FANS of ghoulish goings-on will be familiar with the craggy features of Richard Felix. He is one of the ghostbusters on the TV show Most Haunted.

Richard recently left his native Derbyshire to scour God's Own County for the undead, resurrecting enough scary stories to write a book. So he did.

As well as including a guide on how to find ghosts ("a torch is essential and candles are useful too") The Ghost Tour Of Great Britain: Yorkshire includes chapters on 20 of the region's most spooky spots.

These include an account of his obviously brief visit to the Golden Fleece, in Pavement, York, which is one of several pubs to lay claim to be the most ghost-ridden in the city.

Richard gets off to a rocky start, misspelling the surname of the landlord at the time he popped in.

He goes on to recount how the ghost of a Canadian airman haunts the Fleece, a tale the Evening Press first reported 11 years ago. The story prompts a blinding insight from our Richard: "That the airman still haunts the place where he died indicates to me he is still unable to rest."

But why does he return to the Golden Fleece again and again? Drawing on all his experience of the other side, Richard offers this revelation: "I don't know."

The Ghost Tour Of Great Britain: Yorkshire is published by Breedon Books, price £14.99.

NOT sure what to give your loved ones this Chrimbo? Want something different to send a message to your nearest and dearest?

We've the perfect answer. A ball and chain.

That is one of the novelty gifts from English Heritage, available from various of its sites, like Clifford's Tower, Helmsley Castle and Rievaulx Abbey.

Other gifts on offer include Rat Dropping Chocolates ("darling, they're just what I've always wanted"), medieval handcuffs and Elizabethan Gunpowder mustard.

A FIRST-aid kit might be a more appropriate present. More than 80,000 people turn up at casualty after accidents at home over the festive holidays.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents compiled this list of typical Christmas Day accidents which have meant a visit to the hospital:

parents using scissors instead of screwdrivers to assemble toys and stabbing themselves

people using knives to open presents in a hurry and cutting themselves

children falling off rocking horses or smashing new bikes into walls

tripping over toys and trailing cables in the rush to try out new appliances

cooking injuries, including gravy exploding in microwave ovens, hot fat spills and nasty vegetable cuts.

AGED between 11 and 13? Fancy a free holiday in the countryside?

There's a catch of course. Successful applicants will get their rural trip courtesy of a new TV programme, Evacuation.

The CBBC show will take 12 city kids and re-create the trials, tribulations, joys and journey that millions of children underwent during the Second World War.

They will be wrenched from their PlayStations to work on a farm for two weeks in April next year.

Anyone interested should phone 0207 284 1441 to request an application form or go to www.twentytwenty.tv to apply online, by December 21.

Updated: 10:42 Wednesday, December 07, 2005