LEROY LITA'S failure to make the most of a first half penalty proved the crucial factor at the Ricoh Arena, as Middlesbrough's relegation concerns increased.After earning a spot-kick, Lita then stalled his run up before watching goalkeeper Kieren Westwood
A CAMPAIGN to eradicate racism by using top footballers is making a final push to become the Football Association’s (FA) charity of the year in 2011. The drive by Show Racism the Red Card was endorsed by footballers and dignitaries in the North-East
AN illness to Barry Robson has forced Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray in to making two changes at Coventry City today.Robson has been struck down with illness and has had to withdraw meaning that there will only be six substitutes on the Boro bench
FORECASTERS were warning last night that there is no end in sight to the icy conditions gripping the country as the death toll rose and transport networks struggled to cope. Two pensioners died after falling in their gardens in subzero temperatures
CHILDREN in the North-East remain the most overweight in the country with thousands of youngsters classed officially obese, according to a report. Boys continue to be more obese than girls with the region’s poorest areas continuing to house
Daniel Howlett enjoys living the life of the gentry in a stately home. Y OU don’t have to be a fan of big-budget television costume dramas to enjoy feeling as if you’re in one. Thoresby Hall Hotel and Spa is set in beautiful parkland on the outskirts
Ruth Campbell has perfected the art of a successful, action-packed family tour of our capital city – and it’s all down to planning your days with military precision. T AKING a large family on a whistle-stop tour around our capital city at half-term
JUST as the British Empire had its followers who “went out in the midday sun”, so the Roman Empire was a wacky world with its own collection of eccentrics and beliefs. Superstition was rife, belief in auguries was prevalent – we all know a famous
ALTHOUGH British motorcycle racing fans haven’t had a home-grown Grand Prix winner to cheer since Barry Sheene won the Swedish race in 1981 the popularity of Moto GP is at its highest since “Bazza” won back-to-back world championships in the
A SUPERB photographic tribute by top photographer David Bailey to help servicemen and women wounded in Afghanistan. Sales of the book will aid the Help for Heroes charity. The photographs are moody and magnificent, intense and heartwarming as
WAUGH liked to irritate, to take an obverse view of the world simply for the sake of expounding. The more people against him, the better. He claimed to hate rainforests and conservation and cheaper rail tickets; to like opium and horsemeat. Cook
Will Ferrell talks to Steve Pratt about the difficulty of playing animated movie baddie Megamind using only his voice. US funny man Will Ferrell is used to making people laugh. But he faces his toughest audience when he goes home – his sons,
Whether a pie has to have a top and a bottom is debatable, but it does need a little bit of pastry at least. PIE powder courts – and not many people may know this – were held in medieval times, chiefly to determine disputes between travellers
Not all phone and mobile providers pay back credit when you leave a contract, unless you ring them and ask to be refunded. I’M about to write a giant IOU. Millions of people can quickly reclaim cash from Tesco or their old mobile, broadband or phone
Hand-made pasties, oven-fresh warm bread, ale pie and chunky chocolatey brownies are all available at Barnard Castle, thanks to The Moody Baker. GREAT news for fans of The Moody Baker – after years of the farmers’ market, it now has a permanent
THE football club with the loftiest ground in England is again living up to its reputation for hitting improbable heights. Top men, Wearhead United. It was the club which marked its centenary not just with a knife and fork supper but
SOME years ago I travelled to the National Gallery, in London, to see the world famous Zurbaran paintings of Joseph and his brothers. I, like many others from the North-East, had to travel nearly 300 miles south to view an art collection that is
DESPITE the earlier rather biased view of Lord Young (and an incorrect view of Tories in general) by The Northern Echo, I quite agree with Harry Mead (Echo, Nov 24) that had Lord Young chosen his words and context more carefully, and had the
I WAS one of many people who braved the Arctic conditions on a snowy Saturday afternoon at Steel House to meet Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (Echo, Nov 29). Although it should be stressed that Mr Piromya’s visit did not signify any
