When Miss World called out the numbers at a South Shields bingo hall

It might sound far fetched but it happened in 1970 when Eva Rueber-Staier, 1969’s Miss World, paid a fleeting visit to South Shields.

Eva clickety clicked with local players

She was calling into the Mecca Social Club in Dean Road to present a cheque for £20 to the South Shields cadet force on behalf of club members.

Eva, who was later seen in the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy, was also lending a hand in calling the numbers out at a bingo session.

Ernest More, the club’s manager, said at the time: “We tried to get Miss Staier to visit us just after she won the title, but this visit came out of the blue just a week ago.”

When The Boat Comes In creator in the news

Meanwhile, South Shields-born novelist and television writer James Mitchell chalked up another success with his television series Callan, starring Edward Woodward in the title role.

Mr Mitchell was named best writer of a series at that year’s Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards.

Then living and working in London, Mr Mitchell, a one-time lecturer at South Shields Marine and Technical College, described himself as a craftsman more than an artist.

He said: “I work from 10 in the morning to six at night, with an hour for lunch. If you want to keep up a high output - and these days, I have to - you need to be disciplined.”

Chart topper on a visit to Plessey

Mr Mitchell, also responsible for When The Boat Comes In, died in 2002 at the age of 76.

Another South Tyneside man in the news was pop singer Gerry Monroe who scored five top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart in 1970-71.

He first starred on Hughie Green’s Opportunity Knocks.

In 1970, Gerry returned to his home in South Shields from London, and popped along to give a performance for former work colleagues at the town’s Plessey Telecommunications factory.

He’d worked at Plessey’s for four years, earning £14 a week, before fame beckoned.

At the time of his visit, his hit single Sally, a version of Gracie Fields’s famous signature tune, was at number 11 in the charts and he was earning an estimated £400 a week.

Gerry, who broke off recording for Top of the Tops to make the visit, told the Gazette: “I was a bit scared, but it was great to be back.”

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