Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) back issues from March 2008:
pounds 1m Premium Bond winners.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... TWO Premlum Bold holders have each won pounds 1 million in March's double jackpot. The first winner is a man living in Dumfries and Galloway. Bond number 13JP649765 was bought in January 1993, and the winner's total holding is pounds 4,000. ...
CRAZY WORLD.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... OREGON, USA: A town mayor who stripped to her underwear and posed on a fire truck has been sacked. Carmen Kontur-Gronquist lost her office after pictures of ...
Teens filmed risking lives.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... TWO teenage boys were filmed risking their lives by clinging on to the back of a moving bus for three miles. The stunt in south Wales, known as bus surfing, ...
No charges.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... SINGER Amy Winehouse will not face charges in connection with an alleged conspiracy to pervert the course of justice involving her husband. Police are ...
WIFE BEATERS ON TWO YEAR WAITING LIST FOR THERAPY; EXCLUSIVE.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY ANUJI VARMA BRUTAL thugs who beat their partners are waiting more than TWO YEARS for a place on Midland domestic violence programmes. Figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) show that offenders face a staggering 130 week delay to start rehabilitation ...
Pensions crisis is worse than feared.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... THE scale of Britain's pensions crisis is far worse than originally feared, a thinktank warned last night. The Policy Exchange said that over-regulation, rising life expectancy and higher costs had combined to produce a "perfect storm" in pensions. It said less than ...
Brown: My letter to injured Eduardo; EXCLUSIVE.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY LORNE JACKSON I'M in the corridors of power. Quite literally. Well, one of them, at any rate. Usually it's just a random passage on the fourth floor of Birmingham's ICC. But today a long line of the great, the good and the ...
X Factor star is Euro entry.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... FORMER X Factor contestant Andy Abraham was last night voted the act to fly the UK's flag for this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Abraham, who lost out to Shayne Ward in the 2005 X Factor final, was given the thumbs up in a public vote to represent the UK. The bin ...
Sport centre teenager shot.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A TEENAGER was shot and wounded in a sports centre yesterday, police said. The victim, believed to be 18 years old, was seriously hurt, but his injuries are not thought to be life threatening, Scotland Yard said. The youngster, who is black, was shot in the reception ...
CRAZY WORLD.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... OHIO, USA: A six-year-old boy was suspended from school after he had his hair cut in a mohican. Bryan Ruda's mum, Michelle Barile, said nothing in the Parma Community School handbook prohibits the style. ...
Canoeist dies.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A CANOEIST died yesterday after he became trapped on a river weir in what police have described as a "tragic accident". The 37-year-old man, who has not been named, was pulled from the River Calder, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, in a ...
Festival plans for French connection.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: By BOB DOWNING ready to open the doors for a French invasion for next year's Festival. A qualifier for the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle final was so well received at Auteuil last November that the Festival executive are already planning for another charm ...
REDS STILL FAVS OVER EVERTON.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: By CHRIS HUTCHEON EVERTON'S impressive victory at Manchester City pushed them back into fourth place and threw down the gauntlet to Liverpool who, nevertheless, remain bet365's 8-13 favourites to secure that final Champions League berth. Both sides are in ...
OFFER OF THE WEEK.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... OFFER OF THE WEEK: Open an account with Betdaq.co.uk, enter code ...
FULL FORSS; McLeish is delighted with 'merciless' Mik.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: By MAT KENDRICK ALEX McLeish will continue to rap Mikael Forssell in cotton wool - despite hailing the Birmingham hat-trick hero's finishing as "merciless". Forssell's first treble in club football set Blues on the way to a moraleboosting 4-1 victory over ...
Villa fans in dock after sick Ed chants.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: By ANDY WALKER ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger became the second Premier League manager to criticise Aston Villa fans this season - after they taunted Gunners supporters with sick chants about injured star Eduardo. With just 20 minutes on the clock of yesterday's ...
I'm no hero says Harry; PRINCE TELLS OF THE HORROR OF AFGHANISTAN AS HE IS WELCOMED HOME BY DAD AND BROTHER.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY JOHN BINGHAM PRINCE Harry arrived back in Britain from Afghanistan yesterday alongside two horrifically injured soldiers and said: "They're the heroes, not me." Looking tired and drained after returning from Helm and Province, Harry, 23, said: "The bravery ...
NOW WILLS WANTS TO GO; PRINCE TELLS OF THE HORROR OF AFGHANISTAN AS HE IS WELCOMED HOME BY DAD AND BROTHER.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... PRINCE William is eager to follow in his brother's footsteps and join the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Brother Harry overcame potential security fears to serve in war-ravaged Helm and Province and said the future King would "love to" do likewise. But he ...
