Return to TimeLine Index
| Date | Location | Item | Source |
| 1998-03-31 | Bristol | Gary Glitter was yesterday charged with 50 counts of downloading child porn from the Internet. The 53-year-old rocker was bailed to appear in court on May 8 after being quizzed for nearly six hours. Glitter - real name Paul Francis Gadd - was accused of ''making indecent pseudo photographs'' - a legal term used because the images do not exist on paper. His lawyer Henri Brandman said: ''Gary will be vigorously contesting the charges.'' | The Sun |
| 1998-03-31 | Britain | PM Tony Blair allegedly calls for an inquiry into the jailing of fictional Coronation Street character Deidre Rachid, sent down for 18 months in Sunday's episode for credit card fraud. The Sun newspaper claims Blair has backed its Free Deidre campaign with posters, stickers and T-Shirts. Deidre, played by Anne Kirkbride, was given the card and duped into spending thousands on it by a Walter Mitty-type lover who was secretly married all along. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-31 | The women's world welter-weight boxing champion won her claim for sexual discrimination against the sport's British governing body yesterday, paving the way for professional female fights in this country. Amateur women's boxing has been allowed here since last year but Jane Couch had been refused a professional licence by the British Boxing Board of Control. Jane, 29, from Fleetwood, Lancs, took the board to an industrial tribunal because she was being prevented from earning a living in Britain. The tribunal in Croydon, south London, ruled there was no grounds for denying Jane - the Fleetwood Assassin - a licence. She will now seek the tribunal's maximum £20,000 payout and up to £100,000 in damages for lost earnings and hurt feelings. | Daily Telegraph | |
| 1998-03-30 | Texas | Scientists in the US claim to have isolated DNA recovered from the Shroud of Turin - and have confirmed it is from male, human blood. A team led by Dr Victor Tryon, director for Advanced DNA Technologies at Texas University, claims it could identify the race of the blood and even ''what part of Israel'' the man was from given further samples. They may even be able to determine if it is really 2,000 years old. The Catholic Church is not cooperating with the work. The shroud, which appears to be impregnated with the image of Christ, is to be displayed in Turin for the third time this century from April 18 to Jun 14. | The Express |
| 1998-03-30 | President Clinton looked ''visibly uncomfortable'' yesterday as he sat through a two-hour sermon on adultery at the Regina Mundi Roman Catholic Church in Johannesburg. Father Mohlomi Makobane recounted the story of an adulterous woman who was saved from death by Christ. He said: ''Here was a woman who people said committed adultery but Jesus said go and sin no more.'' The priest also said during the sermon: ''There may be amongst us many who feel unworthy.'' Today the Clintons fly to Senegal where they will visit the island where slaves were kept before being shipped to America. | The Express | |
| 1998-03-29 | Britain | Glam rock star Gary Glitter returned to Britain last night avoiding all questions about the child -sex allegations against him. Gary, 57,was quizzed and bailed four months ago after child porn was allegedly found on a computer he had taken into a Bristol store for repair. Since the end of his Christmas tour he has been in hiding in Havana, Cuba, and has now returned home to visit friends and family and to talk to police. | News of the World |
| 1998-03-29 | Britain | Foreign secretary Robin Cook is to marry lover Gaynor Regan on Sunday April 19. Their relationship went public after the News of the World discovered their secret trysts in London. He then confessed the affair to wife Margaret. Their divorce came through this month. | News of the World |
| 1998-03-29 | London | Crawford Kindergarten in central London is to become the first nursery in Britain to allow parents to monitor their children through closed- circuit TV. Parents will be able to call up live pictures of their children on the Internet to ensure that they are receiving satisfactory care and education. They can then e-mail or phone the nursery with any concerns they may have. | Sunday Times |
| 1998-03-28 | Jonesboro | Arkansas police are investigating another suspect in the Jonesboro killings after children at the school claimed the older gunboy was involved in a satanic cult. | The Times |
| 1998-03-28 | Devon | Regulars at the 11th century Bridge Inn by the River Clyst at Topsham, Devon, were joined by the Queen yesterday on her first officials visit to a pub. She did not have a drink. | The Times |
