Archive

  • Helen Mead: Wednesday Column

    What do you know about the Freemasons? I picture them as groups of middle-aged, professional men, who are willing to be blindfolded, to roll their trousers up and stand, with exposed socks and garters, on a star-like pattern on the floor of a lofty, cold

  • Theatre Review: Abigail's Party, Priestley Centre

    So pleased to see you, said Beverley, the hostess from hell at the beginning of last night's soire. For a moment, I wondered if she'd broken character and was talking to the audience. It was indeed nice, after the debacle of some of the Priestley's recent

  • Review: The Comedy Store Tour

    David Behrens reviews The Comedy Store Tour "If you want to do stand up comedy - just do it," said the host Fred Macaulay. Easy for him to say, because he's very successful at it - appearing on Have I Got News For You and just about every other panel

  • Theatre's act of defiance

    Bradford's Priestley Centre is facing a crisis as its audiences dwindle. Theatre critic David Behrens looks at the problems, and at possible solutions. The audience at the Priestley Centre was as full as I'd seen it for some time. In the stalls, a cluster

  • Breaking the taboos about Asian disability

    The largest ever gathering of disabled Asian people, due to take place in Bradford next week, is aimed at breaking taboos. DIAL, which stands for Disability Information and Advice Line, has organised a special evening to raise awareness among Asian communities

  • Restaurant idea is no flash in the paan!

    A Bradford businessman has won permission to build what could be Europe's largest Indian restaurant. And the owner of the Mumtaz Paan House says he is also poised to clinch a million pound deal to provide cuisine at major sporting events. Managing director

  • Players' honour for Pat

    A team of footballers are heading for a close shave in aid of charity after their manager's wife underwent an operation to remove a brain tumour. Players with Stanbury Park Rangers are having their hair shaved to net cash for the Telegraph & Argus-backed

  • Attack ruined my life, says victim

    Unemployed builder Robert Peel today described how a violent attack on him had devastated his life and left him a shadow of his former self. The 40-year-old, of Rochester Road, Birstall, suffered a blood clot on the brain and lost one of his upper teeth

  • It's dog eat dog in the business world!

    Coffee and biscuits are the norm at most board meetings. But when important business is being transacted at the Jackson Consultancy Group, don't be surprised to see a fresh supply of dog chews being brought in as well. That's because the most popular

  • My dream machine

    Father-of-five Philip Bowness told today how he scooped £1.2 million on the National Lottery - and instantly splashed out on a Porsche. The 37-year-old Keighley man, who hasn't worked since crushing a foot in a works accident seven years ago, took his

  • Extra help for DIY job seekers

    Bradford training groups have laid on extra business planning courses because of an increased demand from people wanting to start their own firms. The Morrison Trust and R&D Associates have both run additional courses in the past few weeks because

  • Donougher hopes for nod from Elliott

    Bulls second-rower Jeremy Donougher is a man with a mission after suffering the heartbreak of missing last year's Wembley final through injury. As he waits to hear final confirmation that he has made the 17 to face Castleford Tigers in Saturday's fifth

  • Cool hand Luke

    David Behrens discovers how former Bros star Luke Goss is finding life on the musical stage in Grease. There are, says Luke Goss, some aspects to the entertainment industry which no-one would ever consider cool. He says this without a hint of irony, so

  • Mike Priestley: Who's Counting

    Welcome, Choice Hotels Europe, to the Common Sense Club - that select but growing band of companies which have acknowledged the value of older employees. The Quality Victoria Hotel in Bradford is part of this group which has launched a new recruitment

  • Blazing a trail

    Bradford firefighters are going hi-tech with the latest video cameras which can even detect hoax callers in telephone boxes. Joanne Earp reports. As the fire brigade prepares to enter a new millennium, West Yorkshire is the authority breaking new ground

  • It's time we got our sense of pride back

    People power is set to score a victory in Manningham as a five-pronged action plan designed by residents to restore pride in the district gets under way. Members of the Manningham Environment Group - formed by residents for residents - are set to tackle

  • Boogie nights

    Bradford is becoming a buzz city with young people looking for a fun night out. Ashley Broadley looks at the upsurge in the city's night life and we visit some of the top spots, including Bradford's newest club, Mirage. With all the talk about Bradford

  • Jim Greenhalf: Straight Talk

    So peace in our time rules in the Persian Gulf. That's OK - for now at least. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, a cross between Othello and Paul Robeson, deftly offered Iraq the hand of diplomacy while holding a thunderbolt behind his back. Sixty years

  • Is this what the people of Bradford really want?

