A letter published in the Halifax Evening Courier more than 140 years ago has been used as the basis of a new novel which denies that Emily Bronte was the author of Wuthering Heights and that instead it was her brother, Branwell, who wrote the book.
Branwell Bronte’s Barber’s Tale, written by Chris Firth, explores the life of Emily’s brother and is narrated from the viewpoint of Branwell’s barber and friend George MacCraw who wrote the letter to the Halifax Courier in 1861.

A campaign by the News in Portsmouth pressing the government to create a specific campaign medal for veterans of the Arctic Convoys in World War II has been publicly backed by a majority of MPs.
Of the 659 MPs in Parliament, 335 have voiced their support for the campaign.

A district councillor criticised people in his own electoral ward for writing to the Bromsgrove Advertiser and Bromsgrove Messenger about the problem of anti-social behaviour.
Coun Geoff Hulett said that people should contact him or the parish council before saying bad things about Catshill in the local press.

The Newcastle Chronicle’s Keep Our Kids Safe campaign has resulted in a 3,500-signature petition being presented to town hall bosses calling for a safe play area for children in Byker.
The campaign was started as a result of the death of 10-year-old Jordan Toward who fell through the skylight of a community building while trying to retrieve his football.

A crook on the run has been convicted of stealing £400,000 following an investigation by the Yorkshire Evening Post.
The paper exposed the rip-offs of Christopher Woodhead’s housing repair firm which forced elderly customers to pay extortionate prices for shoddy work using high-pressure sales tactics.

George Bloomfield, who enjoyed a long career in advertising with the Northcliffe Newspaper Group, has died. He was 72.
George, who retired in 1994, worked in advertising roles at the Grimsby Evening Telegraph, Gloucester Citizen and Exeter Express & Echo before being appointed as the first regional manager of Northcliffe South West, based in Fleet Street, Torquay, in the late 1980s.

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