Champagne corks will be popping all over Bradford when the clock strikes midnight tonight.

Thousands of families and friends will get together to welcome in the new Millennium.

But before the choruses of Auld Lang Syne ring out the Telegraph & Argus asked the great and the good of Bradford how they will be celebrating the big night.

And what will be their Millennium wish?

Bradford-born TV star Richard Whiteley said like many people he would be spending New Year's Eve at his local pub with close friends.

"My Millennium wish is that I shall do all I can to stop people smearing the Yorkshire accents of people like the Conservative leader William Hague and Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott," he said.

"It will be a crusade to get the Yorkshire accent taken seriously and not treated like some music hall parody."

Bradford City chairman Geoffrey Richmond said he would be celebrating at home with his family and friends.

"As for my hopes for the coming 12 months, of course we all want Bradford City to survive in the Premiership next may. I also hope that everyone enjoys good health throughout the coming year."

Bradford escapolgist Shahid Malik said despite many offers to work on New Year's Eve he and his wife Lisa would be spending the night at home.

"My Millennium wish would be to break my own world record for escaping from a strait jacket while hanging 1,800 feet upside down from a helicopter. It would be wonderful for me to break the record in my own home town of Bradford." Mike Craft, lead singer with Bradford chart stars Smokie, said he would be going to his local pub to enjoy a few beers with his mates.

"Top of the list for my Millennium wish would be world peace. I hope there will be no more world wars and we can feed a few more people."

Not surprisingly Bradford Council's political leaders had differing views on their Millennium wishes.

Council deputy leader Councillor Mohammed Ajeeb, who will spend the night with his family at home, said: "I hope that all of us, not only in Britain but the whole of the world, enjoy a better quality of life and that peace will prosper."

Conservative leader Councillor Margaret Eaton, who will be at a charity fund raising party with her husband, said: "My Millennium wish is to have a Conservative run and thriving Bradford Council in the new Millennium."

Liberal Democrats' leader Coun Jeanette Sunderland, said she and her family would see the Millennium beacon on Otley Chevin at midnight. "My Millennium wish is for peace and prosperity and that everyone in the world gets on together."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.