Archive

Closing prices on August 3 were: AEA Technology 103 BMW 2671 Electrocomponents 228.25 Isoft Group 59.25 Oxford Bio 23 Oxford Instruments 216.5 Reed Elsevier 531.5 RM 172 RPS 219.75 Torex Retail 57.75

Sir I wonder what former Oxford residents and gay icons Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas would have made of Oxford Pride? The eternal adolescent Douglas might have danced along to Nicki French or X-Factor finalist Shania but I suspect that the event

Sir Christopher Gray has missed a trick (Where they really do come three at a time, Weekend, July 21). Three airport buses are no more use than one if they all arrive late. There is, however, an easy solution to the Headington roadworks and congestion

Sir Writing as one of the 600,000 co-owners of the county's roads and a cyclist who has to pull out to pass parked cars, I need to be convinced that charges on motorists who use roads as parking spaces are unjustified. Roger Jenking Oxford

Sir As the writer of the article on the Compton Verney exhibition, I take full responsibility for the phrases used (Hard work, letter, July 28). Few readers of The Oxford Times can be better aware than I of the motto of the RAF, or of the version

Sir The Speak campaigner claims they are not causing serious disruption to the community? Then why did they lie down in the middle of Carfax and bring road traffic to a halt? David Bradnack Haddenham

Sir Living near the river I empathise with Mr Newman's troubles with herons (letter, July 28) having watched these birds help themselves to countless fish from my pond over the years. A strategically placed plastic heron deterred them for a while but

Sir The saddest fallout of the disappearance of the first 33 years of the Oxford Playhouse's own records is that there is no longer a complete run of programmes anywhere (Don's theatrical labour earns doctorate, July 28). During the 12 years I have

Sir Following the letter from Frances Cork (July 28) mentioning the unsightly signs in the counryside, we also have to put up with these in Oxford. Woodstock Road has enough clutter of signs anyway. Now there are garish and obtrusive advertisements

Sir Before everyone applauds the recent announcement that the Radley Lakes complex has been designated a county wildlife site (CWS), let me draw attention to two very incongruous aspects of this designation. First, the designated area includes Thrupp

Sir The time I am spending writing this I had expected to spend watching the latter part of The Merchant of Venice by the Creation Theatre Company. We left at the interval. It really is utter tripe. What is on offer does collide with the original by

Sir The residents of Oxford have had plenty of examples of money the city and county councils are prepared to waste on batty' schemes; the most notable being the repaving of Cornmarket Street. Now the residents of Morrell Avenue are about to witness

Sir I sat down this evening with some neighbours to make a joint response to the city council's, Oxford 2026, Core Strategy, Issues and Options questionnaire. My conclusion as an exercise in consultation this is useless: at best inept, at worst a fraud

Sir I was surprised to see in your July 21 report of the city council debate on recycling that there had been criticism of the plans to extend the collection of green waste and cardboard to the whole of the city as quickly as possible. Many residents

Sir Commentators and bus companies seem surprised that passenger numbers are declining, and then the companies complain when buses are swamped by foreign summer students. Might we suggest that some market research on public demand, both seasonal and

Sir I read with interest the article in the last issue of In Business about Didcot Power Station's use of a renewable source of energy. This was intimating that the power station was going green by incorporating palm kernel in its combustion material

Sir I, too, agree wholeheartedly with S. Young and Wendy Ball regarding the total discomfort of the New Theatre. Without a doubt it is the worst theatre I have ever sat in, and if anything it has grown worse over the years. Sitting in the gallery is

Sir S Young (Letters, July 14) correctly presents a case for a decent Oxford concert venue. I remember a performance of Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, way back in the late fifties at the uncomfortable Sheldonian, after which I was undecided about attending

Sir Your letter (July 21) from Jeffrey Hackney, chairman of the Curators of the Sheldonian Theatre, displays a depressing complacency. He presides over a concert venue with all the sophistication of an Elizabethan cockpit. I and thousands of other Oxford

While it is too early to speculate on the exact causes of this week's horrific accident on the A34 in which four people died, the events do serve to remind us that this stretch of road is no longer fit for purpose and, worryingly, that there are no plans

It is good to see Oxford City Council thinking positively about how it could benefit from the 2012 Olympics. In the past, Oxford has missed out on opportunities because it has not been prepared to bend over backwards to get them. A notable example was

