Messenger Newspapers editor Lynn Hughes and features editor Christine Klabacher showed their age while reminiscing about the merits of former teen idols Donny Osmond and David Cassidy – and turned it into a web debate that went global.

Lynn said: “Donny Osmond was on our patch to turn on the Christmas lights and we were discussing how the mighty had fallen.

“Younger members of staff thought we had gone nuts when we told them the rivalry between the two American pop stars put the fuss over Take That and Westlife into the shade.

“So we thought we’d ask the question on the web – and within 12 hours we had 68 comments from around the globe.”

For a while Donny was in the lead but then David fans came back fighting – the current comment count is around 280 with postings from New Zealand, France, Holland and America.

“We’re now hoping for a Beatle or a Rolling Stone to pass through the area so we can start another web war,” said Lynn.