LOOKING back to the week of October 3 to October 9, 2017, when a 50-year-old mystery of a missing Soviet Union flag was solved.

A FLAG which was stolen during the 1966 World Cup was handed in to The Northern Echo by the man who took it – more than half a century after the theft was discovered.

The Soviet Union flag was being flown outside Durham University sports centre, where the country was training for the football World Cup, which was held in England in July 1966.

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But following the match between Italy and Chile at Roker Park in Sunderland, Alex Henderson, the warden of the sports centre, reported it missing.

Durham Police launched an investigation, but the flag was never found.

Remarkably, 51 years after the flag was stolen, it was handed into to The Northern Echo’s Priestgate office in Darlington on Monday, October 2, 2017.

The man who took the flag asked to remain anonymous, and said it had been stored in his home for the last 50 years.

He said he had decided now was the right time to return the flag because he had no one to pass it onto.

Asked why he stole the flag in the first place, the man said it was a “spur of the moment thing”.

“It was a Friday night and the Russians had been playing at Middlesbrough,” he said.

“I was on my way home and I saw the flag flying on the pole, and it was just a spur of the moment thing.

“I have never done anything with it, so I decided to hand it back and hopefully it can go back to the original owners.”

The Soviet Union flag which disappeared was the second to be flown outside the Russian training headquarters during the tournament.

Later that week, after more than 50 years without any clue to its whereabouts, the Echo handed the flag over to Alex Henderson, who was head of sport at Durham University at the time of the theft.

“I had no idea why it was taken,” said Mr Henderson, now aged 81.

“We didn’t know if it was someone trying to make a political statement – all I remember is the Russians were very upset."

Recalling the moment he noticed the flag had been taken, Mr Henderson, who lives in Chester-le-Street, said: “I was in the car park and I had one of my students with me, and he pointed out the flag on this giant pole that had been put up was missing.

“The next thing we knew is there was people all around because the Russians weren’t happy.

“Back in those days you couldn’t just go out and get a flag – it wasn’t like that."

A child star who featured in one of the highest-grossing superhero origin movies of all time thanks to a chance meeting secured two more film roles for 2018.

Lilly Aspell, from Richmond, starred alongside Gal Cadot and Chris Pine as a young Wonder Woman in the blockbuster film released in June, 2017.

In October 2017, The Northern Echo reported that she secured two more acting roles in 2018 in mystery tale Holmes and Watson and sci-fi thriller Extinction.

She said: “The best bit about filming has been working with other people and travelling the world with my mum.

Lilly was crowd spotted for her part in Wonder Woman when she was having a day shopping with her family.

Her mum Donna said: “We were on Oxford Street in London when she was asked to audition for the role.

“It was amazing. The funny thing is she had no acting history apart from playing Mary in the nativity."

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