The Oxfordshire Golf Club's bid to stage the 2011 Solheim Cup received a big boost this week, when it received the thumbs up from the Ladies European Tour inspectors. The impressive course near Thame is one of seven contenders to host the women golf's

Former England international Caroline Campion captured her first Oxfordshire WBA singles title when she beat grandmother Margaret Ellis in the final at South Oxford. Ellis, from Oxford City & County, had hit the headlines by reaching the final at the

A charity cricket match at Kidlington raised more than £650 for Oxfordshire's national wheelchair tennis champion Danny Robbins. The match at Stratfield Brake, which was sponsored by the Six Bells pub, comprised of three teams, Noke Exiles, Kidlington

The annual fixture against South Oxfordshire Amateurs in the Oxford Downs cricket week was highlighted by the presentation of the 'Paul Collins Memorial Bat'. It was presented by Paul's elder daughter Charlotte, in his memory to winning Downs captain

Oxford Cheetahs climbed out of the basement as they recorded their first win away from home with a magnificent 53-39 success at their fellow strugglers last night. The star of the show for Cheetahs was guest Chris Louis who underpinned the victory with

Oxfordshire's Simon Burnett (pictured below) finished fifth in the final of the men's 200m freestyle at the European Championhships in Budapest, Hungary, last night. Burnett, who holds the British record of 1min 46.59secs, crossed the line in 1.48.01

The family-of-four who died in a crash involving a car transporter on the A34 has been identified by Thames Valley Police. The accident happened on Monday when the family's car got crushed between the car transporter and a lorry on the northbound carriageway

CLEANER streets could be on the way following a £100,000 deal signed by an Oxford University spin-off company. Steam cleaning company Proventec will use an invention by Oxford Catalysts in a nine-month programme to develop a portable steam cleaner.

TAKING four children to a play centre was an eyeopener for the Hayes family. It started them on a four-year quest to set up their own business offering a better deal to families in search of holiday entertainment. Mum Anni Hayes said: "The standard

BUILDERS have cut the first turf to mark the start of work on a new speculatively-built £4m industrial scheme in Witney. The Nimrod buildings on part of the former Smiths Industries site in De Havilland Way, Windrush Park, are due for completion in

CLEANER streets could be on the way following a £100,000 deal signed by an Oxford University spin-off company. Steam cleaning company Proventec will use an invention by Oxford Catalysts in a nine-month programme to develop a portable steam cleaner.

About time too, some might say, when they read that a mainstream electrical retailer is to sell solar panels. After the hottest July ever, in which power stations were forced to forego their annual clean-up thanks to the extra demand for electricity,

NICOLA LISLE talks to director Rodney Howard about his youth production of the ever-popular Oliver! at the New Theatre Never work with children or animals, the saying goes. So why have four normally sane adults committed themselves to producing Oliver

DOGS OF GOD James Reston (Faber, £20) This is a book with an identity crisis. Set in late 15th-century Spain, on the one hand it is pitched as an account of the pivotal events' of 1492 Christopher Columbus, the defeat of the Moors, the Spanish Inquisition

TENDERWIRE Claire Kilroy (Faber, £10.99) This thriller is about a violin. Not any violin, however, but a priceless Stradivarius. The violinist concerned is an Irishwoman, Eva Tyne, who has just made her solo debut, but then collapses and finds herself

An Oxford show staged by an Oxford theatre .... Set in 1890s Oxford, Brandon Thomas's venerable farce, Charley's Aunt, tells the story of two lovesick undergraduates, Jack Chesney and Charley Wyckham. They are desperate to meet their sweethearts away

Historic Inns Along the River Thames Roger Long (Sutton, £12.99) The Trout Inn at Wolvercote is the epitome of Oxford riverside pubs and naturally it features as such in this book. But why does the author include the Bear (Alfred Street), the White

Compton Verney presents a weekend filled with science fiction activities for families this weekend. Linked to the exhibition, The Starry Messenger: Visions of the Universe, the drop-in workshops are designed to entertain all ages and the activities

BE NEAR ME by Andrew O'Hagan (Faber, £16.99) O'Hagan's latest novel is curiously uplifting and life-affirming, considering its rather depressing subject matter. Idealistic Balliol graduate David Anderton becomes a Catholic priest and takes a job in

