Archive

  • Fish is one not to be missed

    BIG FISH (PG) Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Robert Guillaume, Marion Cotillard GENRE: Comedy/Drama GUIDE: Swearing, no sex, no violence "In telling

  • Lives in rhyme that did not chime

    SYLVIA (15) Shot on location in Cambridge, director Christine Jeffs gives us an intimate biopic of poets Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig) and Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow). The film traces their intense and ultimately doomed relationship from the corridors

  • Napoleon meets his second Waterloo

    THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES (PG) History is rewritten in Alan Taylor's gentle comedy based on the novel The Death Of Napoleon by Simon Leys. Napoleon - played by Ian Holm, who also got to play the vertically-challenged great man some years ago in Time Bandits

  • Cinema listings for week of Friday, January 29

    BIG FISH (PG) Billy Crudup, Alber Finney, Ewan McGregor, Jessica Lange and Alison Lohman star in Tim Burton's quirky but fascinating and unmissable fantasy drama - see review. COLD CREEK MANOR (15) Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone star as a couple who encounter

  • Back to school with your help

    THANKS to some of the staggering £6,023 raised so far by Daily Echo readers, the children of the Iranian city of Bam have been getting back to school. The first of 26 temporary schools has opened catering for up to 50 primary school children, in an inflatable

  • Interhol is biggest and best

    INTERHOL is back and it's bigger and better than ever, say organisers. Thousands of visitors have been pouring through the doors of the BIC to attend the country's longest running holiday show, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary. The free three-day

  • Kelly, nine, in plea for 'special' Leeson

    A NINE-year-old schoolgirl has written to Dorset County Council pleading for Leeson House to be saved. Kelly Applin visited the Purbeck field studies centre last year with classmates from Ferndown Middle School. She has now suggested that councillors

  • There's snow business...

    FREEZING conditions and snowfalls overnight left a trail of devastation across Dorset. Schools closed, trees came down and numerous collisions occurred after snow fell on Wednesday evening followed by temperatures falling below zero in the early hours

  • DO YOU KNOW WHO HE IS?

    DETECTIVES investigating the case of the phantom tyre wrecker have released CCTV pictures of a man they would like to speak to in connection with the offence. Last month the tyres of more than 600 vehicles were punctured causing inconvenience and financial

  • Council tax bonus 'due to Purbeck'

    INCOME from council tax on second homes in Purbeck should be spent in Purbeck, according to civic chiefs. The district council has agreed to abolish tax discounts and charge second homeowners with 90 per cent council tax. However, 75 per cent of the money

  • Police lose bid to fly helicopter

    DORSET Police hs lost a bid to use its crime-busting helicopter for night-time emergencies. The force chopper will remain grounded between 2am and 7am. And Purbeck civic leaders are calling for it to be relocated from police headquarters at Winfrith.

  • Rivers and Tides (U) preview

    GENTLE documentary exploring the world of Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, best known for his large-scale, perishable, environmental works. The film follows Goldsworthy over more than a year in several outdoor locations, capturing the artist's improvisational

  • Sylvia (15)

    SHOT on location in Cambridge, director Christine Jeffs' follow-up to the charming rites-of-passage drama Rain is an intimate biopic of poets Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig) and Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow). The film traces their intense and ultimately doomed

  • My Life Without Me (15)

    LIFE is incredibly fragile, and it's only when you start looking closely for the flaws and imperfections that you realise how easily it can fracture or fall apart entirely. Young mother Ann (Sarah Polley) is devastated when a routine medical check-up

  • Big Fish (PG)

    THERE'S magic in the air again... After the ill-advised 're-imagining' of Planet of the Apes, director Tim Burton returns to simple storytelling in his latest picture, Big Fish. On one level it's just the story of a young man trying to find out who is

  • Booby prize

    SNAKES, rats and horrible creepy things - but enough about the contestants, the I'm A Celebrity jungle is a lot scarier this year, and it's not all to do with Jennie Bond's orange lippy. The lurking dangers seem more real this time round. There's a sense

