Oxford and Oxfordshire news, sport and information updated throughout the day

Stories for 15 February 2001

Oxfordshire Business

US group buys DNA test firm

By Maggie Hartford A company which pioneered modern DNA testing has been bought by US company Orchid BioSciences.  more...

A walk on the wild side

By Maggie Hartford Marketing company CPM, based in Thame is sponsoring a touring production of Wuthering Heights.  more...

Bookham losses double

By David Duffy Former stock-market darling Bookham Technology saw shares dive 11 per cent as it reported its full-year figures, which showed losses in the last quarter had almost doubled.  more...

Dotcom's rock star

By Maggie Hartford Delon Dotson, one of the founders of the Internet portal Netscape and the music download site MP3, is to give a lecture entitled "The Net is dead. Long live the Net" on Wednesday, February 28, at 5pm at the Examination Schools, High Street, Oxford.   more...

Furnishing facelift

By David Duffy Soft furnishings specialist Rosebys is opening a new store at The Square, Cowley, tomorrow.  more...

Oxfordshire Education

Witness to quake calls for book aid

A teacher caught up in the chaos of the Indian earthquake has launched an appeal to rebuild the region's shattered education system.  more...

Schools must finance extra pay rise

Schools in Oxfordshire will have to foot the bill for bumper pay rises awarded to newly qualified teachers.  more...

School opens new rooms

Language teaching has been given a boost following the opening of two new college classrooms.  more...

Oxfordshire Leisure

Irish legend returns to Oxford

It began with a chance meeting in Newport of all places at a Jerry Lee Lewis convention. He a friend of Lonnie Donegan, a fan of John Lee Hooker and perhaps Ulster's greatest living musician; she, a Hank Williams devotee from Tennessee, and sister of the Killer himself.  more...

New local band makes people dance

The Frogmen in Pursuit, a relatively young band (being together for only a year and a half), are Oxford's latest offering to the world of music.  more...

Top jazz man in town

One of Britain's leading jazz pianist will be performing in Oxford on Thursday, February 15. Jonathan Gee will be playing at The Spin, over The Wheatsheaf pub, in High Street.   more...

Helpline for Asian women to launch

The county's first helpline for Asian women will be officially launched next week with the release of 100 balloons bearing its freephone number.  more...

TV vet invites you to join trek

BBC Vets in Practice star Joe Inglis is inviting people to join him on an Italian trek to raise money for the Blue Cross animal welfare charity in September.  more...

Chance to comment

A public exhibition on proposed changes for a shopping area will begin on Monday.  more...

Review: The Circle (until Feb 24)

Though The Circle is widely regarded as Somerset Maugham's finest work for the stage - "One of the 100 best plays of the 20th century," according to the posters outside the Royal Theatre, in Northampton - opportunities to see it are few and far between.  more...

Review: Design into architecture (until April 13)

The astonishing collection of paintings and drawings left to Christ Church by General Guise forms, once again, the basis of an exhibition in the Picture Gallery until April 13.  more...

Review: Hamlet at BMW, Cowley (until March 10)

"Excitement in Town" proclaimed the banner at the entrance when you'd found it after braving the ring road and the normally strictly-guarded BMW gates. It actually meant the glittering silver model of the new Mini, enticingly on show before going into production.  more...

Review: The Duchess of Malfi (until Mar 3)

Entering the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, a surprise awaits. On stage, a great column of brightly coloured balloons stretches form floor to ceiling.  more...

Review: Wuthering Heights (on tour)

The lights go up, though only dimly, on the gothic interior of an abandoned farmhouse. Long unused furniture draped in glistening white shrouds stands like a gathering of ghosts, while outside the moors rise so steeply that there is no horizon to be seen.  more...

Review: Rose Rage (until March 17)

You know how it is. You wait for decades, then five come along at once. Henry VI, I mean.  more...

Review: A Woman in Waiting

The nationwide tour of A Woman in Waiting, which stopped off last week at the Oxford Playhouse, begins with an array of impressive credentials.  more...

Review: Little Shop of Horrors (until Feb 17)

It's a nifty piece of timing staging Little Shop of Horrors in St Valentine's week - for the little shop in question is a florists. However, one of the plants on sale is definitely not a romantic choice for a loved one.  more...

Preview: The Bird Sings With Its Fingers (Feb 19)

Dancer and choreographer Mark Baldwin and composer Julian Anderson have created The Bird Sings With Its Fingers, a new orchestral dance work for the Mark Baldwin Dance Company and the 34 musicians of the chamber orchestra Sinfonia 21 who work with them.  more...

Preview: Hollow Opera - two new plays (Feb 22-24)

The Pegasus Theatre is presenting a double bill from February 22-24 with two tales of darkness written by three Oxford playwrights who will be seeing their work performed for the first time.   more...

Preview: Bewilderness (Feb 21-24)

What happens when two men fall down the back of a sofa?  more...