| 1998-03-28 | Britain | Fergie has landed a role in smash US sitcom Friends. She played herself in a scene with heart-throb Matt Le Blanc, the show’s Joey. The scene was filmed outside Westminster Abbey. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-27 | Britain | Tony Blair is dishing out £100 million Lottery cash to fund thousands of street parties for the Millennium. People will be able to apply for £5,000 Millennium Festival Grants to fund a bash at any time during 2000. But he has insisted the money must NOT be spent on booze, fireworks or bunting. It is solely for organisation and publicity. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-27 | US | Pamela Anderson last night vowed to have hubby Tommy Lee jailed after it was revealed he hit her while she was holding their baby. A spokesman for Pammi said: "She will vigorously cooperate in the prosecution.'' | The Sun |
| 1998-03-27 | Engineer Georg Kolbe got a shock when taking off the bandages after his £5,500 willy-enlargement op - it had shrunk. And his 4ins erection was crooked. Georg, 43, who had paid a Danish surgeon for a 3.2ins enlargement, was awarded his money back and £14,000 damages by a Berlin court. | The Sun | |
| 1998-03-26 | JonesboroArkansas | Jilted gunboy Mitchell Johnson carried out the Arkansas school massacre after telling his sweetheart: "I'm going to kill you." Candace Porter, 13, alerted school chiefs to the threat the day before the shooting - but they did not take her seriously. The youngster, stable in hospital with a bullet in her side, had warned: "He's going to kill me." Johnson, 13 and his 11-year-old sidekick Andrew Golden were remanded in custody. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-26 | Dunblane | The people of Dunblane sent flowers to survivors of the massacre. Charlie Clyesdale, 42, - whose daughter Victoria, five, died in the Dunblane massacre - broke down when he heard the news. He said: "I wish I could give them all a cuddle. My arms are open for them. Everyone here in Dunblane is here for them." | The Sun |
| 1998-03-26 | Britain | Ninety-nine per cent of housing benefit cheats are never caught, says a report by the all-party Public Accounts Committee of MPs. They get away with £2billion in fiddles each year. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-25 | Jonesboro Arkansas | Two boys aged 11 and 13 shot dead three schoolmates and a teacher yesterday after luring them into an ambush. Fifteen children were injured, four critically, when the pair-dressed in camouflage-opened fire. They sprayed between 400 and 500 bullets from four automatic weapons as teachers and pupils tried to flee. They had drawn their victims into the playground by getting another boy to set off the fire alarm at Westside Middle School in the town of Jonesboro, Arkansas. Sheriff Dale Haas wept as he announced: "The dead and injured are mostly little girls." Police arrested the two boys shortly after the shootings in nearby woods, where they were still brandishing their weapons. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-25 | Britain | The Queen and Tony Blair are taking part in "rehearsals" for an Iraqi anthrax attack. Cabinet ministers and other royal are also involved in the regular exercises. The top targets don full biological and chemical safety suits for the war games. The last took place in Wales on February 28. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-25 | Britain | Shamed soccer boss Douglas Hall was laughing all the way to the bank last night after he quit over the Toongate sex scandal - and immediately made £5million. Newcastle United shares rose by 5p to 100p and Hall and sleazy pal Freddie Shepherd resigned. The rise pushed up Hall’s 57 per cent stake in the club to £81.7 million | The Sun |
| 1998-03-24 | Britain | Saddam Hussein is plotting to flood Britain with anthrax disguised as duty free goods. An all-ports alert approved by Tony Blair went out after the plot was unearthed by a source believed to have access to intelligence in Baghdad. It warns: "Iraq may launch a chemical an biological attack using material disguised as harmless fluid." A teaspoonful of anthrax could wipeout 100 million people. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-24 | London | An aristocratic artist stole human bodyparts to make his sculptures, a jury heard yesterday. Anthony Kelly - the Duke of Norfolk’s cousin - allegedly paid a lab assistant to smuggle heads, torsos and limbs and hands out of the Royal College of Surgeons at night. Kelly, 41, was arrested after experts saw his London exhibition and realised one work had been cast from parts of a dead body. He allegedly paid assistant Neil Lindsay £400 and buried remains at his ancestral home near Ashford, Kent. Kelly and Lindsay, 25 - an ex-butcher and abattoir worker - deny stealing human remains. The Southwark Crown Court trial continues. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-24 | Canada | Prince William faces a huge welcome from thousands of teenage girls as he arrives in Canada today. Wills, 15, has become the country's top heart-throb. Last night the Internet was abuzz with excited teenage talk about him, giving details of his public appearances. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-23 | Britain | Paula Yates says that she was helped over the death of lover Michael Hutchence - by her new-found brother and sister. Paula reveals she has become close to Chris Green and Linda Plenti, children of TV host Hughie Green. Journalist Noel Botham revealed Hughie had a secret lovechild who was a celebrity at his funeral. It later emerged that Paula was the child in question and a DNA test proved it. Paula was brought up to believe former Stars on Sunday host Jess Yates was her dad. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-23 | Germany | Michael Jackson has been turned down by the German town of Harburg after offering to buy its castle as a holiday home. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-23 | China | Heinz has won permission to sell baked beans produced in Wigan, Lancs to people in China. The firm expects to sell 1.2 million cans a year. In Britain, we buy 1.5 million a DAY. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-22 | Britain | Robin Cook's former mother-in-law has scolded the Foreign Secretary for his handling of affairs both foreign and domestic. In reference to his troubled visit to the Middle East last week, his former wife Margaret has revealed mother's observation: ''He's not been out of trouble since the day he left you.'' | Sunday Times |
| 1998-03-22 | Britain | The RAC wants to run a seatbelt campaign using the death of Diana Princess of Wales in a car as a warning to motorists. The motoring organisation is to ask the Palace and Diana's family for approval to use her image in an ad which will claim she could have lived if she'd worn a seatbelt. | Sunday Times |
| 1998-03-22 | Hants | Backpacker Niger Shepherd sent a message in a bottle from the east coast of Australia only to find it washed up six years later as he walked along the beach at Hayling Island in Hampshire - a mile from his home. During its epic 19,200 kilometre journey it would have passed through three oceans, one sea and the Channel. The beer bottle still had its Dogbolter label on it and his message 'Bestow good luck on whoever finds this note, From Pommie Shep' was still readable. | Sunday Mirror |
| 1998-03-21 | London | A judge last night rapped Newcastle soccer boss Freddy Shepherd for "whoring his way around the world." The remark came after scandal-hit Shepherd went to the High Court to try to stop the News of the World printing more revelations tomorrow. After a three-hour hearing Mr Justice Lindsay threw out Shepherd’s application for a gag, saying the "series of lewd and boastful claims about whoring his way around the world" did not merit the protection of the law of confidentiality. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-21 | Dartmoor | A space boffins experimental rocket crashed seconds after lift-off yesterday and sparked a blaze across miles of Dartmoor. Scientist Steve Bennett, 33, watched in despair as his 6.7 metre Starchaser 3 rocket went off course. The £70,000 craft was suppose to reach 4,500 metres in 34 seconds then descend on six parachutes. But it veered off course about 60 metres up then smashed into a hill, spraying burning fuel on to dry grass. Firemen and troops called to tackle the flames on an Army range could not get close as unexploded shells blew up in the heat. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-21 | Britain | TV girl Anne Diamond called for a probe to see if an airline flight caused the cot death of her son Sebastion, who died aged four months in July 1991. She had taken him on a jet two days before. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-20 | Britain | The death penalty is to be lifted for treason, arson in a naval dockyard and piracy. The ancient punishment is to be scrapped along with flogging in public schools. The cane was banned from state-funded schools in 1987. | The Times |
| 1998-03-20 | London | Unconscious fans were dragged to safety last night as thousands of screaming teenage girls besieged the royal premiere of Leonardo DiCapprio’s latest film The Man In The Iron Mask. Police say 8,000 people crammed into Leicester Square to catch a glimpse of the American star of Titanic. Twenty-two people were pulled to safety. | The Times |
| 1998-03-20 | North Staffs | Babies taken on long-haul flights may be at risk of cot death, according to research published in the British Medical Journal. David Southall, from the academic department of paediatrics at North Staffordshire Hospital Centre, Stoke-on-Trent, tested 34 healthy babies aged between one and six months, each sleeping in an oxygen tent. On the second night he reduced the level of oxygen from its normal rate of 21 per cent in air to just 15 per cent. Four of the babies developed distressing conditions associated with lack of sufficient oxygen. He conducted the study after two sets of parents reported long flights before a cot death. | The Times |
| 1998-03-19 | Britain | The Wombles return to Top Of The Pops tomorrow - for the first time in 23 years. Songwriter Mike Batt, 48, appears as Orinocco for Remember You’re A Womble, at 13 in the charts. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-19 | London | A bomb scare halted building of the Millennium Dome yesterday when an empty gas cyclinder unearthed by a digger was mistaken for a World War Two relic. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-19 | London | Prison chiefs yesterday announced a probe at Wormwood Scrubs, west London, after claims that inmates were regularly beaten by warders. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-18 | Britain | Murderer Orlando Sir was caged for life yesterday - after changing his name so prison warders would have to call him "Sir." The 6ft 4in (1.93 metres) thug, real name Winnard, knifed jeweller Gerry Hales 34 times in a £47,000 gems raid in Cowbridge, South Wales, last May. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-18 | Britain | Tory Jonathan Aitken was arrested yesterday over claims he committed perjury and plotted to pervert justice. Aitken had sued the Guardian and Granada TV last year after being accused of taking bribes and pimping for rich Arabs. He had vowed to cut out the "cancer of bent and twisted journalism" with the sword of truth. But the case collapsed when his account was exposed as false. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-17 | Britain | Melinda Messenger is to wed boyfriend Wayne Roberts in August 1999. Wayne, 22, proposed two years ago-before the Page Three girl for the Thrillennium hit the big time. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-17 | Britain | Two Eton pupils aged 17 and 18 have been expelled after they were caught smoking cannabis - outside Windsor police station. A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "For supposedly intelligent boys they did not pick the cleverest place to smoke cannabis." | The Sun |
| 1998-03-17 | Millions were wiped off Newcastle United’s shares yesterday after Sunday’s sleaze revelations. The club’s value plunged by £17 million - then recovered. They closed 4p down to leave the club worth £122 million, a fall of £6 million. | The Sun | |
| 1998-03-16 | Britain | Britain’s Territorial Army is to be cut by a third to pay for more regular soldiers. Army chiefs have drawn up a proposal as part of the Governments Strategic Defence Review to pay for 2,000 to 3,000 more regular troops. The Terries, formed in 1908, would be slashed from 57,600 troops to 40,000 if ministers agree the reform. | The Times |
| 1998-03-16 | US | Five million Americans now suffer from serious addiction to the Internet, according to the latest issue of Psychology Today. That’s one in nine users in the US. The addiction, first noted in 1994 by Kimberely Young, a professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, is defined as staying online for more than 38 hours a week - or more in leisure time. Symptoms: Lying to family or colleagues about time spent online, restlessness, irritability and anxiety when not engaged in computer activities, neglect of social obligations. Fear not! Internet Addiction Services support group is available at http:--www.computeraddiction.com (but don’t stay too long!). | The Times |
| 1998-03-16 | Britain | The estranged wife of Colin Stagg, the man acquitted of the Wimbledon Common murder of Rachel Nickell has claimed that he confessed to the killing during their marriage. In The Express yesterday, Diane Stagg, 29, claims her 33-year-old husband twice told her in angry outbursts that he was responsible for the death of Rachel, who was found on the common with multiple stab wounds in 1992. Her claims may pave the way for Rachel's parents Andrew and Monica to launch a civil claim for compensation. | The Times |
| 1998-03-15 | Britain | Newcastle United chairman Freddy Shepherd and director Doug Hall, both married with children, were caught by an undercover reporter in a Spanish brothel. The pair boasted of sex trips around the world and made a series of derogatory remarks about their fans and players. They told the reporter they went abroad for sex because Geordie women were "dogs." | News of the World |
| 1998-03-15 | Kent | Fans of reggae’s Judge Dread, 53, wept yesterday after he died on stage. The star - real name Alex Hughes - had a heart attack in Canterbury, Kent. | News of the World |
| 1998-03-15 | Kent | A survey to find Britain’s sexiest town has named the winner as Margate. Forum magazine researchers found bondage and rubberwear shops, B&B for wife-swappers and nappy-wearing "adult babies." The tourist department for the Kent town greeted the survey with "dismay." | News of the World |