AFTER six months we now see the true policies of a coalition Government – scrapping HMS Ark Royal, reducing police numbers, cutting public services and amenities, radical restructuring of the NHS, creating a two-tier education system, tripling
IT is indeed with great sadness that, once again, I read that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), has persisted in its usual action in refusing a drug called Everolimus (Afinitor), for the treatment of advanced kidney
RE Hugh Pender’s letter about the cost of the forthcoming Royal wedding (HAS, Nov 29). If he listened to the news he would have discovered that the Queen, Prince Charles and Kate Middleton’s father are paying for the wedding, with the taxpayer
IF a pub closes it’s always the fault of supermarkets. Well how about stale beer, short measures, TV staring competitions and “the customer is always wrong” attitudes? The pub companies have speeded up the demise with their “tenancy agreements
Despite Arctic conditions, St Cuthbert’s Advent service brings people in from the cold – symbolically and literally. IT’S the first Sunday of Advent, that great season of anticipation, marked biblically by John the Baptist’s exhortation to
IN a recent interview (Echo, Nov 25) David Cameron said that transport links were the key to economic growth. He also stated that the Government will invest £30bn in national transport schemes, including £500m in the North- East. I would suggest
WHEN David Cameron proposed that councils should examine ways to reduce their budgets, I do not think he envisaged that this would be done without a thorough review. In Darlington, however, it would appear our local authority is planning on taking
WITH all the cutbacks on spending could we save by having fewer councillors in our wards? One in each ward should be sufficient to cope with the problems they all have to deal with. N Tate, Darlington.
Working in prisons across the area, Nepacs provides help and support for offenders and their families at the time they need it most. Sarah Foster finds out more. ALONG-HAIRED woman, sports bag in hand, emerges through the door. She is harassed
THE Harrier fighter aircraft has been consigned to the scrapheap and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal faces an uncertain future. The Government tells us there is no money. It says the Harrier fighting force and Navy’s flagship simply have to go.
WELLIES on. Hat on. Scarf on. Gloves on. We’re going out in the snow. Oh, and please don’t forget to put your snood on. Last Saturday night, Match of the Day reintroduced us to the snood as, according to pundit Mark Lawrenson, these tubular neck
THE Arctic conditions which have descended on Britain have caused chaos and hardship for millions of people, but today our thoughts are with those who are least able to cope with the extreme weather. We all know elderly people who have effectively
ALASTAIR Cook defied Australia's bowlers in near 40 degree heat for his second successive Ashes hundred - without breaking sweat. To another sell-out crowd at the Adelaide Oval, it was a remarkable feat to get to the bar and back in reasonable
JAMES O’Connor is hoping a ‘‘whirlwind year’’ will end with a spectacular finale at Twickenham today. The precocious Australia wing ticks off another of his must-do ambitions when he turns out for the Barbarians at full-back in the MasterCard
WITH rugby in the North- East facing its second successive blank weekend, Durham president Jim Dyson fears that his hopes of fielding a top-class county side at the end of the season will be scuppered. “I have already done a lot of spadework
DIRECTOR of elite rugby Rob Andrew feels the Rugby Football Union’s new rules on player eligibility will help England to approach the 2015 World Cup with their emerging stars at their best. The RFU announced that they intend to select England
BLACKPOOL’S televised Barclays Premier League match against Manchester United yesterday became the most high profile casualty of the freezing conditions. Today’s match has been postponed because of a frozen pitch at Bloomfield Road. It was
JAMES Anderson is no longer the one-dimensional swing bowler Australia might have thought they had seen off for good four years ago. There was scant reward for Anderson’s outstanding bowling in the drawn first Test on what became a batsman’s paradise
