaimed.   more...

Bus firms get drivers back

Oxford's bus companies which gave drivers a huge pay increase to avert a recruitment crisis, now say they are nearing a complete workforce.   more...

Web offer to sponsors

Businesses are invited to sponsor pages on the new Wantage Fire Service website in return for a donation to a benevolent fund.   more...

Oxfordshire Cars

Faster transit is just van-tastic

Bicester firm has helped put one of the fastest vans on the planet back in action.   more...

Spanish style

The face of the SEAT Altea, which will be backed by a £3m advertising campaign, will become the new face of the Spanish brand.   more...

French revolution

Peugeot launches its new small car next year, which it says will change the way small cars are perceived and experienced -- as did the introduction of the hatchback in the early 1960s.   more...

Think of the costs

Look beyond the initial purchase price, and you could afford a larger, or better-equipped, car.   more...

Life begins at 40 for club stalwarts

Forty years ago British motoring was in its heyday offering an exciting range of vehicles from the practical to the fun, the serious to the sporty.   more...

BMF show boasts record attendance

A record attendance of 91,337 people helped make last weekend's massive British Motorcyclists Federation BMF Show one of the best ever!   more...

Oxfordshire Education

School plans to end lessons at lunchtime

A school is considering a radical overhaul of its timetable so that pupils finish their lessons by lunchtime.   more...

Yobs will be named

Teenagers who plague neighbours with noise, vandalism or harassment are to be named and shamed by Oxford City Council.   more...

Builders pull out of animal lab deal

Construction company Montpellier has pulled out of its contract to build a new Oxford University animal laboratory.   more...

Oxfordshire Jobs

Firm gets Abbey habit

A training firm with Oxford connections is working with bosses at Westminster Abbey to run an appraisal system for its 150 staff.   more...

Development the key

Personal development and training along with a healthy work-life balance are becoming as important as the basic salary package, according to new research.   more...

What it takes to win

Determination, independence and freedom of choice are the motivating factors behind Oxfordshire entrepreneurs starting up in business.   more...

Oxfordshire Local Info

Michael Biddulph

Michael Biddulph, who has died aged 60, spread his talents widely as a journalist, public relations officer and university lecturer.   more...

Ropbert Burchfield

Robert Burchfield, who took the Oxford English Dictionary into the 20th century, has died at 81.   more...

Rupert Cecil

An Oxford academic, who had a distinguished career as a wartime bomber pilot, has died.   more...

Oxfordshire News

Police work off-duty on mobiles ban

Off-duty police have been recording the registrations of motorists they spot flouting a ban on using mobile phone handsets behind the wheel.   more...

Green Belt: Labour must come clean

Sir -- Councillor Alex Hollingsworth claims (Oxford Mail, July 13) that Oxford City Council is not asking for extra housing in Oxfordshire, but merely suggesting that new housing should preferably be built close to the city.   more...

Missed opportunity

Sir -- You report that Stagecoach bus company has invested £8m on a fleet of longer buses for its Oxford-London service (Oxford Mail, July 9).   more...

Help the homeless

Sir -- An individual or family will be determined homeless only if they meet certain statutory requirements.   more...

It's not a vote winner

Sir -- Graham Butler (Letters, July 15) accuses me of arrogance, because I referred to a recent survey which found that only 14 per cent would be influenced by the hunting issue come the next election. That means a whopping 86 per cent are not bothered one way or another.   more...

Oxford drops in licence list of shame

The number of TV licence evaders caught in Oxford has increased -- with 721 caught in the city so far this year.   more...

Parking zone held up again

A controlled parking zone due to come into force in the centre of Headington, Oxford, in September has been delayed.   more...

Cancelled ops add to mother's ordeal

A single mother is angry her life has been put on hold because she has had an operation cancelled twice by staff at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.   more...

Pensioner wins row over water leak bill

A pensioner called in bailiffs to collect £414 from Oxford City Council after it failed to pay him compensation following a county court claim.   more...

Deal may create 200 jobs

Logistics firm Unipart is set to land another contract which could create up to 200 new jobs at its Cowley headquarters.   more...