  • Gig listings for the week starting Friday, January 29

    FRIDAY (30) Monk (Verdis/Mariners, Maiden Street, Weymouth): A new name to us. Any Judas Priest covers? Abbot & (Elvis) Costello? Perhaps it's a tribute to Thelonius. Splinter (Finns, Westham Road, Weymouth): It's Weymouth's premier classic rock band

  • The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Life

    Claiming to offer "extreme etiquette for the stickiest, trickiest, most outrageous situations", this is a mixture of factual advice on how to be socially desirable through manners, charm and wit, interspersed with prose detailing the social gaffes of

  • NEW FOREST PLANS (Jan 27)

    Land rear of The Old Tea House, Lyndhurst Road, Brockenhurst; 80048, two storey dwelling (outline application with details only of siting and access from Noel Close; Paul Robinson RIBA, Artillery Cottage, 83 Lower Buckland Road, Lymingon (for Mr &

  • Polite knight of the road

    I HAD a bit of a shock on Bournemouth's roads the other day. Approaching the Richmond Hill roundabout, I was in the right-hand lane ready for the divergence caused by the recent roadworks. As so often happens, someone in the left-hand lane suddenly realised

  • Council saves £m off tax bill

    SAVINGS of close to half-a-million pounds are being forecast by Poole council this year - representing around one per cent of the council tax bill. And the cash has been achieved not by cutting services but by closely watching "where the money goes" around

  • Good Food On The Aga

    NOT so much a cookery book, more an account of a bygone age when everyone ate seasonally, lobsters made frequent appearances and Tripe Wiggle was a recipe not a description of a hangover. Published in the 1930s, this is a sensible little book with appropriate

  • Cats - Quotes and Stuff, Summersdale £4.99

    THAT smug feline who deigns to share his home with you may have commissioned this little book. Full of admiring quotes and acute observations from famous cat-lovers, this is pro-cat propaganda at its best.

  • DORCHESTER SETTING SIGHTS ON SECOND

    AFTER last week's 62-0 demolition of Wootton Bassett, Dorchester have the opportunity to leap-frog their hosts Tadley tomorrow. Victory for the county town would see them go second in Powergen Southern Counties South Division behind rivals Ivel Barbarians

  • MAGPIES' NEW STRIKE FORCE

    DORSET Premier League leaders Dorchester Res-erves field a new strike duo when they host bottom club Stourpaine at the Avenue Stadium tomorrow (2.15pm). With 15-goal Warren Byerley again on duty with the first team, last season's top scorer Aaron Turner

  • ISLANDERS PREPARED FOR A BOROUGH BACKLASH

    PORTLAND United will be out to wreck Gosport Borough's Sydenhams Wessex League championship hopes at Grove Corner tomorrow (3pm). The once mighty Southern League outfit are currently lying third in the table, well adrift of top two Wimborne Town and Winchester

  • BEES HOPEM THE CURSE OF BADGERS HILL HOLDS

    IT COULD be more than just 11 against 11 when Bridport visit Frome Town in the Screwfix Direct Premier Division tomorrow (3pm). The Bees may also have to contend with the supernatural as the Robins have recruited a white witch to lift the so-called curse

  • Golden couple met on the dance floor

    LONG serving Bridport Town Councillor Tony Tiltman, 77, met his wife Doris, 80, more than half a century ago at the town's Buff Ball in the old drill hall. The military-style dances were held every year or so and the young Tony couldn't help but admire

  • Taxidermist keeps old skills alive

    IN THE modern, hi-tech age in which we live, it would be easy to forget traditional crafts and skills that have existed for centuries. But one person who is keen to keep at least one old skill alive in her area is Claire Fowler, who just over two years

  • Concerns over development plans

    PLANS to develop an historic part of Bridport set alarm bells ringing this week. Rax Lane neighbours Richard and Felicity Warner, of Rax House, and John and Lyn Hargrave, of Mulberry House, have applied to build two new homes on their land. Their agent

