IT was Kevin Keegan, back on Tyneside this afternoon with his Manchester City side, who first established the French connection at Newcastle when he signed the flamboyant David Ginola from Paris St. Germain some seven-and-a-half years ago. While Ginola
Spennymoor last night appointed former Middlesbrough midfielder Jamie Pollock as their new manager. Pollock returned to the North-East in the autumn after he left Crystal Palace and takes over at the Brewery Field from Tony Lee, who quit last weekend.
A FATHER punched a headteacher in the face, a court heard yesterday. Peterlee magistrates, in County Durham, heard that John Wilkinson, 27, fractured a bone in the left side of Michael Carter's face with a single blow. He went to see Mr Carter, headteacher
A 12-year-old goalkeeper died after collapsing during a training session with team-mates. Ben Scaife, the nephew of former Middlesbrough midfielder Bob Scaife, had a known heart condition, but did not let it spoil his love of football. He had been enjoying
A REGISTER office is offering to open its doors for longer to allow servicemen and women to marry before a possible conflict in the Gulf. Staff at Darlington's Register Office have announced that they are willing to conduct wedding services out of hours
A DEVELOPMENT which began with a designer's scathing attack on "Wimpeyfication" is proving a huge hit with house buyers. Fashion guru Wayne Hemingway, founder of the Red or Dead label, first came to the attention of developer George Wimpey City when he
THE distraught parents of hit and run victim Rebecca Sawyer said a heartbreaking farewell to their daughter yesterday. About 300 mourners packed into a tiny church to pay a last tribute to the six-year-old. The red-haired youngster died and her sister
TWO teenage boys who persecuted a man each time he left his home, viewed it as a "fun sport", a court heard yesterday. The 13 and 14-year-old youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, shouted at him in the street, pushed lit matches through his letterbox
A BIRD caused a flutter at a new sewage works yesterday when it chose the wrong spot to take a dip. The cormorant flew in on Thursday afternoon to North-umbrian Water's £2.3m development at Stanhope, County Durham, where workers found it swimming in shallow
AN executive producer for a show concepts company, who failed to attend court for a trial over a dispute with a firm of solicitors representing singer Robbie Williams, now faces trial on February 18. Sean Stimson, 29, of Subversive Enterprise, who lives
Tony Blair last night urged Saddam Hussein to take the opportunity to give up his weapons of mass destruction as America described the discovery in Iraq of chemical warheads as "troubling and serious". The Prime Minister was briefed for an hour yesterday
A SPORTSWEAR company was fined £1,500 for supplying an item of children's clothing with a potentially dangerous hood cord. Local Boy'z Group was also ordered to pay £500 costs after admitting supplying clothing in breach of safety regulations at a Sunderland
It's a wrap for rapper Eminem as his screen acting debut impresses the critics. Film Writer Steve Pratt finds out why he's successful where other pop stars have failed. Eminem, the bad boy of rap, turned to director Curtis Hanson and said: "Never again
Middlesbrough's recent slump from European contenders to Premiership also-rans has been caused, in no small part, by their inability to find the back of the proverbial 'onion bag' often enough. Sports Writer Paul Fraser takes a look at the players whose
HEALTH bosses have warned childless couples they may have to wait until 2011 for fertility treatment. The number of couples from North Durham referred to the Newcastle Centre for Life for IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatment has increased so rapidly
GRANDMOTHER Maureen Middleton didn't let a little thing like age stand in the way of her great ambition. She wanted to see something of the world, so she packed her van - nicknamed Womble - and set off on the trip of a lifetime. Now the 63-year-old has
MULTI-national power firm ABB has won a £9m contract to build NEDL's new substation on Teesside. The distribution arm of Northern Electric's business has commissioned a replacement 132kV interconnector to replace an existing structure. The project will
MORE than two-thirds of businesses in the North-East believe there is a shortage of skilled tradespeople, and many claim the situation hat got worse in the past two years. It has led to more delays experienced by businesses before trade work can start
NEWCASTLE manager Sir Bobby Robson is resigned to failure in his attempt to prise Jonathan Woodgate away from Leeds - despite the shock collapse of Robbie Fowler's £7m Elland Road exit to Manchester City. Robson hinted yesterday that England centre-back
STEVE McCLAREN last night admitted he made a move for former Newcastle United striker Les Ferdinand but was rebuffed by Tottenham. Reports this week have suggested the out of favour Spurs star was in talks with Boro over a move to Teesside. However, McClaren
A SUB-POSTMASTER has quit his job after an attempted break-in at his home was linked to a chainsaw robbery at a nearby post office. David Sell said he was too traumatised to continue at the post-office in Hovingham, near Malton, North Yorkshire, where