HERSCHELLE Gibbs’ international career is all but over after his national contract was terminated by mutual consent, Cricket South Africa have confirmed. The veteran batsman, who played Twenty20 cricket for Yorkshire last summer, was in the
IT’S times like these we are grateful for our all-weather tracks, keeping the show on the road as the big freeze tightens its grip. There has been no jump racing since last Saturday and it could be next Thursday, at the earliest, before it
ARTEUS can make it a quickfire double by landing the William Hill - Home of Betting Handicap at Kempton. Jane Chapple-Hyam’s charge hit the bullseye at Lingfield last week on his first outing since Kempton in September. The four-year-old was
SIR Chris Hoy won Track World Cup gold in Melbourne but Victoria Pendleton had to settle for silver on the second day of competition. Four-time Olympic champion Hoy was victorious in the men’s Keirin, with world and Olympic champion Pendleton
BARNARD Castle have signed ex-Durham batsman Gary Pratt and former Sunderland all-rounder Rameez Shahzad as the club’s first professionals. But when they step up into the top flight of the North Yorkshire and South Durham League for the first
THERE was a misplaced general consensus that Newcastle United would have lost out on a healthy payment if their Premier League match with Chelsea had not gone ahead last Sunday. From the moment the announcement arrived from St James’ Park on
With Christmas Day now just three weeks away, the hunt for sport-related gifts is underway. Northern Echo Sport runs the rule over Waterstone’s selection of the Top Ten Christmas Sports Books. TRAUTMANN’S JOURNEY By Catrine Clay (Random House
ARSENE WENGER has challenged his Arsenal side to kickstart their title ambitions at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners have lost their last two home league matches against Tottenham and Newcastle, but Wenger believes his side can turn things
WHILE he is yet to make a final decision on the situation, Tony Mowbray has hinted that Matthew Bates will become Middlesbrough’s permanent club captain. Bates took over the captain’s armband for the first time ahead of last weekend’s 2-2 draw
WE ASKED The Legends: “Why did England lose in their bid to stage the 2018 World Cup?” MICKY HORSWILL: It’s because we didn’t have enough money – it’s as simple as that. Reading between the lines, Russia offered the most money. We had all the
IT was an admission that spoke volumes for the position in which Middlesbrough find themselves after 19 games of the season. “We’re second bottom of the league,” said Scott McDonald, after trekking through the snow to preview this afternoon
HAVING successfully tied Mike Williamson and Nile Ranger to new long-term deals, Newcastle officials are preparing to start contract negotiations with Joey Barton and Jose Enrique. As expected, Williamson and Ranger both penned fiveand- a-half
NILE RANGER has expressed his delight at signing a new five-and-a-half year deal with Newcastle United, and is confident his best days on Tyneside are still to come. Ranger, who joined the Magpies from Southampton’s youth team in the summer
STEVE BRUCE has paid tribute to Sunderland’s miracle man for the way he has recovered from a career-threatening injury to take his place in a Premier League squad. David Meyler will take his seat in the dressing room at the Stadium of Light
IF there has ever been a time for Anton Ferdinand to grasp the opportunity to prove he is worthy of figuring more prominently in Steve Bruce’s long-term plans, this is it. With Michael Turner and Titus Bramble both ruled out for seven weeks
AS the North-East comes to terms with missing out on playing host to the World Cup finals in eight years time, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce revealed his belief that the outcome was down to a dislike of the English. While FIFA are happy enough
ENGLAND should not bother bidding for the World Cup again until FIFA change their system, 2018 bid chief Andy Anson said yesterday as English football came to terms with the devastating defeat by Russia. England secured just two of the 22 FIFA
A CONTROVERSIAL bid to move the clocks forward to make winter evenings lighter and save energy has been backed by MPs. Despite concerns about the impact on farmers in the North of England and Scotland, the Daylight Saving Bill was approved
offender A CONVICTED sex offender accused of raping a teenager in his home has told a jury it was the 17-year-old who initiated sex. Michael Sharpe also denied holding her against her will in the rented house and claims he gave her a door key
