THE tale of a North-East man who went from a debtors' prison to become a national hero is one of the latest additions to an authoritative resource book on the great, the good and the eccentric.

George Wilson, born in 1764 in Newcastle, became renowned for his walking feats.

While imprisoned in the city jailhouse for debt, the former tax collector and book-peddler won a wager with his fellow inmates, who bet he could not walk 50 miles in 12 hours.

On his release in 1813, he took up walking as a career, winning a series of races, including one in London for 100 guineas.

He continued taking part in pedestrian matches until 1822, when he gave up in disgust at the miserly contributions from a crowd of 12,000, who had watched him walk 90 miles in 24 hours at Newcastle.

He is believed to have died shortly afterwards.

His story is one of many new lives added to the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which was launched this week.

The original version, containing almost 30,000 biographies, was first published more than a century ago.

For the new edition, every biography was rewritten or revised and 16,315 added, in a project that has taken 12 years.

It now contains 54,922 entries and more than 10,000 illustrations, researched in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery.

No living people were included, and only those who died before December 31, 2000, were considered.

Other notable North-East names to feature include football legends Jackie Milburn, Don Revie and Wilf Mannion, beauty queen and film actress Ivy Close, who was born in Stockton, novelist Catherine Cookson, 19th Century miners' leader Thomas Hepburn, who was born in the pit village of Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, County Durham, Darlington snooker and billiards player Willie Smith, and Gladstone Adams, who invented windscreen wipers.

Celebrities appearing for the first time include Sir John Gielgud and Sir Alec Guinness, Jill Dando, Robert Maxwell, the Kray brothers, Dusty Springfield and Sid Vicious.

The 60-volume print edition costs £7,500, but it is also available online, costing £195 a year for access.