COMEDIAN Lost Voice Guy won Britain’s Got Talent in June 2018, pocketing £250,000 and winning a spot at The Royal Variety Performance.

The funnyman, from Consett, who has cerebral palsy, and uses pre-recorded sentences on a computer for his stand-up act, dazzled the audience and judges with his hilarious routine in the grand final, which saw him poke fun at his disability.

He said as his win was announced: “I have been blown away by the support of the judges and the general public.”

Read more: ECHO MEMORIES: 24-hour vigil to mark 100th anniversary of war memorial

The comic, whose name is Lee Ridley, said he was “really grateful” for all the love he had received. He joked: “I’m very excited to perform in front of the Queen. “I’ve loved her since she sang Bohemian Rhapsody.”

The panel had been full of praise for the performer, with Alesha Dixon saying he would “inspire so many people” and David Walliams saying he had turned a negative (losing his voice) into something positive.

Judge Simon Cowell said after the results that he was thrilled to see him win. “You so deserved this,” he said.

The father of missing chef Claudia Lawrence was awarded an OBE for services to the families of missing people on Saturday, June 9, 2018.

Peter Lawrence was the founder of the Guardianship (Missing Persons) Bill 2017, known as Claudia’s Law, and is also a member of the Missing People’s Choir, which reached the Britain’s Got Talent final in 2017.

Mr Lawrence had been campaigning for six years for legislation that will allow families or friends to become legal guardian of a person’s affairs while they are missing, and manage their bank accounts and bills.

He began his fight after his daughter, chef Claudia Lawrence, disappeared on her way to work at York University in March 2009.

A commemorative headstone dedicated to the memory of a Second World War Spitfire pilot was erected in a North Yorkshire churchyard after a long campaign by a US academic.

Flying Officer Arthur Peter Pease, 22, was killed on September 15, 1940 over the Kentish countryside during the Battle of Britain and was later buried with full military honours in his family plot in Middleton Tyas churchyard, near Richmond.

On the 74th anniversary of D-Day, Wednesday, June 6, 2018, a dedication to Pease was made by Professor John Oakley, who was writing a book about him and three of his RAF comrades.

The service was attended by village residents, local historians and members of the Pease family.

Professor Oakley, from South Carolina, had been researching Pease for the last four years after discovering his story by chance and deeming his heroism deserved greater recognition.

He commissioned the large bronze plaque on a headstone just outside the churchyard of St Michael and All Angels.

Read next:

If you want to read more great stories, why not subscribe to your Northern Echo? Click here

Two North-East town centres were dealt another “devastating” blow after a major retailer announced plans to pull out of them both, resulting in hundreds of job losses.

After months of rumours, department store House of Fraser confirmed on June7, 2018 that its Darlington and Middlesbrough shops would be closing in 2019 if proposals to rescue the struggling firm were approved.

After more than 200 years, the name of Binns was to disappear, and in Darlington, the closure marked the end of a retailing story that dates back to 1770.