A FORMER Roman Catholic priest is facing jail after he admitted making and possessing child pornography. John Terence Paul Shannon, 58, a former lecturer at St Cuthbert’s Seminary, at Ushaw College, near Esh, County Durham, appeared at Durham
HUNDREDS of call centre staff are facing a bleak Christmas after it was announced their jobs could be axed. Up to 400 jobs at Barclaycard’s contact centre in Thornaby, near Stockton, could go, with some being transferred to the Philippines,
THE North-East was putting a brave face on England’s failed 2018 World Cup bid yesterday despite the announcement jeopardising plans to improve the region’s infrastructure. Officials within the Newcastle- Gateshead and Sunderland bid teams said
A PHARMACIST has been honoured 32 years after he graduated. Umesh Patel graduated from the University of Sunderland’s predecessor, Sunderland Polytechnic, in 1978 with a degree in pharmacy. This week, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Science
A year ago, the lives of 1,700 steelworkers were thrown into turmoil when Corus announced plans to mothball its Teesside Cast Products plant. With a new deal in the offing and hope renewed, Graeme Hetherington gauges the mood in the area now. “IT
A DELIVERY driver has been cleared of six sex crimes he was alleged to have committed against a besotted schoolgirl. Curtis Warren will return to court on Monday when a jury will continue to deliberate on the final charge that he faces. The
A FUND set up in memory of a ten-year-old girl has raised another £30,000 to help children with epilepsy. Since the death of Abbie Clarke four years ago, £60,000 has been raised for vital research into the condition at The James Cook University
A DRAMA about a tragic event in football history is to be shot in the North-East, following investment from a business fund. World Productions’ feature- length BBC drama United has received £150,000 of investment from the £2.4m Finance for
THE UK’s biggest food producer confirmed yesterday it was in the advanced stages of talks to sell its meat-free business, which has its production hub in North Yorkshire. Premier Foods said it was in talks with two parties over the sale of its
COUNCIL leaders have denied that a scheme which has helped to launch more than 1,000 small businesses in the former County Durham coalfields is facing a cash crisis. The Be Enterprising programme is backed by the Government and the European
A TEENAGE burglar who stabbed a man through the heart as he tried to defend his home said “wicked” as he was sentenced to life in prison yesterday. Ryan Ferguson was told he must serve 18 years behind bars before he can apply for parole.
TWO former school friends who went on to very public, but very different, careers have been honoured by a university. Comedy actress Melanie Hill, best known for her roles in Bread and Auf Wiedersehen Pet, and BBC Look North presenter Jeff Brown
TWO consultants at The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, have been named among the best in the country. Consultant anaesthetist Professor Chandra Kumar and consultant neurologist Dr Paul Reading have been named in The Times newspaper
A mountain rescue team made up entirely of volunteers is proving a valuable asset as the wintry weather tightens its grip on the region. Will Roberts reports. DON’T be fooled by the group’s name, Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue
GEORDIE rock star Sting has kickstarted a £3m choral fundraising campaign with a few notes of his own. The Wallsend-born former Police frontman, who played two spectacular concerts in Durham Cathedral last year, has given an undisclosed sum
For most the Arctic weather spells aches and chills, but for others it’s thrills and spills. THE weather may have brought freezing temperatures and treacherous conditions to the region’s roads, but this weekend will see thousands of people thanking
AS temperatures fall to –16 C, The Northern Echo backs a campaign to help elderly people trapped in their homes by the big freeze. THE Northern Echo today backs a campaign to help elderly people survive the cold snap. Readers are urged
PEOPLE across the region are being urged to help raise thousands of pounds to keep elderly people safe this winter. The campaign, which is supported by The Northern Echo, comes as two pensioners died in freezing conditions in Cumbria earlier this
TWO pregnant nurses who refused to be beaten by the snow are among NHS staff being praised for their determination to get to work. Bosses at the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough
