On November 22, 1963, as The Beatles performed in Stockton-on-Tees, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. That night, Beatlemania was in full force; the Beatles performed amidst fan hysteria, leading to many fainting. The release of their second album “With the Beatles” earlier that day had marked exceptional sales. An interview with the band was difficult due to chaos, which escalated when news of JFK’s assassination reached the reporter. Northern Echo Editor Harold Evans scrambled to cover the tragedy, sidelining Beatlemania in the next day’s paper. Despite tight press schedules and the overshadowing event of Kennedy’s death, the reporter still cherished witnessing The Beatles concert phenomenon twice in one night. This personal account contrasts professional duty with the cultural milestones of the time, encapsulating a historic moment when global tragedy collided with emerging pop culture.

A fairy tale grand hotel that welcomed Royalty became haunted after the mysterious deaths of guests and the three brothers who owned it. The Berengaria Hotel in Cyprus has been padlocked and decaying for 40 years and now ghosts have secured five stars for the totally derelict hotel. Ghostbuster tourists, who provide 5-star rankings on […]

The kidnap, torture and heinous murder of farm labourer Richard Hawkins in 1748 sent a vicious smuggler gang to the gallows. The crime marked the beginning of the end for the most notorious smugglers operating along England’s South Coast. Within a year, the Hawkhurst Gang had added two more murders and large amounts of “back-door […]

He could still hear the shouts of the pursuing Cossack troops as he waded out into the cold sea, his long woollen underwear clinging to his strong body. Soon the rocky beach slipped from under his feet and he began to swim out to sea. Away on his right, he could just make out the […]

1972: BOOM as millions flash their new plastic. 1974: BUST Inflation and bailed out by IMF. When your work worries government ministers and MPs and generates the highest amount of correspondence The Times business section had ever received, it pays to have some strong backing to justify the meticulous verbalism. Especially when an attack dog […]