TEN years ago this week, people were shaken awake when the biggest earthquake in 25 years hit the UK.

Measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, insurers said that the damage amounted to tens of millions of pounds.

In Seaham, Alan Hemming had spent the past four years restoring his green 1971 Hillman Avenger.

The 53-year-old had two hours more work to do before putting it in for its MOT.

However his pride and joy was destroyed when he woke up the next morning to find bricks had crashed onto his car.

Mr Hemming said: "I was not aware there had been an earthquake, because I slept through it.

"I build other cars and this has been a labour of love for me. There is no way I can restore it back to its former glory now. It is a complete write-off."

Meanwhile, father-of-three Fred Craggs finally went public after becoming the country’s first betting shop millionaire when all eight horses on his 50p accumulator won.

Mr Craggs, from Carthorpe, near Bedale, said: "I did not tell anyone about it at first, but I had to come clean to everybody on Sunday.

"I was not going to get all demonstrative – I was not going to go jumping about and shouting. It is just going to make life a bit more comfortable.”

He added that he would not give up his job as an agricultural lime and fertiliser agent, and said: "If you stop what you have got, it could leave a big gap in your life."

Scientists in the region made a major drugs breakthrough that it was thought could save the lives of thousands of women with inherited forms of breast and ovarian cancer.

Cancer Research UK scientists at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, at Newcastle University, developed a revolutionary drug that kills cancer cells by disabling their repair mechanism.

It was hoped the drug could stop cancer in its tracks – and even ensure that women with a family history of the disease never develop it.

Professor Hilary Calvert, who came to Newcastle University in 1990 to work on the concept, told The Northern Echo: "This is a very exciting moment for me because it is the culmination of many years of developing new drugs in Newcastle."

And a trio of shop workers clocked up 74 years of retailing when they retired.

Colleagues at Sainsbury's, at the Arnison Centre, Durham City, joined 60-year-old Helen Murray, 63-year-old Bernie Garbett and 59-year-old Kath Doxford for a champagne send-off.