A PLEA for information about a village has reached a worldwide audience, thanks to The Northern Echo.

Author Bill Lees, who is trying to write the first history of No Place, near Stanley, was amazed to hear from readers from as far afield as the US and France after we published a story appealing for information, two weeks ago.

Thanks to more than 20 phone calls and letters from all over the world, Mr lees is piecing together the mysteries of a place that, technically, stopped being a place 63 years ago.

No Place was originally a hamlet of four cottages, but was demolished by residents of nearby Co-Operative Villas in 1937 - a larger neighbour that has since taken on the No Place name.

On the morning the story appeared, Mr Lees received several phone calls from former No Place residents, but, when it appeared on the paper's website, the response went global.

A childhood friend of Mr Lees from the 1940s contacted him from France, where he is now living, and he received a letter from someone in Salt Lake City, Utah, who used to live in No Place.

Mr Lees said yesterday: "The response has been phenomenal - I did not expect this much interest.

"People have come forward with all sorts of information that should help me fill in some of the gaps about the village's history."

l Anyone with information that could help Mr Lees to complete his book can contact him on 0191-385 2641.