The Royal Cress

The Duke of Kent opened two very different community projects in Oxfordshire yesterday.   more...

Kebab boss cleared of indecent assault

A kebab shop manager has been found not guilty of indecently assaulting two 16-year-old girls.   more...

Development raises concern

Plans for large-scale expansion of Didcot have been opposed by councillors amid concerns over inadequate and insufficient roads, schools, community centres and recreation facilities.   more...

July 22: Sorry, but it all looks lost

You don't normally catch Prime Minister Tony Blair saying sorry for anything - so when he does there's bound to be a sting in the tail for the recipients.   more...

Queen seen

Members of the Banbury and District Volunteer Bureau met the Queen at a reception at St James' Palace organised to honour this year's Queen's Award for Voluntary Service winners.   more...

'No money to back up hospital pledge'

A Government commitment for a new 30-bed community hospital in Bicester was never backed up with extra cash to build it, according to a senior health executive.   more...

Couple write to Blair over missing son

The parents of missing backpacker Gareth Koch have asked the Prime Minister to intervene in the handling of the search for their son, who disappeared on a trekking holiday in Nepal more than four months ago.   more...

Sex assault claim 'to wind up boyfriend'

Two girls falsely accused a kebab shop manager of indecently assaulting them to "wind up" one of their boyfriends, a court heard.   more...

Horse and dog show

Horse and dog owners are being invited to take part in competitions in Witney on Sunday.   more...

July 16: Drinking free-for-all

There is no question that parts of Oxford can be intimidating late at night.   more...

July 14: Why such a long delay?

At last, the Government appears to have realised that Oxfordshire schools are facing financial hardship.   more...

Six arrested over damage

Six youths were arrested in Wallingford's Riverside Park early on Wednesday following damage to the toilet block and the swimming pool.   more...

Jim bows out after 38 years

Bad behaviour, too much paperwork and inspections are driving teachers out of the profession, says the retiring head of an Abingdon primary school.   more...

Tony Blair must go

Sir -- The invasion of Iraq was the main reason Labour got such a kicking from Oxford voters last month.   more...

Dad 'stole car to visit kids'

Two prolific car thieves -- one of whom stole vehicles to visit his three young children -- have been jailed for endangering lives in a high-speed police chase.   more...

Driver 'lucky to live'

A lorry driver who was airlifted to hospital as up to 8,000 chickens escaped from his truck after a five-vehicle smash is lucky to be alive, say air ambulance staff.   more...

Oxfordshire Sport

Cricket fixtures

Games for Saturday and Sunday, July 23-24   more...

Oxford put Robins to flight

COCK-A-HOOP Oxford Silver Machine left Swindon Robins rocking with a superb 53-41 victory in the Skybet Elite League at Oxford Stadium last night.   more...

Golf: Studley edged out in play-off thriller

Oxford City held their nerve to win at the fifth extra hole against Studley Wood in a dramatic Shaw & Co Oxfordshire Foursome League Knockout first round tie.   more...

Golf: City foiled in bid for champion club glory

Oxford City's hopes of victory in the BB&O Champion Club Scratch Team finals were dashed as East Berkshire triumphed at Bird Hills GC, Maidenhead.   more...

Football: Now Green joins Wallingford exodus

Didcot Town are set to sign defender Dave Green from near-neighbours AFC Wallingford.   more...

Aunt Sally results

Latest results from the Greene King Oxford and District League, as at July 7 . . .   more...

Aunt Sally: Cons knock Cowley off top

Greene King Oxford & District League report: North Oxford Conservative Club knocked Cowley Workers off the top of Section 3 with a 3-0 win over Lord Kitchener.   more...

Athletics: Kay's super show in vain for bold Radley

Radley found the going just too tough as they finished last in the semi-final of the BAL Cup at Eton.   more...

Athletics: Grant leaves rivals behind

A battling performance from Radley saw them finish a creditable third with a depleted team at the latest round of the UKA Young Athletes League in Kingston-on-Thames.   more...

