The big stories you read first in the T&A

IT'S THE dream of every reporter on every local newspaper - to land a world exclusive which leaves Fleet Street hacks trailing in their wake.

The Telegraph & Argus has caused more than its share of journalistic ripples in its 131 years of existence - particularly when Bradford has been at the centre of the world's attention.

The arrest of Peter Sutcliffe, the furore over the controversial head teacher Ray Honeyford and the anger among Muslims which led to Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses being burnt made front page news all over the country.

But more often than not, when Bradford has been in the news, the T&A has been ahead of the game in keeping its readers informed.

In 1984 one of the most bitter rows erupted in British education history when Mr Honeyford, head teacher at Drummond Middle School in Bradford, wrote an article for the magazine The Salisbury Review in which he criticised the Bradford Council's policies on multi-racial education.

The controversy became increasingly intense in the following months as campaigners accused him of being a racist and called for him to be sacked.

And on March 29, 1985, just days before the Council agreed to suspend him, the T&A's feature writer Jim Greenhalf landed one of the biggest exclusives of his career when he became the first journalist to interview Mr Honeyford since the row erupted.

Not all stories come to a natural conclusion. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Polish priests Father Henryk Borynski was never satisfactorily resolved.

He vanished from his lodgings in Little Horton in 1953 and the T&A ran several exclusive investigative articles by our then crime reporter Don Alred. Theories were put forward that he might have been murdered Communists after inadvertently uncovering a spy ring.

Sometimes, an exclusive story in the T&A can have world-wide ramifications. An article appeared in the T&A on December 29, 1988, which was to have far-reaching repercussions.

Muslims were planning a ceremonial burning of copies of Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses because it was a gross insult to their faith, we reported.

By the time the event had taken place a fortnight later, the Rushdie affair had exploded on to front pages all around the world and was to stay there for years, with the author forced into exile for his own safety.

On a more light-hearted note, the T&A was caught up last year in the fairy fever which gripped Cottingley more than 80 years after the world's most famous hoax.

Reporter Sarah Walsh revealed in a world exclusive the words of the handwritten letter in which Elsie Wright admitted for the first time that their photographs of the Cottingley Fairies were faked.

One of the jobs of newspapers like the T&A is to keep people informed of what's going on politically behind the scenes - even if it might make for unpalatable reading.

In October, 1992, we shocked readers by revealing that the award-winning Alhambra Theatre was on course to go £2 million in the red, a story we continued to keep tabs on as the theatre put in place an action plan to claw back its losses.

First news of the proposed abolition of middle schools in Bradford was broken to our readers in a T&A exclusive almost exactly two years ago.

The fallout from the Schools Review continues today even after the shake-up has been approved.

Exclusive stories can also help to shape the way that news stories actually develop.

When we revealed earlier this year that Bradford Council's ruling Labour group was planning to introduce a Westminster-style cabinet, it sparked a furore among opposition councillors.

And after Tory group leader Councillor Margaret Eaton claimed the decision was being shrouded in secrecy, Labour climbed down by shelving the plans.

Two of the longest-running controversies in recent years have also been the subject of a string of exclusive stories.

When we revealed in October, 1994, that an inquiry had been launched into allegations of fraud at Bradmet, Bradford Council's contracting arm, it was the beginning of a saga that rumbled on for years.

Its managing director Ian Charlesworth spoke out bitterly about an atmosphere of intimidation at City Hall during an industrial tribunal following his suspension from his post which he lost.

And yet, despite the rumpus, it was the T&A which first revealed in October, 1996, that the 16-month police probe into Bradmet's £1.5 million loss had ended with no charges being brought.

We have also been keenly following every twist and turn of the "Superdome" saga, one of the most notorious controversies revealed by City Hall reporter Olwen Vasey.

After five years of false dawns that a £200 million national stadium would be built at Odsal, it was the T&A which brought the first news last December that the Superdome UK Ltd was pulling out of the project, leaving the scheme to be substantially downsized.

And it is a story that could have plenty more mileage in it following our latest revelations that Horsforth-based Sterling Capitol has won permission to spend £80 million on revamping the site.

Watch this space for the next T&A Odsal Stadium exclusive.

Day we found a cancer cure

Medical breakthroughs are a good source of journalistic scoops.

But the exclusive that the T&A ran on May 21, 1959, takes some beating.

We reported that two Bradford medical men were responsible for a new wonder treatment for breast cancer.

"There's a security clamp on information - but the whole world will know tomorrow," trumpeted our front page proudly.

Our reporters were the first to break the news of the major medical advance but further details were not revealed until the following day.

That was when we were able to report more fully on the achievements of consultant surgeon George Whyte Watson and Dr Robert Turner, whose new wonder treatment came to be known as chemotherapy.

Thirty-four women underwent a course of the new chemical treatment and some were reported to have been completely cured within two months.

The King and his indiscretion

It's not every day that a local paper is itself at the heart of a major news event.

But that's exactly what happened on December 1, 1936, when a Telegraph & Argus report triggered one of the biggest stories of the century.

Dr Alfred Walter Frank Blunt, the then Bishop of Bradford, made a speech at the Bradford Diocesan Conference which led to sensational headlines.

When OB Stokes, then editor of the T&A, decided to splash the story about the Bishop's references to Edward VIII's "need for grace", it was the first inkling the public had had of the scandal that was about to break concerning the King's private life.

Within ten days he had abdicated because of his love for Wallis Simpson.

Ironically, Dr Blunt had never heard of Mrs Simpson when he wrote his speech, meaning only that the King gave the impression that he did not care about religion.

But it was only after the T&A's exclusive that Fleet Street newspapers followed up his criticisms.

and paved the way for his abdication.

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