DARLINGTON'S railway shops were closing; Shildon's were slimming down. Coalmining was collapsing and the last shipbuilding yard on the Tees had gone.

"Forty years ago Lord Hailsham, having been appointed minister for the North-East by Harold Macmillan, put on a flat cap and at a '30-shilling-a-head' roast beef lunch, promised the people of the region a new era of prosperity," began a comment in last Sunday's Times. "Not surprisingly, they didn't believe a word of it."

The newspaper said that John Prescott, following the resounding No vote in the regional assembly referendum, would also go down in history as someone who had given the North-East an unbelievable vision of economic prosperity.

During the referendum campaign, Mr Prescott had himself referred to the events of 1963. "All the North-East ever got out of (Tory regional economic policies) is Lord Hailsham ringing his bell and saying 'I'll bring you jobs' and Mrs Thatcher's handbag down in Stockton," said Mr Prescott.

Dodging the handbag, let's look at Hailsham, an eccentric character, who opened the 1957 Tory conference by dashing into the sea in baggy pants to celebrate the election victory - one of the first political stunts staged solely for the cameras. He finished the conference by picking up a large bell and ringing out Labour's deathknell.

Over the winter of 1962, the North-East slid into depression. There were 84,364 unemployed, and Hailsham was sent north in February 1963 "to warm things up".

He wore a flat cloth cap, and - as he'd previously only been seen in a bowler - was condemned for a condescending photo-stunt.

Hailsham offered a variety of excuses - he'd left his bowler in his car in London, found Newcastle so cold that he'd bought a cloth cap to replace the one he'd been wearing for 25 years when shooting - but the cap became the enduring image of his mission.

He came up with a list of plans "as long as a washing list" which included creating airports, seaports, motorways, motels and a "regional council". He wanted to turn the North-East into "play-land" for holidaymakers, and after a drive through Crook, Eldon and Bishop Auckland thought "a great majority" of south Durham could be pulled down.

He wanted to create "growth points" in the region which would attract businesses because of their fantastic schools, hospitals and communications. He predicted that the North-East's population would rise from 2.875m to 3.3m in 1981 (today it is 2.5m) .

Hailsham's report was delayed for months. Then, suddenly, Prime Minister Macmillan required surgery and stepped down. Sir Alec Douglas-Home became Prime Minister, and Edward Heath, the new Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development, rose to present the "Hailsham Plan" in November.

Even though it failed to address the North-East's immediate economic woes, there were promises of huge Government investment to create a regional "growth box".

But nothing happened. Hailsham was sidelined, there was little Cabinet enthusiasm for his plan, and the country returned Harold Wilson's Labour Party at the election of October 1964.

All history records of the plans of 1963 is a flat cap and a lost opportunity. What will it make of the plans of 2004?