  • CLARIDGE PONDERS TROPHY RETURN

    STEVE Claridge admits he is facing a selection poser against Altrincham tomorrow - whether to pick himself. The Weymouth player-boss is available for the FA Trophy fourth round tie at the Wessex Stadium after serving a three-match suspension. But after

  • West Bay design team appointed

    A TEAM of London-based architects has been appointed to design West Bay's £2million regeneration scheme. The firm of Long and Kentish got the job this week after public consultation. Their brief includes designing the controversial multi-purpose "landmark

  • Snow brings chaos to West Dorset roads

    THE snowstorm on Wednesday night combined with high winds caused traffic chaos in West Dorset with several incidents being reported to police. Two lorries jacknifed on the A35 within minutes of each other. The first on the eastbound carriageway near the

  • Horns locked in Bull fight

    ANGRY residents have led the charge to save Bridport's historic Bull Hotel. They saw red after plans were revealed to transform part of the centuries-old former coaching Inn into a housing development. Members of the town council's plans committee heard

  • Cemetery looks set for a watery grave

    A CEMETERY in a village near Wimborne is set to close following fears over waterlogging at the site. Church chiefs at Canford Magna have been forced to act after problems with water gushing into graves dug for burials. "It became very distressing for

  • BSO will be back in town

    WORKS by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert will be brought to Weymouth Pavilion next Thursday by the BSO. With Gunther Bauer-Schenk conducting and Emer McDonald on flute and Eluned Pierce on harp, the ensemble will perform Haydn's Symphony No97, Mozart's Concerto

  • Arts events for the week starting Friday, January 29

    FRIDAY (30) Regects Revenge's Peasouper, Dorchester Arts Centre Meet the Boss, Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester The Great Silence, Whitchurch Canonicorum village hall Animal Farm, Lighthouse, Poole Cloudland, Lighthouse, Poole Godspell, Octagon Theatre

  • FURY AT SLUR ON 'GUNG-HO' PILOTS

    A ROW broke out today after Dorset Police pilots were branded 'gung-ho' and councillors refused to let the force fly its helicopter around the clock. The police applied to Purbeck District Council for permission to lift restrictions on the aircraft scrambling

  • Striking officers in row on picket

    A ROW has erupted over a strike being held at The Verne prison today. Protestors who work at the Portland jail have been banned from demonstrating over pay this morning at their chosen spot - the north gate - because it is on prison land. Governor Mike

  • Tank traning centre of excellence saved

    TANK training at Bovington Camp looks secure after the Defence Secretary pledged to keep the facility running. Concerns had been raised about the camp's future after the publication of a Government White Paper earlier this year. The document said that

  • Samaritan is sought

    POLICE in New Milton are searching for a good Samaritan who came to the aid of a shop manager after he was attacked in the town centre on Monday night. Local man Rick Price, 35, was assaulted after he asked a group of youths to move on from outside the

  • Bowlers in protest at car parking charge hike

    BOWLERS annoyed at the prospect of paying double for parking fees have collected 500 names on a petition handed in to Christchurch Borough Council. Members of the East Dorset Indoor Bowls Club are incensed over a threatened hike in charges which they

  • Sean's quiet on number two talk

    CHERRIES boss Sean O'Driscoll says he is keen to play his cards "close to his chest" regarding his search for a new assistant. O'Driscoll is in the market for a replacement for Peter Grant and the situation was expected to be discussed at a board meeting

  • Polite knight of the road

    I HAD a bit of a shock on Bournemouth's roads the other day. Approaching the Richmond Hill roundabout, I was in the right-hand lane ready for the divergence caused by the recent roadworks. As so often happens, someone in the left-hand lane suddenly realised

  • Rocket man wants his rockets back

    ROCKET man Henry Barlow would like to hear from anyone who has had a small spacecraft land in their garden recently. Care worker Henry, 32, who lives in Talbot Road, lost two of his treasured rockets on Sunday when they didn't come back after take off