THE abolition of up-front university fees, expected to be announced soon by the Government, is a welcome development. Labour came to power promising to extend the notion of equal opportunities in higher education. The introduction of tuition fees ran
FILM crews are to return to the Yorkshire coast to make another major movie. Making Waves will be based on the story of the pirate ship 270 which used to broadcast off Scarborough in the 1960s. Its stars include Richard E Grant, Michael Gambon, Angus
DRAW specialists Darlington are being backed by caretaker boss Mick Tait to return to winning ways. Since Tait took over the reins from Tommy Taylor in October, the Quakers have lost only twice in the Third Division. But despite that impressive run, Darlington's
Thrilled pupils at a North-East school have won a visit from chart-toppers Blazin Squad. The group will perform three songs - including their number one hit Crossroads - at Eastbourne Comprehensive, in Darlington, on Thursday. The venue was chosen after
SO Michael Owen lost £20,000 playing cards at the World Cup. Big deal many might say. For a player who earns in excess of £60,000 per week, £20K could hardly be considered big money. Admittedly for a manual worker on Merseyside it would probably be in
LAST weekend marked Plough Sunday, said by the Darlington and Stockton Times - infallible on such earthy matters - still to be celebrated in some country places by "much drinking of ale, morris dancing and mummers plays." It wasn't quite so boisterous
THE Last Chance Saloon bidding war for supermarket chain Safeway was looking decidedly overcrowded last night as US buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts weighed in. The arrival of the New York venture capitalists has spiced up the fight for the
Durham City manager Billy Cruddas expects a "cracking" game when his side take on Sudbury in the fourth round of the Vase today. The two sides lost in the semi-finals last season, City to eventual winners Whitley Bay, and Sudbury, who played Darlington
POLICE revealed last night that 119 arrests had been made to date across three forces in the region as part of a crackdown on child pornography. The arrests are part of Operation Ore, the biggest ever investigation into Internet paedophilia by British
CASH in on Clarendon (3.00), that's the word from the west country concerning the Philip Hobbs-trained seven-year-old, a leading contender for the £50,000 Lanzarote Handicap Hurdle at Kempton. "He picked up an injury after winning in July, but his absence
THE Darlington clubs face matches today which could go a long way towards deciding whether they swap places next season. The smart money would still be on them both being in National Division Three North, but if they lose today's away games the prospect
A delivery van driver was slightly hurt when he tried to stop a robber escaping with his vehicle by hanging on to the windscreen wipers. The victim, who was pulled from his vehicle in Bathgate Close, Battle Hill, Wallsend, Tyneside, at 10.30am on Thursday
A party was held at a North-East school yesterday to celebrate a Muslim tradition. Claire Cuthbert, religious education teacher at Grangefield School, Stockton, organised the party for all the Muslim pupils, from years seven to 11, and their parents.
THE impact of the Holocaust on children will be put under the spotlight later this month in the North-East. In the 1930s, a series of Nazi laws were aimed at removing the civil and economic rights of Jews and other groups, including political opponents
AN extension to an athletics club will be opened on Monday by the Mayor of Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon. The extension to the Dorman Long Athletics Club has cost £1m and will feature a new function, games and family room, plus an enlarged foyer. Club secretary
A TEACHER has travelled half way around the world to take up a job at a school, near Darlington. Scott Walter, a mathematics teacher from Melbourne, Australia, wanted to broaden his horizons. The 26-year-old decided he would like to teach in England and
A GIRL who fell asleep when she was supposed to be acting as lookout for her burglar boyfriend, kissed him goodbye yesterday when he went to jail. All was forgiven as Louise Baxter 19, and James Casey, 20, hugged in the dock at Teesside Crown Court. She
A DESIGN company may have solved a problem that costs local authorities and road maintenance firms tens of thousands of pounds every year. Dinsley Devices, of Barnard Castle, County Durham, created a hand-held device that can detect potentially dangerous
THE first original stage play by York-born novelist Kate Atkinson is being given its English premiere at the city's Theatre Royal. Abandonment, first staged during the Edinburgh Festival several years ago, will be directed by artistic director Damian
A man who burgled £4,000-worth of property was sentenced to two years in a young offenders' institution by Teesside Crown Court yesterday. Shaun Walsh, 20, of Manor Street, Middlesbrough, who was charged with burglary, left his fingerprints at the house
THE story of creation took an unexpected twist when God said "let there be light'' and there wasn't any. Pupils at Durham High School for Girls were performing a medieval mystery play for family and friends when the heavenly command for illumination was
A 59-YEAR-OLD woman sobbed in court as she was told she almost certainly faces jail for illegally supplying heroin. Edith Bradley, of Broughton Avenue, Easterside, Middlesbrough, was charged with supplying diamorphine - the clinical word for heroin -
POLICE are appealing for information about the theft of £30,000 worth of electrical equipment from an industrial estate. The goods had been loaded onto two wagons in a compound at Mastercare Ltd, Newton Aycliffe Industrial Park, County Durham. The theft
A FORMER mayor has urged victims of disgraced surgeon Richard Neale to take part in a controversial private inquiry. John Bacon, who was mayor of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, in 1983, made his appeal after a meeting with the senior barrister who chairs
A FORMER call centre worker escaped prison yesterday after causing more than £10,000 worth of damage to his ex-workplace during a drunken rampage. Christopher Conlon, 22, vented his fury at the Orange call centre, in Peterlee, County Durham, after a poor
ARMED police officers were called to a flat after a report that a man had been waving a gun in the street. But what Mark Millward, 33, was brandishing was a replica toy bought for his eight-year-old nephew. Newcastle Crown Court heard how Millward was
A gang of fraudsters asked for collateral of almost half the value of the multi-million pound loans they were offering to desperate businessmen, a court heard yesterday. George Steen, 54 Dennis Alexander, 47, and David Andrews, 38, were said to have agreed
IF making your bed in the morning is a bit of a chore, save a thought for staff at one of the National Trust's grand houses. For when they have to clean the state beds at Beningbrough Hall, near York, they even have to use scaffolding. Staff and textile
Teachers in County Durham are to get the chance to sample what life is like in a Russian classroom. Durham County Council's international office is organising a visit to twin city Kostroma, from April 12 to April 21, to help Russians teach English. Accommodation
A pigeon fancier of nearly 50 years standing said he was "totally devastated" when his pride and joy £6,000 birds were stolen. Mike Fitzhugh, 59, had travelled to Holland and Belgium to buy the prize-winning pedigree birds but 13 of them were stolen on
EXTRA cash has been secured by a North-East council considered among the top 25 per cent of local transport authorities in the country. Durham County Council has been awarded more than £17m for its 2003/4 local transport settlement by the Government.
A NON-LEAGUE footballer is to appear in crown court charged with assaulting an opponent during a match. Tony Healer was sent off while playing for Durham City in a game at Spennymoor United last October. The 27-year-old received his marching orders for
ARTHUR Peacock is the man celebrating with the bubbly, having won The Northern Echo's Christmas Champagne Crossword. The crossword, with more than 800 clues, is believed to be the biggest published in a newspaper or magazine in the country, and Mr Peacock
WHILE most remember 1966 for England's only World Cup win, the party had begun a few months earlier in Darlington. Thirty-seven years ago in May, Darlington's adoring football public celebrated one of the most glorious seasons in the club's history. Managed
GORDON Watson is itching to get back in action - but he won't be facing Oxford at Victoria Park today. The Hartlepool United talisman has recovered from a broken leg and after four months on the sidelines is edging ever closer to a first-team return.
ULTRA-DISTANCE star Sharon Gayter faces the biggest test of her career when she attempts to run 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours. The Flora 1000 Miles event starts on March 2 and the six participants, trying to emulate the feat achieved nearly 200 years ago
Byker Grove's troubled teenager Caspar Berry has gone straight - in a new career as a professional poker player in Las Vegas. Now he has made a documentary highlighting the gambling scene in the North-East. CASPAR Berry was the original bad boy of Byker
POLICE admitted last night that they were baffled as to why a teenager described as a "quiet lad" with no history of getting into trouble came to die in a stolen car. They are trying to discover why Liam Richardson, a well thought of 13-year-old from
Q I am a woman, shortly due to retire at the age of 65. I had not realised that I could have got my retirement pension from 60. Now I am told it can only be backdated three months, meaning I have lost four and a half years pension. This is not fair. Why
A PANTOMIME at Darlington Civic Theatre nearly a century ago inspired a member of one of the North-East's most famous families to become a world-renowned film-maker. Sadly, the name of the pantomime is lost in the mists of time, but the name of Sir Anthony
THE Easterby family cannot be considered strangers to success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Peter having captured the Blue Riband of the chasing world with Little Owl in 1981. Nowadays it is his son, Tim, in charge at Habton Grange Stables, home to another
A FINGERPRINT expert is determined to win back her job after her second victory for unfair dismissal against a North-East police force. Gail Hunter, 33, revealed last night she still wanted her old post as team leader at the fingerprint bureau at Durham
