TODAY the Diary launches a campaign to honour the saviour of Bootham Crescent.

Fans are still celebrating the wonderful news that York City have secured a deal to continue to play at their home of 72 years. But the one man who made this nail-biting climax possible has kept a low profile.

So we are stepping in to acclaim Douglas Craig.

A retiring Scot, the former City chairman is never one to blow his own bagpipes. Indeed Mr Craig's recent reluctant confession that, "the football club would not be in existence at all if I had not done what I did," was the closest he has come to taking even a sliver of credit.

It is time we recognised his contribution with a tribute both public and permanent. So the Diary is planning to launch a subscription fund to erect a statue of Mr Craig at Bootham Crescent.

Like the one at Leeds United honouring another Scottish footballing legend, Billy Bremner, the granite likeness of Mr C would become the personification of York City.

We have mocked up this idea of what it could look like.

Send no money now, but please send messages of support to the addresses below. Together we can do it for Douglas.

WRAP rage is particularly prevalent in Yorkshire it seems. A survey this week by Yours magazine revealed mass frustration with modern packaging, and over-50 Yorkshire folk are more furious than most.

Nearly eight out of ten have abandoned a product because they were unable to open it. A mighty 98 per cent have "struggled to remove price labels from a bouquet or other gift".

The Diary's greatest packaging nightmare? Almost wrecking a hotel room in an attempt to open a beer, having no bottle opener to hand. What's yours?

GREG Dyke wasn't the only celebrated former student of York University's Graeme Moodie. The founding professor of politics also taught Tony Banks, the well-known Labour MP and former sports minister.

"He was very lively and verging on the rebellious, but that was the Sixties," recalled Prof Moodie. "He always was enterprising, colourful and fun, which he has remained."

Some years later comedian Harry Enfield was one of his undergraduates. "I'm not sure which of his television characters he was like. He was lively, not intensely studious."

Was he funny at university? "Not so much in class, but I think in private and probably in bars."

AS promised, here are the best passion wagons, as rated by the Sex Manual, published this week by car maintenance specialists Haynes (£12.99).

Apparently the VW Jetta's front passenger seat folds right down affording couples plenty of space. More roomy still are American automobiles from the Fifties with auto transmission and "no seat belts or gear knobs to get in the way".

Even Minis can do the job: "If clothes pegs are used to clip onto the seat covers, holding the seats in an 'up' position, then a couple who are small in stature may indulge in a limited repertoire."

Of the favoured vehicle of Liberal Democrats, the compact, ResPark-friendly Smart Car, there is no mention.

Updated: 09:37 Thursday, February 05, 2004