  • Majorettes enjoys another successful year

    LYME Regis Majorettes finished off another excellent season by holding their 2003 annual presentation at Uplyme Village Hall. Awards were presented by Paul Bohane of the Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival Committee, who said the town should be very proud

  • Lyme beauty in Net sex expose

    A FORMER Miss Lyme Regis hopeful was at the centre of a shocking sex scandal that threatened national security this week. Serena Christopher, 48, who grew up at Pinhay Farm in Rousdon, was revealed as the ex-lover of a married colonel who told her sensitive

  • Thriller by numbers leaves you cold

    COLD CREEK MANOR (15) IN THIS new suspense thriller, which propels British director Mike Figgis back into the mainstream, moving house is not just stressful, it's a potentially lethal experience. Cooper Tilson (Dennis Quaid) and his svelte wife Leah (

  • MP angry over lack of action on flooding

    A BOURNEMOUTH MP has slated the lack of progress in protecting mobile homes from floods. But Environment Agency officials are set to tell residents little can be done for them. David Atkinson, MP for Bournemouth East, has voiced "frustration, anger and

  • Sickness overcome by Everest explorers

    IMAGINE being anywhere worse than Everest when you're suffering severe sickness and diarrhoea - that's what one local lad endured and all for charity. Paul Swallow walked eight hours a day for three weeks over rocky terrain and reaching heights of more

  • Police lose bid to fly helicopter

    DORSET Police hs lost a bid to use its crime-busting helicopter for night-time emergencies. The force chopper will remain grounded between 2am and 7am. And Purbeck civic leaders are calling for it to be relocated from police headquarters at Winfrith.

  • Film Club (30.01)

    THE Daily Echo Film Club in conjunction with UCI offers Echo readers the chance to enjoy top movies at a cut price every week at UCI. Membership is free to every Echo reader who applies and includes: Two tickets for the price of one on a selected film

  • The School of Rock (PG)

    HARD-up rock guitarist Dewey Finn (Jack Black) has been sacked by his band and is faced with imminent eviction unless he can come up with some cash... and quick! Desperate, he lands a job as a substitute teacher at a posh junior school and sets about

  • Booby prize

    SNAKES, rats and horrible creepy things - but enough about the contestants, the I'm A Celebrity jungle is a lot scarier this year, and it's not all to do with Jennie Bond's orange lippy. The lurking dangers seem more real this time round. There's a sense

  • Running with Reindeer

    An art historian by training, Took is almost certainly the first foreigner in more than a century to seriously explore the remote, harsh wilderness in the Murmansk region of Russia. Living amongst the reindeer-herding and hunting communities of the indigenous

  • EAST DORSET PLANS (Jan 29)

    12 HILL WAY, RINGWOOD; 3/03/1595/OUT, new build bungalow with garage adjacent 12 Hill Way; Mr Mckay, 16 Marine Squire, Brighton, East Sussex (for: Mr & Mrs Mckay). Land At The warren, Badgers Walk, Ferndown; 3/03/1676/FUL, Variation of Condition 1

  • Unreasonable force used in youth's arrest

    POLICE officers used "unreasonable force" in restraining a 15-year-old Poole youth during a violent struggle, a court decided. The youth claimed he was pushed to the ground and had a knee on his head, causing an injury below his right ear. After a day's

  • You know you're getting old when...

    Warning signs of old age include an interest in budgies and vinyl flooring. You may even start to begin your sentences with "In my day..." Funny and frighteningly familiar. Perfect stocking filler (surgical).