Athletics: Harris roars in at Hornton

Headington Roadrunner Gary Harris was in top form as he cruised to victory at the Hornton Classic 6-mile race.   more...

Speedway: Witches cast spell on Silver Machine

Ipswich Witches 55, Oxford Silver Machine 38: Oxford were bewitched last night by Ipswich at Foxhall Heath where they were a shadow of the team who won there just a month ago.   more...

Tennis fixtures

Games for July 24-25   more...

Cricket: Leaders ring the changes

Table-topping Bicester & North Oxford make two changes to their side for Saturday's big Oxford Times Cherwell League Division 1 game with in-form Milton Keynes Park.   more...

Tennis: Oxon teams face tense final day

County Week is set for a grandstand finish for Oxfordshire - with a number of outcomes possible for both teams going into the final day.   more...

Oxon women seal promotion

OXFORDSHIRE'S women are celebrating a return to tennis's top flight after a tense final day in County Week Group 2.   more...

Hockey: Hawks on the up after play-off joy

Oxford Hawks Ladies' successful league season was rewarded with a place in South League Division 2, after they secured the runners-up spot in an arduous weekend at the Inter-League play-offs in Guildford.   more...

Cricket: Oxford planning to halt Henley charge

Oxford aim to become only the second side to beat Division 1 leaders Henley this season when the teams meet at Roman Way on Saturday.   more...

Oxon duo claim silver medals

OXFORDSHIRE teenagers Claire Triggs and Carolyn Plateau produced superb runs to win silver medals for England in the British Schools' International at Chelmsford.   more...

Cricket: Most back for Thame

Thame's form has been suffering over the last three weeks, with almost half of their first-team in the Caribbean on tour with the Lord Williams's School's old boys.   more...

Cricket: Launder out

Banbury will be without paceman Simon Launder when they tackle on bogey side Reading at White Post Road.   more...

Rugby: Mannion brothers log on with Quins

Oxford Harlequins are set for a double boost after Australian brothers Sam and Richard Mannion agreed to sign for the South West 1 side - and it's all thanks to the internet.   more...

Football: Oxford planning to halt Henley charge

Oxford aim to become only the second side to beat Division 1 leaders Henley this season when the teams meet at Roman Way tomorrow.   more...

Trulli bullish

Italian driver Jarno Trulli is confident the Enstone-based Renault team can challenge Formula One's `big three' this season and bring him the maiden victory he craves.   more...

Sporty duo

Brackley-based Team Veloqx will run two Audi R8 sportscars at Le Mans and Sebring this year.   more...

Hirvonen coup

The news that Mikko Hirvonen has been chosen to join Banbury's Subaru World Rally Team marks a stunning hat-trick for the coaching methods of Pentti Airikkala.   more...

Weekend events

Events from January 17 . . . .   more...

Oxfordshire Whats On

Making a career out of rural romance

Fiona Walker is remarkably young to have written seven best-sellers. She is still only 35, and the latest, Lots of Love (Coronet, £6.99), is holding its own in a long line of `chick-lit' favourites. "I got a contract at 23, was published at 24, and then did one a year.   more...

Review: 1812 By Adam Zamoyski (HarperCollins, £25)

When Byron met Stendhal, and learnt that the great French writer had been with Napoleon in the invasion of Russia, he wanted only to know about the retreat from Moscow and every detail of the comportment of the Emperor. Byron's intense interest in both the 1812 campaign and Napoleon is mirrored down the ages.   more...

Review: 1812 By Adam Zamoyski (HarperCollins, £25)

When Byron met Stendhal, and learnt that the great French writer had been with Napoleon in the invasion of Russia, he wanted only to know about the retreat from Moscow and every detail of the comportment of the Emperor. Byron's intense interest in both the 1812 campaign and Napoleon is mirrored down the ages.   more...

Review: Stalin and his Hangmen by Donald Rayfield (Viking, £20)

Rayfield charts Joseph Stalin's progression from provincial seminary student to power-hungry tyrant - cunning, cynical, highly intelligent, totally lacking in conscience, prepared to countenance almost any atrocity in the search for power, determined to crush all opposition to hang on to it -- and a jolly good personnel manager.   more...

