WHOEVER thinks romantic poems and deep conversations are the key to falling in love has clearly never heard the remarkable story of Mr and Mrs Voss.

The couple were engaged within two weeks back in 1963 despite mainly using a dictionary to communicate and relying on Mr Voss' extremely limited grasp of the English language.

Bernd Voss, then a young sailor in the German Navy, met his 19-year-old wife-to-be in a dance hall in Newcastle and quickly fell in love.

They were engaged within a fortnight and set a wedding date for two years later when the sailor was due to leave his job in the military.

The couple, from Clifton, shrugged off the challenges their initial courtship faced after picking up each other's mother tongue within three months of setting up home in Berlin shortly after tying the knot.

Fifty years later they are now toasting their Golden Wedding anniversary today and are due to set off for Cuba on Friday to celebrate half a century of marriage.

Mother-of-one Chris Voss, 69, who worked for The Press' accounts department for 10 years at its Coney Street offices, said: "There's no secret to a long marriage.

"You have to work at it because everyone has ups and downs, and love each other through thick and thin."