| 1998-03-14 | Britain | Home Secretary Jack Straw last night ordered a 24-hour police watch on freed child-sex monsters. His crackdown came after it was revealed that six dangerous perverts are poised to join killers Robert Oliver and Sidney Cooke on Britain’s streets. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-14 | Port Talbot | Labour council chiefs have sparked fury after naming a street after PM Tony Blair. Developers wanted to call it Kipling Court after Rudyard Kipling - but bigwigs in Port Talbot, South Wales, plumped for Blair Way. Nearby roads are named after historical greats. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-14 | Bristol | Crook Justin Clark was nicked when he got a message on a stolen pager saying he had won £500-and went to collect it. The trap was set by David Withers, 25, who lost the bleeper when his Renault was broken into. David said: "I couldn’t believe he was so stupid. He was really excited about winning." Clark, 24, of Bristol, admitted handling stolen property and was fined £150 by Yate JPs. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-13 | Arizona | The end of the world could come at 6.30pm on October 26 2028, according to astronomers. An asteroid one mile across could collide with earth at exactly that time. The asteroid, named 1997 XF11 was found on December 6 by Jim Scotti of the University of Arizona’s Spacewatch Project. "The chance of collision is small but not out of the question," said Dr Brian Marsden of the office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which acts as a clearing house for astronomical discoveries. | The Times |
| 1998-03-13 | Britain | Six dangerous paedophiles, similar to the child-killer Robert Oliver, are to be released from from jail without supervision during the next two years, the Home Office has warned. A national strategy is needed to cope with the men who are still a high risk to children, but cannot be detained because they have comitted no new crimes, a London conference on sex offenders was told yesterday. | The Times |
| 1998-03-13 | London | Princess Margaret left King Edward VII Hospital for Officers in London yesterday and returned home to Kensington Palace. Buckingham Palace said she was making steady progress. | The Times |
| 1998-03-12 | Suffolk | Champion scoffer Dean Gould set four world speed-eating records in half an hour. Dean, 33, ate 113 bits of sweetcorn with a cocktail stick,63 grapes with a teaspoon and 51 grains of rice individually with chopsticks. Each dish took three minutes. Dean then ate three dry cream crackers in 3mins 7secs in Felixstowe, Suffolk. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-12 | Britain | Farmers using drugs and pesticides to boost profits are threatening a huge health crisis, a National Consumer Council report warns. Antibiotics are used to speed animals growth but no longer destroy some harmful bacteria. Increased use of pesticides and nitrates means washing fruit an vegetables no longer guarantees protection. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-12 | London | Madonna bought all four Teletubby dolls for daughter Lourdes when she was in London last month. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-11 | Jailed conman Graham Etson is let out every day to work as a £33,000-a-year advertising man. He drives from prison to the office in his company car, a luxury Ford Galaxy, and has a mobile phone. The smooth-talking conman is paid THREE times as much as some of the warders guarding him. Etson, 41, jailed for 21 months for swindling Barclays Bank out of £400,000 in loans, is an accountant at an ad agency while serving time at Wealstun Prison, near Wetherby, West Yorks. Governor Stacey Tasker said: "This scheme is for people in the last few months of their sentence and is meant to give them secure employment when they leave." | The Sun | |
| 1998-03-11 | Paris | Police in Paris seized 250 pirate videos of The Full Monty - with one phoney actor doing ALL the voices. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-11 | Essex | Drug cops tipped off about a huge stash of "coke" raided an old barn near Coggeshall, Essex, and found hundreds of cans of the fizzy drink. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-10 | Britain | Drug use among teenagers is falling for the first time in five years, according to a report published today. The survey from Exeter University shows 25% of 14-15 year olds tried drugs last year-compared to one third the year before. | The Times |
| 1998-03-10 | London | One of four known copies of a poster for the 1933 film King Kong is expected to raise £50,000 at a Christie’s auction in London today. EDITOR'S NOTE: It actually sold for £28,750. | The Times |
