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DON'T miss your free July wallpaper for your computer. This month's is an aerial view of Corfe Castle and the surrounding area. Click here to download

COLIN Anderson made it a hat-trick of wins at the annual Bournemouth and District Car Club Madhatters Autocross on Sunday. In conditions that changed from blinding dust in practice to slippery mud for the three timed runs, the Honiton-based driver was

LOUISE Dutch (Poole Wheelers, Dorset Police) won both the National Women's Police Championships over 10 and 25 miles, smashing her own personal best times over the championship weekend. Dutch recorded 23:14 for the 10-mile event and one hour two minutes

IF Hitler had targeted Walmington-on-Sea, his invading hordes would surely have laughed their socks off at the posturings of Captain Mainwaring of the Home Guard. Or perhaps not. For despite the pomposity and ineptitude, there's something essentially

FOR many, the best western ever made, John Ford's The Searchers has got the lot big stars, bigger scenery, even bigger story in spades. Ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) returns from the war to find his niece Debbie (Natalie Wood)

THIS four-disc set is indeed a "box of delights" for the Agatha Christie devotee, including Granada's stylish new dramatisations of Sleeping Murder, The Moving Finger, By the Pricking of My Thumbs and The Sittaford Mystery. As Anthony Andrews points

IF you've ever lost an evening (well, a few minutes at least) wondering what would happen if EastEnders was mixed with The League of Gentlemen, now we know. Written by Simon Ashdown (EastEnders) and Jeremy Dyson (LoG) and set in Blackpool, the deeply

I WAS glad on Sunday to wake to a grey drizzly day, giving me the perfect excuse to pad around in my (leopard print) furry slippers and do nothing but drink tea and watch TV. Fiddler On The Roof (1.15pm ITV1) was the perfect musical to cosy down and

WITH whispered, stoned-choirboy vocals so far back in the mix you're never gonna love Serena-Maneesh for their lyrics. But with backwards, forwards, over, under, sideways down guitars ringing throughout you might just detect the ghost of John Squire's

A BLAZE of synth stabs, a riot of rat-a-tat-tat drums and a rash of scratchy guitars announce the arrival of The Automatic, a motley crew of teenage boyos from Cardiff who sound right at home in the current scheme of things. Angsty, angular and anxious

IT'S worth remembering that without Moloko there probably would have been no Groove Armada, no Faithless and no Zero 7. Scissor Sisters would have remained a wonderfully camp party idea and Gnarls Barkley may have stayed inside Dangermouse's head.

WITH a title lifted from a Meat Puppets song covered by Nirvana, lyrical references to Hall & Oates and The Prodigy and musical backings that range from lo-fi crackle to sophisticated high-end R&B, there's no earthly reason why Plan B should work.

AS she is about to leave home, blind Kashmiri girl Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol) is told by her father that her life will be defined not by the choice between right and wrong but by the decision she makes when choosing the greater of two goods or the lesser of

GENUINELY scary horror films, nightmarish yarns which get under our skin and plague our dreams, are a dying breed and the aptly named Reeker shows no indication of resuscitating the genre. Writer/director/producer Dave Payne reportedly set out to make

THIS deceptively simple domestic drama blossoms into one of the year's must-see films. Writer-director Jean-Marc Vallee has fashioned a film that could probably only be set in French-speaking Canada and yet it aches with a basic universality. Zac

DARREN Cowley laughs off suggestions he should have been nicknamed Florence, Zebedee or Ermintrude. It seemed a reasonable enough supposition, especially as his dad was known as Dougal after the shaggy dog who lived on a diet of sugar in the Magic Roundabout

SHOWING as part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival tour, The Journey is a film that deserves to reach deep into the mainstream audience. It's the story of two young women who grow up together in a small, rural Indian village where childhood

JUNEBUG is a small movie with a big heart. Set in the warm, cosy heartland of North Carolina, Phil Morrison's wonderful feature explores the kinks of a deeply dysfunctional family who makes the mistake of thinking that talking to one another is the

CHARITIES in Dorset and Hampshire are struggling to make ends meet while national organisations and overseas emergency appeals are securing a bigger slice of public donations. The Charity Trends 2006 report has revealed that while "big name" causes are

A LIFEBOAT crewman leapt into Poole Harbour on Thursday morning to rescue a drowning man. According to Portland Coastguard a 62-year-old Poole man jumped off the top deck of the Sandbanks chain ferry at around 8.30am. The inshore lifeboat was scrambled

LIKE her character in Just My Luck, Lindsay Lohan has been blessed with exceedingly good fortune in her career. An astute choice of film projects (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, Herbie: Fully Loaded) and a burgeoning music career have made the 19-year-old

A DECADE of anticipation over the restoration of Sherborne House looks set to end in disappointment. A bid for £3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund has been rejected. This leaves trustees of the Grade One listed building wondering how repairs to

BASED on the comic strip by Michael Fry and T Lewis, Over The Hedge is an enjoyable, fast-paced computer animated fantasy that falls short of the visual invention and wit of The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Shrek. Younger viewers will no doubt take

POLICE are looking for a man who indecently assaulted a teenage girl in Poole as she walked home after a night out. Details have only just been released about the frightening attack that took place as the 18-year-old from Poole was walking along the

A NORTH Dorset farmer has won permission to teach clay pigeon shooting on his land, despite concerns over noise and safety. Peter Hunt will be able to continue offering shooting instruction at Manston Farm, West Orchard, after councillors ruled he

LEGAL & General Ventures (LGV) has sold Meyrick Park operator The Club Company for £96 million to Boundary after buying it for £57 million two years ago. The Club Company operates 11 golf and country clubs, predominantly freehold or long leasehold.

A HOMELESS man who suffers from severe asthma was forced to sleep on the floor at family and friends' houses for 21 months before suitable accommodation was found. Claims that the man's homeless application was subjected to repeated mistakes have led

STONE memorial benches, weighing at least half a tonne each, have been destroyed by heartless vandals in Swanage. The council have been left baffled by the crimes, which would have required heavy equipment and a great deal of effort. Both incidents

THE Daily Echo has received dozens of letters and emails in support of a family who were told they would have to remove a roadside memorial to the daughter they lost in a car accident. Twenty-year-old Debbie Merritt died when a car driven by her boyfriend

IT is the end of an era at Christchurch fire station, where retained station manager Dave Bryant is finally hanging up his helmet after 40 years as a part-time firefighter. His retirement also marks a long-time family link with the town's fire service

HOSPITAL services could be "decimated" and whole departments shut due to a health funding row, hospital chiefs warn. Bosses at Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Foundation Trust say they will cut thousands of ops and make medical staff redundant

FARAH is something of a wonderdog. The three-year-old golden retriever has given owner Jenny Clarke back her independence after a devastating accident rendered her disabled. The mighty mutt helps her to dress, do the washing, shop and clear up. "She

A PENSIONER is afraid to leave her own home after being attacked by a seagull. It seems as though Alfred Hitchcock's horror film The Birds has come to life after a series of unprovoked avian attacks. Barbara Barlow, 72, from Hathaway Road in Southbourne

A WOMAN has complained to her MP after her three-year-old daughter was refused NHS dental treatment at the surgery where she had been registered as a patient. Part-time book keeper Anne-Claude Roche, 33, of Southbourne, said she and her husband paid

"WE ARE prisoners in our own homes." That is the heart-felt message from Poole pensioners who claim Wilts & Dorset bus company's decision to axe services has marooned them in Merley Estate. Dozens of frustrated elderly residents held placards reading