    Bradford has finally published its long-awaited Community Action Plan - dubbed the People Power Plan. But what will it mean to the man in the street? Here City Hall reporter Olwen Vasey examines the issues. Bradford Council was way ahead of the field

  • Welcome to a wonderful world of make-believe

    Fairytale - A True Story has had its official premiere in Bradford. The makers, Warner Brothers, brought a little of Hollywood with them, as fairy fever spread across Centenary Square. But what of the film itself? T&A cinema critic David Behrens gives

  • Film was saved by the Mel!

    David Behrens reveals just how close the film Fairytale - A True Story, premiered in Bradford last week, was to being axed... You won't find his name on the credits, but it's an open secret that the solitary returning soldier glimpsed at the end of Fairytale

  • Film Review: In & Out

    It was in 1994 that Tom Hanks got to his feet at the Oscar ceremony and embarrassed himself by making one of those effusive, showbizzy thank you speeches. The audience cringed. But the actor's embarrassment was minor compared to that suffered by the high

  • Interview: Why Kevin is happy to de-Kline

    David Behrens talks to a Hollywood star who constantly rejects film roles to avoid being typecast. Americans, says Kevin Kline, do not know how to behave in public. Especially at the theatre. "They think they're watching television," he says. "They cough

  • Driven baa-rmy as gang run aflock in my flowerbeds

    Action is being demanded by a councillor who says he is being driven baa-rmy by gangs of woolly marauders straying off Baildon Moor and ruining villagers' gardens. Councillor Colin Charlesworth (Cons, Baildon) says flocks of up to 30 sheep regularly get

  • Fury at travellers' camp

    Residents on a Bradford estate have expressed their disgust after scores of travellers have camped on land near a well-known beauty spot. Up to ten caravans are now parked on fields at the bottom of Bell Dean Road, Allerton - just acres away from Pitty

  • Students in plea over kerb-crawlers

    Bradford University is calling for extra police patrols on campus to deter kerb-crawlers and prostitutes who harass staff and students. The university's students' union says it is receiving regular complaints from women who are being approached by 'punters

  • Jeremy Roff: Business Sense

    On March 17, the Chancellor will announce his first spring Budget. Although we have already had the so-called windfall and Green budgets, this one is the first chance for the Chancellor to introduce his promised review of tax loop-holes and anti-avoidance

  • Caisley's plea to armchair fans

    Bradford Bulls chairman Chris Caisley has issued a rallying call to fans to travel to Castleford on Saturday despite the fact that the Challenge Cup fifth round tie is live on BBC Grandstand. "Castleford are really talking themselves up and saying their

  • Youds boost for Bantams

    Bradford City could be boosted for Saturday's crucial visit to play-off chasing Sheffield United by a fit-again Eddie Youds. The inspirational central defender was substituted during the first half of the Bantams' 2-1 victory over Port Vale after aggravating

  • Theatre Review: Grease, Alhambra

    It was the sort of show Bradford loves: hit tunes, big production numbers, flashy costumes... So why, I wondered last night, didn't the audience lap it up? The Alhambra was packed pretty well to the rafters, and there was no doubt that the crowd enjoyed

  • Backing for soccer radio

    Bradford's four MPs have voiced their support for live radio coverage of football action from Valley Parade. Bradford Community Broad-casting will find out tomorrow if Bradford City FC will give it permission to cover all live home games for 'Bantams

  • Big cash threat to housing schemes

    Regeneration schemes across the district will be hit as Bradford Council struggles with its housing cash crisis. The chairman of the housing and environmental protection committee, Councillor Barry Midwood, confirmed today that schemes would be affected

  • The King of cafs is alive!

    Elvis Presley fan Alicia Toulmin was all shook up when she was sacked as catering manager of an old people's home. But the money she won for unfair dismissal has given her the chance to start her own business. Now her new caf bar, which is themed around