Mark Templeton Surfs the Net

NOT content with taking over Britain, the Spice Girls appear to have a worldwide dominance if their Internet pages are anything to go by.

The fiesty five have hundreds of different web sites starting from their official page to fans compiling their own tributes to the band.

The official page, set up by Virgin records, has all sorts of pictures of Sporty, Scary, Posh, Baby and Ginger, and has a great section where you can download video clips from the girls videos.

But the unofficial sites, set up by people all over the world, offer much more news and information and are well worth checking out if you're a fan.

But beware, there are "hate" pages for those who haven't been won over by Girl Power. Particularly funny are Spice Girl jokes, many of which are too libellous to print here!

The official Spice Girls site is (http://www.virginrecords.com/spice_girls/spice.html)

BURNLEY FC fans can turn to the Net if they want an overdose of Turf Moor news. There's a wide range of World Wide Web pages for supporters, one of the best being The Claret and Blue which you can find on (http://www.zensys.co.uk/home/page/trevor.ent/) where there are fact files on new players and links to other supporter's pages. And if you just love reading match reports take a look at Chris Waddle's Claret and Blue Army which you can find on (http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Track/2593/longside.html)

Soccer fans should also pay a visit to the FA's official site for its bid to host the 2006 World Cup (http://www.fa2006.org) where you can e-mail your backing for England to become the host country and even play an on-line penalty shoot out.

THERE have been big Net events before - the Mars Pathfinder mission, the Mir space station, war in the Gulf and Bosnia. But few events have ever created as much interest on the Net as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Within hours, Net users seemed to know more about what was going on than many official sources. Someone posted a message saying she was dead on Usenet hours before the official statement from Buckingham Palace.

Even more impressive was that the official Royal web site (http://www.royal.gov.uk) was changed very quickly, by about 9.30am GMT on Sunday, August 31, the day Diana died.

The site was drastically cut in size to about a dozen pages, and pictures and a biography of Diana were put up.

IF you're looking for somewhere to live then you only have to look as far your computer screen thanks to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's web site. PropertyQuest is an extensive database of homes available to buy or rent across the county.

And to make life really easy you can simply tell your computer where you want to live, the type of property required, number of bedrooms and the price you want to pay and a list of available homes will flash on your screen.

There are also on-line estate agents, properties to let and you can browse through our comprehensive classified.

Simply point your browser at our home page and head of the property section. (http:www.newsquest.co.uk/)

THEY say charity begins at home. On the Internet it begins at the home page. Ribble Valley Rotaract Club have a new site (http://www.clitheroe.demon.co.uk/ROTARACT/index.htm).There are details all about the club and its fund-raising efforts, as well as a diary of events, links to other Ribble Valley pages and an e-mail address.

DID you know Kermit the Frog is left handed or that giraffes have no vocal chords? You will do if you turn to the page of completely useless facts, which, as the title explains, lists thousands of things you'll probably never really need to know!

(http://www-leland.stanford.edu/jenkg/useless.html)

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.