| 1998-03-09 | London | The Teletubbies came under worldwide criticism yesterday at an international summit on children's TV. Delegates from America, Australia, South Africa and Scandinavia condemned the programme for teaching children nothing about the world or themselves. | Daily Telegraph |
| 1998-03-09 | Britain | Car number plates could be identified by region rather than age under proposals to reform the vehicle registration system. | Daily Telegraph |
| 1998-03-09 | Britain | Spy-in-the-sky technology is to be used to study the removal of hedges, drainage of marshes and ploughing of fields as part of a 4million Countryside Survey 2000, the Environment Secretary Michael Meacher said yesterday. | Daily Telegraph |
| 1998-03-08 | Ohio | Police claimed a man found with 32 hammer wounds to the head had committed suicide. The coroner investigating Basil Thomas’s death in Cookville, Ohio, told them to think again. | News of the World |
| 1998-03-08 | Scotland | An earthquake measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale rocked the west coast of Scotland yesterday. The tremor was described by experts as ''significant.'' Glenn Ford, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said ''there are over 300 in the UK every year but only about 30 are ever felt by the public so this is significant in those terms.'' | Independent On Sunday |
| 1998-03-07 | London | The Queen is being urged to streamline the monarchy stripping HALF the royal family of their HRH titles. She has already issued a decree saying that ordinary people will no longer have to bow or curtsy to the royals. The plan will "drastically trim" the £35 million annual bill for protecting the royals. Fergie’s daughters Beatrice and Eugenie are among nine royals to lose HRH. The others are: the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra. Keeping the title: Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Princess Anne and Princess Margaret. The Queen and The Queen Mother will still be referred to as Her Majesty. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-07 | Britain | Britain is to take part in a Euro mission to the moon as the first step to founding a human outpost. An unmanned probe will land near the South Pole, where water was found, in 2001. The site has constant sun-giving power for a "robot village" controlled from earth. | The Sun |
| 1998-03-07 | Ecuador | A patient with acute wind exploded and died as surgeons used an electric scalpel to open him up. Heat from the instrument ignited methane gas inside Alberto Alvadoros, 34. Operating staff suffered minor injuries and shock. A hospital spokesman in Guayaquil, Ecuador, said: "It was a tragic, freak accident." | The Sun |
| 1998-03-06 | Britain | The government has declared we CAN eat red meat without ruining our health after all. In September Health Secretary Frank Dobson advised people eating five ounces or more a day to "consider a reduction" to lower their chance of getting cancer. The Government has now changed its mind and decided red meat is safe. The Vegetarian Society, which claims the Government has bowed to pressure from the meat industry, is calling for an independent inquiry. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-06 | London | A petition signed by one million people calling for a ban on fox hunting was delivered to 10 Downing Street yesterday. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-05 | London | One of Diana’s last wishes was ignored by her family, it was claimed today. Diana wrote a letter in which she expressly asked for a quarter of all her private belongings to be given to her 17 godchildren. But after her death her mother Mrs Frances Shand Kydd and sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale secretly exploited a legal loophole to defy the request, The Mirror alleges. Instead the executors of the will, including the two women, decided to offer trinkets worth a fraction of her other possessions. Most godparents were not even told of the letter, written by Diana on the day she signed her will in 1993. Because of a technicality, executors were advised the letter had no legal standing. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-05 | North Lincs | Superkid Ethan Gilby is 91 centmetres (3ft) and weighs 14.5 kg (32 lbs) - at the age of one. Mum Shellie, 22, of Cleethorpes, North Lincs - who is 1.56 metres tall (5ft 2in) -predicted he would be a bruiser when she was expecting. She said: "He had an incredibly strong kick and punch." Shellie and hubby Phil, 27, picked the name Ethan because it means strong. Shellie said: "Phil is not that tall but very broad shouldered. I think that's where he gets it from." Paediatrician Dr Brian Spiedel said: "In the past he would have been given the medical term Infant Hercules." | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-05 | Brighton | Thousands are expected to flock to Britain's first Barbie doll convention in Brighton on August 1 this year. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-05 | Texas | Addiction to fags, booze and drugs could be in the genes, scientists claim in a new report. Research at the Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, Texas, said the gene made it harder for people to give up addictions to nicotine and other drugs. The gene is found in one in 10 people and 30 per cent of smokers. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-04 | Britain | Families splashed out £231 million at theme parks in Britain last year. White-knuckle rides helped lure 13.5 million visitors. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-04 | London | Neighbour from hell Mark Gallagher played a tape of his vacuum cleaner at full volume every morning for five years. He was evicted from his ground floor flat in West Hampstead, London, yesterday and fined £100 with £1,250 costs by magistrates under the Environmental Protection Act. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-04 | London | Prince Charles visited Princess Margaret in King Edward hospital, London, yesterday. Margaret, 67, has cancelled all engagements after her stroke last week. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-03 | Britain | Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones reveals today that he was convicted of drink driving at the age of 21. Trevor, now 29,was fined £300 and banned for a year after hitting a parked car and driving off without stopping. He was on his way home with rugby pals after a night at his local in Oswestry, Shropshire. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-03 | Tanzania | A dog has been sentenced to hang after its owner named it Immigration. Officials in Tanzania say the bizarre moniker scandalises a government department. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-02 | Britain | Dying Princess Diana called out Dodi Fayed’s name after their horror car crash, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones claims today. A doctor at the scene said Diana never regained consciousness. But Rees-Jones claims: "I have flashes of a female voice calling out in the back of the car. First it’s a groan. Then Dodi’s name is called. It could only have been Princess Diana. I was conscious and so was she." | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-02 | London | Doctors battled for 25 minutes to save Father Ted star Dermot Morgan after he had a heart attack during a dinner party at his London flat on Saturday night. | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-02 | Britain | Disgraced ex-Tory Defence Minister Jonathan Aitken sparked fury last night after it was revealed he has been recruited as an adviser for arms firm GEC-Marconi. Aitken-with two homes and a lavish lifestyle, needed a new income after his libel case against The Guardian and Granada TV collapsed last year, costing him about £2 million | The Mirror |
| 1998-03-01 | Australia | Oasis star Noel Gallagher slammed the fuss over the death of Princess Diana yesterday saying: "So she died in a car crash. Big deal." Of the people who made a pilgrimage to lay flowers outside her home, he said: "Fat fucking British housewives are a pathetic bunch of fuckers, do you know what I mean? Half the people there probably wouldn’t visit their grandmother’s grave .. . then they go and throw flowers at some coffin of some bird they’ve never met because she’d done some work for charity." He added: "I say to them, what else was she supposed to do? Sit on her fucking backside all day and eat cream cakes? You’d hope she did do some good for somebody. We’re paying for her kids to go to school. Lazy cow." The 30-year-old songwriter, in Australia with his band, went on: "I wasn’t interested in anything she’d done for charity-or her personal life. So she died in a car crash. Big fucking deal. It didn’t affect me. I really couldn’t give a shit at the end of the day." | News of the World |
| 1998-03-01 | The Gulf | Gulf peacebroker Kofi Annan did not meet Saddam Hussein but a LOOKALIKE, it was claimed yesterday. The UN Secretary General averted another conflict in the region by winning an agreement with Saddam. But the Israeli secret service Mossad claimed he actually met one of nine doubles. An unnamed Mossad source said: "The real Saddam is like Daffy Duck - he has size 13 (Euro 48) feet. The double’s walk was nothing like Saddam’s." | News of the World |
| 1998-03-01 | LA | Elizabeth Taylor was in hospital last night after keeling over at a star-studded Hollywood party for her 66th birthday. The movie legend was about to receive a bouquet at the glitzy bash when she crumpled to the floor. She lay unconscious for several minutes. She came round before being taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA-where last year she had an operation to remove a brain tumour. | News of the World |
Updated 1998-10-10
News gathered by Mike Bull of BB Media
Edited by Garfield Lucas