FIVE years ago this week, there was uproar after Paolo Di Canio was appointed manager of Sunderland.

In 2005 the Italian had reportedly told a news agency that he was "a fascist, but not a racist". Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband quit as the club's vice-chairman in protest and the Durham Miners' Association demanded the return of a colliery banner from the Stadium of Light.

Di Canio refused to comment on his political stance, accusing journalists of offending his family and the values of his parents.

But at the end of the week, Di Canio released a statement saying: "I am not the man that some people like to portray. I am not political, I do not affiliate myself to any organisation, I am not a racist and I do not support the ideology of fascism. I respect everyone.

"I am a football man and this, and my family, are my focus. Now I will speak only of football."

Elsewhere, then-Welfare Minister Iain Duncan Smith was challenged to live on only £53 a week by a North-East market trader.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, who earns £1,581 a week after tax, claimed he could get by on £53 during a heated debate with David Bennett, of the Wear Valley.

Mr Bennett, a father-of-two, challenged the former Tory Party leader on a BBC Radio discussion about the impact of the Government's new welfare shake-up. He said the reforms, which opponents say will hit the poorest in society, will leave him destitute and disputed the Government's claims that the changes will help people break free of benefits.

Asked whether he could live on £53 a week, Mr Duncan Smith replied: ''If I had to, I would.'' The claim was immediately latched on to by campaigners who set up an online petition calling on him to "prove" he could survive on £53 a week.

Meanwhile Grand National-winning jockey Ryan Mania was airlifted to hospital with neck and back injuries when he flew off his horse at Hexham Racecourse, Northumberland.

It was thought that the 23-year-old was kicked between the shoulder blades by another horse.

Mr Mania later tweeted: "Thanks so much for all the messages. I'm grand. Staying in hospital to get another scan tomorrow then should be home."

And a stolen rare-breed lamb was named Lucky after it was found by police.

Two men were spotted carrying a strange parcel along Durham Road, in Sunderland. The men, aged 18 and 26, dropped the parcel and the three-day-old Zwartble lamb was discovered inside.

Police turned up at Barnwell Farm, Penshaw where volunteer Christine Dover was looking for the missing lamb.

Mrs Dover said: "They took us down to the farm and by the time we had got him back in the afternoon he had gone without 14 hours of feed. He was very, very hungry but he was over the moon, as was his mum.”