Greatest news stories of your lifetime?

[tikay]

Anyone remember John Stonehouse?

Was a Government Minister in the 70's who faked his death via drowning & ran away to Australia under a new name with his mistress.

It eventually came out on top, though when he was first arrested the Australian police thought he was Lord Lucan (another great news story) who had disappeared just 2 weeks earlier.

He was deported back to the UK, but astonishingly, he never initially resigned his seat in the House of Commons.

Eventually he was charged with a range of frauds, as well as spying for the Czech Republic as it then was, and at his Trial he conducted his own defence in comical fashion, & was sent to Prison for 7 years.

I sometimes think Stonehouse was the inspiration for the Reginald Perrin TV series with Leonard Rossiter.  

[tikay]

Jimmy Saville, and I suppose  in the same genre, Gary Glitter, Rolf Harris, Stuart Hall, and Max Clifford.

The Savile saga produced more and more revelations as it progressed and I don’t think we will ever know the full truth about who knew what and when.
I wonder if he could have got away with it for so long had the internet existed when he was active.

No chance.

[tikay]

I guess we should add Lord Lucan, for the more senior blondes.

[tikay]

Madeline McCann.

If ever a story was overdone, it was that. To this day it still generates headlines, & the Police still waste endless amounts of money on investigating false trails.

As to who was responsible, that's a story in itself, and it's quite surprising the parents never faced any charges.

[bagel]

dads army  pulling off the hatton garden heist was fun to read about , unless you were an owner of said deposit boxes

[Karabiner]

Another classic Sun headline during The Falklands War:

Stick It Up Your Junta

[RED-DOG]

Sun headline when he lost the election to a landslide Thatcher victory.

MICHAEL PHUT.

[Pokerpops]

Anyone remember John Stonehouse?

Was a Government Minister in the 70's who faked his death via drowning & ran away to Australia under a new name with his mistress.

It eventually came out on top, though when he was first arrested the Australian police thought he was Lord Lucan (another great news story) who had disappeared just 2 weeks earlier.

He was deported back to the UK, but astonishingly, he never initially resigned his seat in the House of Commons.

Eventually he was charged with a range of frauds, as well as spying for the Czech Republic as it then was, and at his Trial he conducted his own defence in comical fashion, & was sent to Prison for 7 years.

I sometimes think Stonehouse was the inspiration for the Reginald Perrin TV series with Leonard Rossiter.  

From the Wikipedia page on said series
At the end of the first series, Reggie fakes suicide by leaving his clothes on a beach in West Bay, Dorset and running into the sea. Coincidentally, MP John Stonehouse faked his own death in this manner shortly before the book was published, although neither was inspired by the other; the novel was written before Stonehouse's faked suicide in November 1974, but not published until 1975. The phrase "do a Reggie Perrin" did enter the vernacular, however, assisted by the Stonehouse affair.

The canoe guy from Seaton Carew nor Hartlepool who turned up in Panama may have been inspired by one or both

[tikay]

If we are doing headlines, I always thought this one was pretty good. It was, of course, in a Murdoch paper;

"Headless body in topless bar"