MILLENNIUM baby Joshua Smith celebrated his first birthday on New Year's Day. The one-year-old made local history as the first baby to be born in the Year 2000. Proud parents Andrea and Mark Smith, of Wigan Road, Leigh, say they have enjoyed a relatively uneventful year despite their son's claim to fame. New Year's Day was a special 12-month milestone for Joshua who arrived two weeks early to launch 2000. Mark, 26, an engineer, said: "I felt such a fool.

"We were the only ones on the road at midnight because we had been sent home from the hospital." The Smiths, whose other son, Sean, is now four, returned to the maternity unit hours later and Joshua was born at 9.10am at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

Joshua received a commemorative silver spoon and plaque from the Mayor of Bolton to mark his special birthday.