JAILED OAP SUFFERS AN ANGINA ATTACK; Now family calls for a pensioner locked up for contacting grandson to be released.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY FIONNUALA BOURKE FRIENDS of a pensioner jailed for breaking a court order by contacting his Midlands grandson have made fresh appeals for him to be released after he suffered an angina attack. The 71 year-old was taken to hospital on Tuesday evening after ...
Bowling alley death: 7 held.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A SECURITY guard was killed at a Midland bowling alley in the early hours of Saturday morning. Seven people were arrested following the incident at Bowlplex bowling hall in ...
CRAZY WORLD.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... DUBLIN, IRELAND: An Irishman blinded by an explosion two years ago has had his sight restored after doctors used his son's tooth to rebuild his eye socket. Bob McNichol, 57, lost ...
J-Lo names her twins.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... SINGER Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony have named their newborn twins Max ...
Canoeist is trapped.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A CANOEIST was fighting for his life last night after he became trapped in a weir on a river. A full-scale rescue operation was launched by firefighters and police following the incident on the River Calder, near Halifax, in West Yorkshire. A police spokesman said ...
OAP backs MMR jabs.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A MIDLAND pensioner who lost his sight after contracting measles has backed calls for more children to have the MMR jab. Peter Tait, from Worcester, believes he would not have become blind as a child if he had been able to ...
Close pay gap plea.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... UNIONS lobbied a Government minister to close the gender pay gap at the party's Spring Conference in Birmingham. Officials from Unison delivered a strong ...
Rocket kills Brit airman.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A BRITISH airman has died after a rocket attack on his base in southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said. The ...
Natal puts it on a Plate for Nicholls.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... ANOTHER weekend and another big prize for champion trainer Paul Nicholls as he saddled 3-1 joint favourite Natal to victory in the Grade Three Connaught Gold Cup at Newbury. Nicholls has swept the board on the majority of Saturdays since the New Year with a steady stream of ...
NGRC.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... THERE is no racing at Coventry tonight as we wait to find out if their licence has been renewed by the NGRC. Due to the uncertainty there are no open races advertised in the calendar for the foreseeable future, which is a shame for open race followers as they have become ...
Thompson: Scots pose tough test.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: By MATT BOZEAT COACH Paul Thompson has warned his Cassidy Coventry Blaze players that will they face a team fighting for much more than two points when they take to the ice at the Skydome tonight. Blaze can take a massive step towards a third bmibaby Elite ...
STORM'S DRAINED BUT STILL IN HUNT; Graeme defies bug with 69.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: COLIN PEREIRA in Delhi GRAEME Storm overcame illness and a largely sleepless night to stay firmly in contention going into the final day of the Johnnie Walker Classic in Delhi. Storm appeared completely drained after carding a three-under-par 69 at DLF Golf ...
LIAM HAS BULLS ON TIGHT LEASH.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... HEREFORD 0 STOCKPORT 1 A 54th minute penalty by Liam Dickinson gave Stockport a revenge win over Hereford and dented the Bulls' drive for automatic promotion. Stockport registered their seventh successive away victory which has hoisted them firmly into ...
Football: ZOLTAN ZIPS IN TO LIFT ALBION; Hungarian wizard gets Baggies back on track.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: TOM ROSTANCE at The Hawthorns WEST BROM 3 Gera 45mins, Miller 58 mins, Bednar 66mins PLYMOUTH 0 ZOLTAN Gera came off the bench to inspire West Bromwich Albion to a stylish and emphatic win over promotion rivals Plymouth Argyle at the ...
REFEREE'S CALLS RILE SINNOTT; PORT VALE 0 OLDHAM 3.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: ANTHONY MUNDY at Vale Park VALE boss Lee Sinnott blasted referee Graham Horwood after his rock-bottom team sank a nearhopeless 14 points adrift of safety. There were big question marks over Oldham's first two goals, especially the second when George Pilkington ...
Shrews sink to new low.(Sport)
Mar 02, 2008 ... BARNET 4 SHREWSBURY 1 UNDER-achieving Shrewsbury's season suffered a new low as they were swept aside at Underhill. A season which had promised so much has now produced only six points from their last 12 matches. Ironically, given the collapse ...
Does children's home hold a grisly secret? EXCLUSIVE ABUSE VICTIM FEARS DEATHS COVERED UP.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL PRESSURE is growing for police to investigate the fate of 130 children who went missing over a 25-year period from a Midland orphanage. The young boys and girls were sent to Australia from notorious Father Hudson Home in Coleshill, ...