  • Portuguese Irregular Verbs

    MCCALL-Smith, whose No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a best-seller, produces another series about a ludicrous academic. Professor Igelfeld is a marvel of pomposity who has written a book that gives him his high standing in a world of philology. His beguiling

  • Kitchen Privileges

    THE memoir of how a girl grew up in the Bronx of the 1930s and became a best-selling author. Stories of "How I Did It" are always interesting and Mary, pregnant, with three small children, banging away at the typewriter and facing years of rejection slips

  • The Full Cupboard of Life

    PRECIOUS Ramotswe is back in this fifth book of The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series. How can she extricate Mr J L B Matekoni from a terrifying sponsored parachute job and finally get him to marry her? Along the way Precious finds the right husband

  • KITELEY FEARS A FIXTURE PILE-UP

    WEYMOUTH Reserves' manager Dave Kiteley is keeping his fingers crossed that the weather won't intervene to stop his side's Sydenhams Wessex Combination game away to Hamble Reserves tomorrow. "We're already way behind everyone else and have got a lot of

  • HILLIER HOPES FLU BUG AT AN END

    DORCHESTER United boss Kevin Hillier is hoping he has seen the back of the flu bug that swept through the club last week. Three of his more experienced players pulled out of the game against title-chasing Hamworthy Rec because of it and another three

  • MORRIS SWEATING ON KEELER'S FITNESS TEST

    JUSTIN Keeler's injury-troubled season looks almost certain to continue tomorrow as the Magpies travel to Eastbourne Borough in search of a third successive Dr Martens Premier Division victory. The former AFC Bournemouth winger, who topped the Magpies

  • Wrtiters compete for £10,000 in prizes

    SOME £10,000 in prize money is up for grabs in this year's Bridport Prize. The contest is considered to be one of the top writing competitions in the UK, attracting entries from over 60 countries around the world. Celebrated novelist Jim Crace is this

  • Black beast spotted again

    THE BIG black cat has been spotted again - by the editor of the News, Margery Hookings. She was driving on the A3066 road between Melplash and Beaminster on Tuesday afternoon when she saw a black, panther-like animal about 400 yards away on hills near

  • Parliament duo put a feather in Bridport's cap

    BRIDPORT triumphed in this week's Youth Parliament Elections - securing the county's two seats. Ruby Thurston and Toby Gurd, both 16 and students at the town's Sir John Colfox School, were chosen by Dorset's 11-18 year olds in an online election. West

  • Tiny moth makes home at West Bay

    A TINY moth new to the British Isles has been found breeding at West Bay. Cosmopterix pulchrimella has a wingspan of less than 1cm. It was first recorded in this country at Walditch in the autumn of 2001 when a single month was found and its identity

  • New laws wanted to ban Lyme Bay oil transfers

    SHIP to ship transfers of Russian heavy oil in Lyme Bay must not be allowed to continue, insists the county council. The authority will, among along iwth others, do all it can to snure that it is stopped. Rob Tripp, the council's emergency planning officer

  • Inflation on house prices slowing up

    HOUSE price inflation has slowed to 14.3 per cent year-on-year - the lowest level since March 2002, latest monthly data reveals. Further slowing is expected - prices in December 2004 are expected to finish at 9.0 per cent above current levels, said Nationwide

  • Cool invention for golfers

    GOLFERS playing in the sweltering heat in Dubai are now able to enjoy ice-cold beers on the 18th hole thanks to a Dorset firm's latest invention. Beer dispensing manufacturer Alan Courtenay Ltd was asked to come up with a cooling system that could be

  • Disorders are being tackled

    EAST Dorset is already meeting many of the new guidelines for tackling the increasing problems of eating disorders. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence's recommendations highlight the need for the early treatment of anorexia, bulimia and binge

  • Cemeery looks set for a watery grave

    A CEMETERY in a village near Wimborne is set to close following fears over waterlogging at the site. Church chiefs at Canford Magna have been forced to act after problems with water gushing into graves dug for burials. "It became very distressing for

  • Kelly, nine, in plea for 'special' Leeson

    A NINE-year-old schoolgirl has written to Dorset County Council pleading for Leeson House to be saved. Kelly Applin visited the Purbeck field studies centre last year with classmates from Ferndown Middle School. She has now suggested that councillors

  • Ready to rock with hit show

    THE ROCK opera that set the benchmark for others to follow strides on to the stage at Weymouth Pavilion next month. It is three decades since Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar took the West End and Broadway by storm and now, with its popularity

  • The last word in festivals

    NEXT MONTH sees Dorset celebrating the written and spoken word with Blah di Blah, the county's festival of words and voices from March 18 to 29. Arts centres, village halls, libraries, castles and even restaurants are organising over forty readings, exhibitions

  • Workshops restart

    POETRY Dorchester, the town's series of verse workshops, restarts next week at the arts centre. The workshops run from 10.45am until 1pm each Wednesday. Call 01305 266926 for details.