Oxfordshire News

Helpline for Asian women to launch

The county's first helpline for Asian women will be officially launched next week with the release of 100 balloons bearing its freephone number.  more...

Hospital hygiene 'not good enough'

Inspectors visiting Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital have said its standards of cleanliness are still poor, despite £84,000 work to improve conditions.  more...

Whistleblowers will be shielded

Whistleblowers who expose corruption or rule breaking are to get full protection in south Oxfordshire.  more...

Ex-publican and darts fan mourned

The funeral of Bill Barnett, landlord of the former Chequers pub, Harwell, for more than 20 years, takes place at Oxford Crematorium on Saturday.  more...

Dog hides fireman's pager

FIREFIGHTER paul claydon was left scratching his head when his emergency pager mysteriously vanished.   more...

Sex case lecturer a 'secret' bisexual

A lecturer accused of luring a 14-year-old boy into having sex through a teenage Internet chatroom told police he was secretly bisexual.  more...

New lease of life for old rail station

Oxford's historic railway station, which was dismantled to make way for the new Said Business School and road changes, has a new lease of life.  more...

Martyrs' statue may be moving

Martyrs' Monument - the Oxford monument in need of urgent repair - could be on the move.  more...

Pool contractors stay a secret

The names of the contractors who will build Thame's swimming pool and the investment people who will look after the money are being kept under wraps.  more...

Lily's stolen teddy found

The treasured teddy bear stolen from pensioner Lily Currill, during a distraction burglary at her home, has been recovered.  more...

Oxfordshire battles the credit fraudsters

Anyone with a credit card will be chilled by the news of a £50,000 fraud revealed at an Oxfordshire petrol station yesterday.  more...

'I'll fight on,' says peaceful priest

A priest arrested during an anti-nuclear demonstration at the Faslane Trident submarine base on the Clyde says he will carry on demonstrating.  more...

Jostle for the junction

Plans for a suitable statue for Oxford's Station Square have been flooding in.  more...

City roads approach breaking point

Sitting in a traffic jam must be the biggest waste of time imaginable. By the time you've resorted to phoning a friend on the mobile, making your face up, and checking out your diary for the day, there's not much more you can do.  more...

Rescue drama on river

A man was plucked to safety from the River Thames after being dragged three miles in floodwater by his drifting boat.  more...

Brook floods pub

A village pub suffered about £8,000 damage when a brook burst its bank and flooded the premises.  more...

Cancer care gets £28m revamp

Oxford is to get a new £28m cancer centre, Health Secretary Alan Milburn announced this afternoon.  more...

Oxfordshire Sport

Patterson hopes to beat drop

Darren Patterson is hoping that his experience can help plug the gaps in Oxford United's leaky defence and help them pull off one of football's greatest escapes.  more...

Boxing: Guntert gets the verdict

Abingdon Town ABC's Jake Guntert battled his way to a majority points decision over Finchley's Peter Lydon at Biggleswade.  more...

Martial Arts: Monaghans make grade

Brother and sister David and Siobhan Monaghan, 11 and nine respectively, from Abingdon, have achieved their karate black belts first dan, Shodan, at the Oxford Karate Academy in Glanville Road, Oxford.  more...

Bowls: Chippy carry the banner for Oxon

Chipping Norton, spearheaded by world indoor pairs champion Les Gillett, are flying the flag for Oxfordshire in the area EIBA Championships.  more...

Golf: New owner falls head over heels for Bicester

It was love at first sight! "As soon as I drove in, I knew this was the place for me," said Graham Payne, the new owner of what was then called Chesterton Golf Club.  more...

Football: Gills' strike gets Six Bells ringing

Fraser Gills was the extra-time hero as Six Bells Kidlington tolled the end of AFC Vikings' participation in theMorrells Oxford Sunday League Cup with a 2-1 victory.  more...

Table Tennis: Vikings on the rampage with brace of victories

Vikings B are running riot in Division 1 of the Oxford and District League.  more...

Football: Garage suffer mighty crash

There was heartbreak for Standlake Garage, who suffered an astonishing collapse in the second round of the Autotype UTV League Ridgeway Cup.  more...

Bar Billiards: Withey boosts England

Oxfordshire players starred for England in the match away to Jersey.  more...

Youth football: Keeper Banks stars on debut

After a long lay-off due to adverse weather conditions, Oxon Under 16s took a while to get into their stride during their 0-0 draw with Herefordshire in the East Midlands Combination.  more...

Football: Matthews scores five out of six

Karn Matthews scored another five goals, taking his total to 27 this season, as Oxford Blackbirds beat Bullingdon 6-0 in the Oxford Mail Boys League Under 10B league.  more...

Football: Tower crack it!

Tower Hill Stars Under 14s notched their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory at Chipping Norton Swifts in the Giles Sports Witney Boys League.  more...

Women's Football: Rangers are held

Carterton Rangers were held to a 1-1 draw by Wycombe Wanderers in a Southern Region Northern Division top-of-the-table clash.  more...

  
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