VILLAGE LIFE IS DYING IN MIDLANDS; EXCLUSIVE Report tells of grim future in rural areas.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY BOB HAYWOOD VILLAGE life in the Midlands is facing terminal decline, a new hardhitting report has revealed. Dr Stuart Burgess, chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities, says countryside families are suffering because of a lack of affordable ...
ICE DANCE STAR CHIPS BONE.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... SUZANNE Shaw's future in the Dancing On Ice contest hung in the balance last night after she chipped an ankle bone when landing awkwardly in rehearsals. The blonde actress and singer knocked Hollyoaks heartthrob and hot favourite Chris Fountain off the top of the leaderboard ...
SAUSAGE 'N' GNASH; EXCLUSIVE 13 stone star of TV's Dog Borstal attacks tiny pet.(Features)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY JEANETTE OLDHAM A GRANDMOTHER has pleaded guilty to failing to control her 13-stone Bullmastiff after it savaged a tiny sausage dog - on a TV show which helps owners train their unruly dogs. Karen Reid, 46, found herself in court after her pet Henry ...
Rugby playing Rev gives burglars the boot.(Features)
Mar 02, 2008 ... TWO yobs tried to raid a Midland vicarage - but got THUMPED by the minister. Rugby playing Rev Jon Morgan landed several hefty punches and booted one thug in the privates as a furious fight erupted. The 16st ex player, minister of the United Reformed Churches in ...
Taxpayers pay MP and his family pounds 300,000; EXCLUSIVE.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY BOB HAYWOOD TOM Watson is an MP who loves life. He is as big as a bear, always wears a beaming smile and adores socialising. Because of his fondness for food, he fully lives up to his Commons nickname - Tommy Two Dinners. Four members of the ...
Enrique: I won't sing forever like my dad.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... POP singer Enrique Iglesias said he plans to leave the spotlight before he turns 50 - unlike his famous father, Julio, who is still crooning romantic ballads after four decades. "I'm not sure I want to be up on a stage when I'm 64 or ...
CRAZY WORLD.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... FLORIDA, USA: After painting the inside of her trailer, a 45-year-old woman in Pompano Beach, cleaned up brushes with gasoline in a can. She then put ...
US op for Lech Walesa.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... DOCTORS in Houston, Texas have successfully implanted a pacemaker in former Polish President Lech Walesa. And they hope it will keep the Nobel laureate from needing a heart transplant. ...
Anger over Koran film.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A DUTCH politician has rejected calls from his prime minister to scrap a film he is editing which criticises the Koran. Jan Peter Balkenende warned Geert Wilders his film could pose a risk to Holland's national interests, but stopped short ...
128 MPH; EXCLUSIVE That's the speed boy racers are hitting on our city streets.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL DEATHWISH boy-racers have been condemned by safety campaigners after posting videos on the internet of them speeding at up to 130 mph. Shocking films of Asian youths racing high performance cars on the streets of Birmingham have appeared on ...
TORY RAPPED FOR BRANDING NURSES 'GRUBBY AND DRUNK'.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: MERCURY REPORTER DAVID Cameron has reprimanded a Tory peer for describing nurses as "grubby, drunken and promiscuous". The leader of the opposition said he "completely disagreed" with Lord Mancroft's comments during a debate in the House of Lords. ...
Police find cash machine scam.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... POLICE are warning Midlanders to check cash machines for fraudulent card copying devices after they discovered two ATMs had been tampered with. Warwickshire Police removed skimming equipment from a machine outside Sainsbury's in Rugby. They said three men were seen ...
Besotted redhead sent priest chocs and teddy bear.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY JEANETTE OLDHAM A FORMER bank worker has been convicted of harassing a Midlands priest who rejected her romantic advances. Cheryl Burston, 48, sent an email to Father Timothy Menezes professing her love and also gave him chocolates and a teddy bear. ...
MOTHER'S DAY APPEAL FOR MISSING GIRL.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: MERCURY REPORTER MISSING Shannon Matthew's mum has made an emotional Mother's Day plea for her daughter to return home. Karen Matthews, 32, said she does not want any presents today, she just wants Shannon back. She said: "Mother's Day is a day ...
Security guard robbed of cash.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A SECURITY guard was forced to the ground and robbed of cash during a terrifying raid at a Midland shop. The gang burst into the Co-op store in Liskeard Road, Walsall, and demanded cash, just hours after an armed robbery at another Co-op store near Wolverhampton. The ...