South Wales is becoming an increasingly greener destination to enjoy a family holiday, writes PETER CANN When planning a holiday in Wales many places spring to mind Snowdonia, the lush central valleys from Llandrindod Wells to Aberystwyth, the stunning

George, Don't Do That Joyce Grenfell (Hodder, £7.99) A collection of the comic actress Joyce Grenfell's sketches and songs, including the wonderful nursery school monologues and the complete words of Stately As A Galleon. Joyce, a neice of Nancy, Lady

Oxford art historian Tim Pears rose to fame with his detective story An Instance of the Fingerpost. His latest novel, The Portrait (Harper Perennial, £7.99), is about an artist's revenge on a critic

Don't moan about the weather, says VAL BOURNE, just turn tropical I do hope that you're not getting too distressed about your garden during the hot, dry weather. We gardeners have to take what's on offer, even if it is over an inch of rain in one hour

If anyone can prove the theory that writers are born not made, it is Jacquie Walton. She writes romances under the name of Maxine Barry and crime novels as Faith Martin and she has five books out this year with Robert Hale. The youngest of five children

With less than a week to go before this year's Cropredy festival, Fairport Convention's founder member Simon Nicol tells TIM HUGHES It's one of the world's great migrations. At this time of year lovers of folk music across the globe plan their journey

Local share prices on August 3, 2006, were as follows: AEA Technology 103 BMW 2672 Electrocomponents 229.5 Isoft Group 59.75 Oxford Bio 23 Oxford Instruments 216.5 Reed Elsevier 537 RM 174 RPS 222.25 Torex Retail 58

Share prices for local companies on August 3, 2006 were as follows: AEA Technology 103 BMW 2672 Electrocomponents 229.5 Isoft Group 59.75 Oxford Bio 23 Oxford Instruments 216.5 Reed Elsevier 537 RM 174 RPS 222.25 Torex Retail 58

An unforgettable flight in a vintage Dragon Rapide across Oxfordshire evokes memories from a different era for former air stewardess Helen Peacocke The invitation to take my old air stewardess uniform out of mothballs and give it a whirl in a 1940s

A family has appealed for help to track down the person who shot their cat and almost left him paralysed. X-rays have shown that Sebastian, a pedigree Maine Coon, has a pellet lodged between his lung and rib cage, only cm away from his spine. Vets

Banbury's Horton Hospital site has been suggested as suitable for housing development but health bosses in Oxford have denied they want to bring in the builders. The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust says it wants to improve nurses' accommodation at

First an Oxford estate welcomed a giant metal tree sculpture, now it is to get its own version of the Wicker Man. Artists are building a three-metre wigwam holding up a figure as the centrepiece of this year's Leys Fair, which has a Living Art theme

University students in Oxford are paying hundreds of pounds for specially-tailored essays bought off the Internet. Up to 70 Oxford undergraduates a day visit the website of a firm which offers help with coursework. Students pay ukessays.com £240 for

Labour Oxford city councillor Dan Paskins has forced another by-election by announcing he is to quit the Town Hall. The 26-year-old executive board member and Lye Valley councillor will become the fifth Labour councillor to quit this calendar year.

There will be first night nerves aplenty as the curtain goes up on Oliver! at Oxford's New Theatre tonight. Starring 200 Oxfordshire youngsters, the theatre's latest youth drama project, sponsored by the Oxford Mail, promises drama, music and a lot

Horspath Road and Water Eaton have been touted as potential sites for Oxford's first 50m swimming pool. The city's municipal facilities are deemed out of date and inadequate for competitive swimming. And with Oxford aiming to host one or more nations

More than 100 employees at the Bicester HQ of electrical chain PowerHouse were waiting to hear what will happen to their jobs after the company went into administration for the second time in three years. All 500 staff at the company's 53 stores received

A teenager who nearly died after downing most of a litre of vodka has said he will never do it again. David Woodley's parents want his story to be used as a warning to all underage drinkers of the dangers. Sue and Graham Woodley, from Wallingford,

A judge has been criticised for suggesting that people who use their homes as drug factories are no more of a nuisance than those who cultivate tomato plants. Judge Charles Harris questioned whether council tenant Phillip Pledge was causing anti-social