FOOTBALL means a great deal to the passionate people of the North-East.

And it doesn't matter whether they happen to support Newcastle United, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Darlington or Hartlepool - all true football supporters will rise to pay tribute to Alan Shearer.

A generation of North-East fans have been brought up to revere the name of the legendary Jackie Milburn, Newcastle's greatest ever goalscorer.

And in generations to come, the legend of Alan Shearer will be passed down in just the same way.

England's former marksman, who turned down Manchester United to play for his hometown club, equalled Milburn's Newcastle record of 200 goals when he sealed a 1-0 FA Cup win against Mansfield at the weekend. It is just a matter of time before he breaks Milburn's record and goes into the record books as Newcastle's top scorer.

Club allegiances need to be put to one side as we applaud a magnificent achievement by a true sporting great.

Royal Pride

IT is six years since Princess Diana died, and the theories, suspicions and bitterness surrounding her death have still not completely gone away.

Yesterday, her eldest son, Prince William, now 23, joined the Army, arriving at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.

Prince William, who will eventually become the head of Britain's armed forces, said he did not want to be protected from military life, saying: "I'd want to go where my men went and I'd want to do what they did."

We suspect his mother would be very proud indeed.