Shakespeare school protest.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A JEWISH school tumbled down national league tables after pupils refused to answer questions on Shakespeare because they believe he was anti-Semitic. Nine girls at the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School in Stamford Hill, north ...
CRAZY WORLD.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... KANSAS, USA: Nine-year--old school kids were almost strip searched when EUR5 went missing from their teacher's desk. ...
'Sexy' stout logo go-ahead.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... WATCHDOGS have rejected complaints that a Midland stout logo was too sexy. The label for Dorothy Goodbody stout, brewed in the Wye Valley, Herefordshire, features a blonde showing her thighs. The charity ...
Smoking fines.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... THREE Midland taxi drivers have been fined for smoking in their cars. The drivers were each issued with pounds 50 fixed penalty notices by Stratford-upon-Avon District Council following ...
Children used to live in constant fear of being sent to Australia; SPECIAL REPORT CHILD ABUSE VICTIM IN PLEA FOR POLICE PROBE AT MIDLAND ORPHANAGE.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY ADAM ASPINALL A CHILD abuse victim last night called for a police investigation into the fate of 130 children who 'disappeared' from a Midland orphanage over four decades. The youngsters were singled out for forced emigration to Australia from the ...
Police warning after threats.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... JERSEY Police issued a warning last night after a Midland victim of Haut de la Garenne was allegedly contacted by a former care worker - and told to keep quiet. The victim, who has not been named, but is believed to live in Telford, Shropshire, was supposedly approached in the ...
Sunday Mercury: Investigate the missing; SAYS.(Leaders)
Mar 02, 2008 ... IT was meant to be a home to protect vulnerable children. In reality, it was a house of horrors. The Father Hudson children's home in Warwickshire was a pit of depravity, where boys and girls were sexually abused. In many ways it was a similar institution ...
Sunday Mercury: Speed up process; SAYS.(Leaders)
Mar 02, 2008 ... THE Domestic Abuse Programme should be a hard-hitting method of eradicating domestic violence. Instead, it's the savage louts who continue to do the hard-hitting. That's because the programme they should attend has a waiting list of almost two years. ...
Sunday Mercury: Defend victims; SAYS.(Leaders)
Mar 02, 2008 ... FIRST they were attacked by the superbug. Now people who contracted MRSA or C.diff are being treated like supervillains by heartless insurance companies. The cruel firms refuse to offer them income protection and medical policies. Even when the victims ...
Life is a movie.(Features)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: LORNE JACKSON GREAT news - the writers' strike in Hollywood is over! Scriptwriters can go back to the hard graft of lolling by the pool, whining about highly paid directors, then mulling over the possibilities of writing a treatment for Mission Impossible 9. ...
How Led Zeppelin legend almost sang for Slade; AMAZING SECRETS OF BLACK COUNTRY SUPERSTAR SPECIAL REPORT.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: BY PAUL COLE IT is the unthinkable - Led Zeppelin rock legend Robert Plant leading Black Country chart heroes Slade into action, bellowing "Mama Weer All Crazee Now!" But it so nearly happened. Instead of singing Zeppelin classics such as Stairway ...
Man attacked protecting car.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... A CLASSIC car owner was attacked outside his Midland home trying to stop youths stealing his prized vehicle. The 38 year-old victim suffered a broken jaw and lost three teeth in the assault on Queen Elizabeth Road, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on ...
CRAZY WORLD.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA: A brother and sister aged five and seven watched in horror as a 16-foot python swallowed their pet terrier-Chihuahua whole. By the time animal expert Stuart Douglas turned up ...
'There were dead bodies everywhere' SURVIVOR REMEMBERS ZEEBRUGGE 21 YEARS ON Thursday marks the 21st anniversary of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster which claimed 193 lives. Lawson Fisher, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, and his six friends survived the icy waters. He tells FIONNUALA BOURKE about his experience.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... LAWSON Fisher was just 18 when he set off for a day trip to Belgium with six pals. The group had spotted a cheap ferry deal to travel from Dover to the port of Zeebrugge for just pounds 1. Little did they know that their bargain trip on the Herald of Free Enterprise ...
BABY WAS GIFT FROM GOD SAYS ABORTION MUM.(News)
Mar 02, 2008 ... Byline: MERCURY REPORTER A WOMAN who gave birth despite her husband lacing her food with abortion pills said her baby was a "gift from God". And Anat Abraham described attempts by her then spouse to terminate her unborn son as "the cruellest thing imaginable". ...