IT was a question that divided York - well almost. Does our dear council leader Steve Galloway look anything like that meat munching TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall?

Apparently not was the answer that coursed down the Evening Press phone lines, filled email inboxes and blocked the letterbox.

But he does bear a faint likeness to that unelected fat bloke who keeps turning up at the head of various Government projects, Lord "what a Charlie" Falconer.

That's according to diary correspondent Chris Wood who claims the Prime Minister's lifetime friend, former flatmate, legal colleague and, would you believe it, cabinet appointee, has an "uncanny resemblance" to big Steve.

He urges us to bring the full weight of the recently implemented Freedom of Information Act, introduced by Charlie himself, to the task of finding out if there is indeed any relation between the two.

"We now have a right to know," claims Chris. We do indeed, but I'm not sure this is what the Government bigwigs had in mind when they came up with the idea.

Another carefully penned missive comes to hand from a Tollerton resident who nervously asks to remain anonymous.

Clearly those York Council enforcers have put the frighteners on her.

"I think Hugh is a rather sexy individual and bears no resemblance to Mr Galloway...Richard Whiteley is, I'm sure you will agree, a far more successful doppleganger," she writes.

To be fair, Mrs Tollerton may not be getting the best Channel 4 reception out there on the A19 and things haven't been the same since she spilled Bovril down the back of her portable set.

Then again she does present more compelling evidence: "Steve is more of a Whiteley than a Whittingstall. I even noticed that his poor dress sense and comb over hair are reminiscent of the Countdown presenter."

Her words not ours Steve. We'll hand over her address if you knock a few quid off our council tax and promise to keep handing out those free bin bags.

SUCH hotly divided opinions and heat-seeking cynicism (tuned to body temperature) lead the Diary to believe that we may be on to something here.

So being the kind of column that not only milks an idea for all it's worth, but practically installs a dairy and invites in a herd of Friesians, we ask today: "are there any more council doubles in the Guildhall?"

Some may believe that Sue Galloway looks strangely like Ann Reid, while others claim if you turn David Evans upside down you get another face, like one of those clever pictures.

But that's not good enough. We need TV favourites, film heroes, sporting greats and even cartoon characters. Hell, we'll take anything.

Is it true that Tracey Simpson-Laing's childhood idol was Crystal Tipps, the pink-haired mute girl from Paul Reade's memorable animated series?

And does Christian Vassie really look like curious film star Billy Bob Thornton or Clifton's Alan Jones bear any likeness to gobby Geordie Tim Healy from Auf Wiedersehen Pet?

We need to know.

Emails to diary@ycp.co.uk or write to Diary, York Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN.

Updated: 11:01 Monday, January 10, 2005