Author interview: Joanne Harris

Never judge a book by its cover applies as much to best-selling author Joanne Harris as her novels. She is as enigmatic as they come, at odds with the fluidity and warmth of her writing.   more...

Review: The Finishing School by Muriel Spark (Viking, £12.99)

From the Marcia Blaine Academy of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to the May of Teck Club beloved of The Girls of Slender Means; from the Maud Long Medical Ward, the home to a cantankerous group of elderly inmates in Memento Mori, to the surprisingly worldly religious house overseen by The Abbess of Crewe - Muriel Spark has always been good on institutional life and the eccentricities it cultivates and conceals. Another unusual institution is depicted in the latest - but, she assures us, not the last - novel from this still sprightly, still hugely entertaining 86-year-old. College Sunrise is a school on the move. Lately of Brussels, Vienna and Lausanne, it is now instilling knowledge into nine young pupils, of various nationalities, on the shores of a Swiss lake.   more...

Making money from Brideshead image

Oxford has long been one of Europe's most recognisable movie locations. Thanks to the likes of Iris Murdoch, CS Lewis and -- of course -- Harry Potter, in recent years it has also become one of the busiest.   more...

Review: Oracle Night by Paul Auster (Faber, £15.99)

This is another of Paul Auster's complex, compulsive books -- part detective story, part ghost story; a tale within a tale within a manuscript.   more...

Real ale

Hats off to pub landlord David Raines! He's leading the fight against the price-fixing policies employed by the pub companies and major brewers, angered at the amount he has to pay Punch Taverns to buy beer for his pub, the Black's Head in Bletchingdon.   more...

Taste notes

It wasn't that I had nothing better to do, but I counted more than 20 wines costing less than £3 a bottle at Morrison's this week.   more...

Review: Around the World in 80 Days (PG)

At first I was going to pan this film but then I realised it just wasn't worth the effort. To be honest, I sort of liked this childish caper.   more...

Review: Shrek 2 (U)

A lot of cinematic water has passed under the bridge since the summer of 2001, when Shrek burst on to the scene. It's easy to forget that, while flawed, it was well worth seeing.   more...

Review: Hamlet (Stratford)

With first-class productions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear already 'up and running' at Stratford, the RSC has now added a brilliant finishing touch to its season of four great tragedies.   more...

Concert marks anniversary

The 300th anniversary of the day the Duke of Marlborough led his troops to victory at the Battle of Blenheim will be marked with a concert at Woodstock's Blenheim Palace.   more...

Review: Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2, which swoops into theaters today, not only meets our expectations, it leaps far beyond them.   more...

Interview: Working mother who really has it all

Meeting the writer and freelance journalist Diana Appleyard at her home in the Oxfordshire countryside, you get to see what "having it all" can actually mean.   more...

Review: Noah (Old Fire Station, Oxford)

Forget the cute children and fluffy animals that have beset musical versions of the Noah story since Britten's Noye's Fludde, Jo Noel-Hartley's Noah offers a hard-hitting contemporary adaptation that poses an effective challenge to a corrupt and individualistic society.   more...

Byrne baby byrne

The summer festival season reaches its zenith this weekend with two of the country's finest events taking place nearby.   more...

Review: Brian Wilson (New Theatre, Oxford)

We love you Brian! The spontaneous cry from the audience summed up the mood as former Beach Boy Brian Wilson launched into his first show in Oxford.   more...

Feeling blue

Blues fans will never find themselves at a loss in the city of dreaming spires, while our own Silver Phil keeps the music flowing at the Bullingdon every Monday.   more...

Fyne dining

Oily fish are good for the brain, they say. Schoolchildren in Oxfordshire are even being given fish oil tablets to improve concentration.   more...

Fun event marks lottery milestone

The Sobell Lottery celebrates its fifth birthday on July 17 with a entertainment extravaganza at Oxford's Westgate Centre -- and the chance to win £1,000.   more...

  
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