  • Tom Poster recital

    RENOWNED pianist Tom Poster is giving a recital at the Octagon Theatre, Yeovil, on Sunday. The performance, part of the theatre's Celebrity Concert Series, will include Beethoven's Sonata in E Major, Schumann's Kreisleriana, Rachmaninov's Variations on

  • Silence is great fun

    MIRACLE Theatre's wonderful family show The Great Silence is at three of Dorset's villages this weekend The play is the story of a king who hates music and decides to ban it from his kingdom, with unforeseen and hilarious results. It is perfect for adults

  • Madcap play time

    A TALE of love and man's inhumanity to camels bursts on to the stage at Dorchester's Corn Exchange tonight (January 29) when Rejects Revenge Theatre brings Peasouper to the county town. The show, which has received awards from the Edinburgh Festival and

  • Readers' letters

    A NEW LOCAL TAX WOULD BE FAIREST I REALLY must respond to the letter from Daniel Smy about local taxation ('Lib Dem ideas are bad news', January 28). Scrapping council tax and replacing it with a local income tax is all about fairness. It is about making

  • Villagers fight plans for homes near pub

    CAMPAIGNERS today slammed plans to build four homes on part of a village pub car park as over-development. The homes are planned for part of the overspill car park at the popular Sunray pub in Osmington. But villagers backed by West Dorset District councillor

  • Mystery big cat on prowl

    THE BIG black cat roaming West Dorset has been spotted again. It was seen by Margery Hookings, editor of the Echo's sister paper The Bridport News, as she was driving on the A3066 road between Melplash and Beaminster. She saw a black, panther-like animal

  • Golden years of happiness

    LONG-SERVING Bridport Town Councillor Tony Tiltman, 77, met his wife Doris, 80, more than half a century ago at the town's Buff Ball in the old drill hall. The military-style dances were held every year or so and the young Tony couldn't help but admire

  • Pupils warned in abduction scare

    STUDENTS at Arnewood School in New Milton have been warned of the dangers of talking to strangers after a pupil was accosted on Monday afternoon. The incident happened the day before an attempted abduction of a boy in Weymouth. In the New Milton incident

  • Rural towns in market as safest places in UK

    RURAL towns in North Dorset continue to be the safest place in the country to live according to new research by Dorset Police. Inspector Nick Budden who covers Sherborne and Sturminster Newton came to the conclusions after he commissioned a five-year

  • 'What's going on?' is father's plea over centre

    A WORRIED dad has made an impassioned plea for more information about the possible closure of the Juniper Centre in Christchurch. The Juniper in Jumpers Road is a social and education centre (SEC) for 100 adults with learning disabilities. Dorset County

  • Council to complain to water company

    COUNCILLORS in Charmouth are fed up with being mucked around over sewage problems in the village. Speaking at Tuesday's parish council meeting, councillor Richard Wyatt said he was unhappy about plans by Wessex Water to build a sludge thickening building

  • CRUNCH TIME FOR PURCHES

    CHERRIES star Steve Purches today faces a make-or-break training session which should determine whether he is fit enough to hit the comeback trail. Purches has been sidelined for more than three weeks after aggravating an ankle injury he initially sustained

  • Memorial marks Morgan's mystery grave

    Members of the Lyme Regis Society and town mayor Barbara Austin gathered at Morgan's grave in Sidmouth Road on Tuesday, to unveil a new plaque in honour of the mystery man. Coun Austin said that even though she had grown up in Lyme Regis, like many she