Oxford News
Music fans ready to queue for Record Store Day 2026
Record Store Day – tomorrow – is the one day of the year when over 260 independent record shops all across the UK come together to celebrate their unique culture.
Special vinyl releases are made exclusively for the day and many shops and cities host artist performances and events to mark the occasion.
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Customers can’t place an order in advance – they have to take their chance and queue up on the day.
Music fans at Truck Store in Oxford (Image: Oxford Mail)
Truck Store in Cowley Road, Oxford, this year celebrating its 15th birthday, is looking forward to one of its busiest days of the year, with staff sorting out about 500 Record Store Day releases. Truck Store in Witney is also taking part.
“There will definitely be queues outside both stores and both will open at 8am,” said Truck’s Harry Gledhill.
“It’s going to be a very busy day and then there will be an after party at The Bullingdon in Cowley Road, with Willie J Healey playing a set.
“I know some people queue up all night to try to make sure they get what they want.”
Carl Smithson, left at Truck Store for Record Store Day in 2019 (Image: Oxford Mail)
Among the big sellers will be a 7 inch Taylor Swift release of her song Elizabeth Taylor, priced at £19.99.
And a five album Bruce Springsteen boxset of a homecoming show at Asbury Park from 2024 will cost more than £80.
Special editions and reissues have become increasingly popular in recent years as vinyl fans look to upgrade their collections.
Releases by Charli XCX and Elton John are also expected to be big sellers this year.
Record Store Day officially launched in California in 2008 and now it is celebrated by music fans across the globe.
Oxford News
Team GB athlete and celebrity magician hospitalised with heatstroke
Shane Sterling, who studied at Oxford University, is currently a judo athlete, practising magician and is the owner of Oxford Magic Walking Tours.
He was hospitalised with heatstroke after conducting three back-to-back walking tours through Oxford on Monday (August 3).
Shane led tours at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, spending most of the day outdoors and walking between Oxford’s historic landmarks in hot weather.
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His tours are highly interactive and can occasionally run slightly beyond their scheduled finish time.
This can leave Shane with only around 20 minutes to return to the meeting point, check in the next group and begin the following tour.
Around an hour into his final tour at 3pm, he began to feel increasingly unwell, but determined not to disappoint his guests, he continued and completed the tour.
However, shortly after the tour ended, his condition quickly became worse.
“I suddenly felt extremely sick and dizzy,” Shane said.
READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson has to pay £95 for his own Amazon Prime account
“I had a severe headache, I was incredibly thirsty, and I knew something was not right.
“Luckily, my wife was meeting me after the final tour. She immediately realised how unwell I was and made sure I received medical help.”
Shane was taken to hospital that evening, where he was treated for heatstroke.
Medical staff warned him that the situation could have become extremely serious if help had been delayed.
The tour guide is sharing his experience as a warning to others, particularly with further periods of hot weather expected.
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“I spend a great deal of time outdoors, and I consider myself to be extremely fit,” said Shane.
“I represent Team GB in judo and have trained at a high level for many years. I never expected something like this to happen to me, but it shows that heatstroke can affect anyone.”
He is now urging residents, visitors, tour guides and outdoor workers to take extra precautions during periods of extreme heat.
“Drinking water is essential, but it is not the only thing people need to think about,” Shane said.
“Try to spend time in the shade, take proper breaks and avoid pushing through if you begin to feel unwell.
READ MORE: ‘Devoted’ husband and father, 74, killed in Cotswolds fire
“Move to a cool or air-conditioned place as quickly as possible and seek urgent medical help if your symptoms are serious.”
Common warning signs of heat-related illness can include dizziness, nausea, severe headache, intense thirst, confusion, weakness and feeling unusually unwell.
Shane, who has now recovered, added: “I pushed through because I wanted to finish the tour for my guests, but looking back, I should have stopped as soon as I felt ill.
“No tour, job or appointment is worth putting your health at risk. The hospital staff told me that this could have ended very badly for me.”
Oxford News
Clarkson, May, Hammond coming back to film new Grand Tour episode
According to The Sun, the hosts will join YouTubers Thomas Holland and James Engelsman as well as social media star Francis Bourgeois in series seven.
Having presented Top Gear together for over a decade, the famed trio departed the BBC show back in 2015, moving on to Prime Video’s The Grand Tour.
READ MORE: Clarkson’s Farm star shares emotional message after exit from show
The petrol enthusiasts are expected to help ensure the show’s reboot gets off to a smooth and welcoming start, according to co-creator and TV producer Andy Wilman.
Mr Wilman, who is also executive producer of Clarkson’s Farm, told The Sun that the guys will do cameos as they “pass that baton on” in the series which debuts on Friday, September 4.
The TV producer told 3Bs radio at the Buckingham Literary Festival: “We’ve got three guys coming soon with a new Grand Tour and we’ve got behind them.
READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson has to pay £95 for his own Amazon Prime account
“We’re really supporting them. Our guys are in the shows doing cameos, so we’re wishing them well because we do want to pass that baton on.”
This will be the first time in almost two years the Top Gear originals, who went their own ways professionally, will be seen together since September 2024.
That was when The Grand Tour: One For The Road was released on Prime Video, marking an end to over two decades of Mr Clarkson, Mr May and Mr Hammond working together.
Oxford News
Jeremy Clarkson has to pay for his own Amazon Prime account
The 52-year-old said that neither she nor her boyfriend receives a free subscription from Amazon, even though they front one of the streamer’s biggest British shows.
Ms Hogan made the admission in an interview with content creator Lucas Stewart on his YouTube channel.
Asked directly whether she was given a complimentary Amazon Prime or Prime Video account, the Irish former model and actor replied: “I share my son’s.
READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson and Christian Horner team up to raise over £1m
“We don’t get any goodies.”
She went on to explain that sharing subscriptions is simply how many younger viewers now choose to spend their money.
“Children nowadays are just like, ‘Yeah, I’ll just get this subscription,’ and that’s their way of spending money whereas we used to buy cigarettes and more alcohol,” she said.
“This is their spending money, so I share it with him.”
Clarkson’s Farm, which follows Mr Clarkson’s attempts to run his Diddly Squat farm in the Cotswolds, has been one of Prime Video’s breakout UK successes since it launched in 2021.
READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson’s girlfriend reveals his ‘true colours’ amid ‘misconceptions’
Ms Hogan has become a key part of the series, often seen running the Diddly Squat Farm Shop and appearing alongside Mr Clarkson and farmer Kaleb Cooper.
In the interview, she also reflected on how the attention from the show has changed her life, but the Independent report focuses on the unusual fact that one of Prime Video’s best‑known on‑screen personalities still relies on a family login.
Amazon Prime currently costs £8.99 a month in the UK, with membership including access to Prime Video, music, deliveries and other services.
The company has tightened its rules on account sharing in recent years, but Ms Hogan’s comments suggest that, inside the Clarkson household at least, the stars are still paying customers.
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