FROM OUR ARCHIVES

5 YEARS AGO

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has settled a libel action over a newspaper report suggesting he used performance-enhancing drugs, years before he confessed to doing so. The American sued The Sunday Times for £1 million nine years ago for libel following the article, seeking damages from the chief sports writer David Walsh and then deputy sports editor Alan English. The Sunday Times settled the claim in 2006 and paid Armstrong £300,000. Following his confession the paper made a High Court bid to return the money, plus £720,000 in costs.

10 YEARS AGO

The number of final salary pension schemes open to new members in the private sector has dropped from 25 per cent last year to a record low of 17 per cent, according to research by Aon Consulting. However, the report from the pensions, benefits and HR consulting firm also notes that because of their near extinction, final salary schemes have become a prized asset in the fight to retain employees. Aon’s 2008 Employer Survey found that various factors have created tough conditions for companies that want to continue with defined benefit pension schemes.

15 YEARS AGO

A border battle of three centuries ago was recalled yesterday when Dornock Parish Church, near Annan, Dumfriesshire, retrieved its bell. However, the Scots have been given the 376-year-old bell only on loan. The story of the theft of the bell is legend. Mr David Reid, a member of Dornock Kirk Session said: “It’s fairly well established that a raiding party from Dornock stole a bell from the Bowness Church around 1660. In a reprisal raid, the Bowness men came to Dornock, pinched our bell, and took it back with them to replace the one they had lost.”