Tourist chief's Stan Laurel blunder

Tourism bosses have landed themselves in trouble after falsely claiming Stan Laurel was born in their town.

Brochures designed to attract visitors to County Durham say: ‘Bet you didn’t know that Bishop Auckland was the birthplace of Arthur Stanley Jefferson, better known as Stan Laurel.’

But he wasn’t. He was actually born in Ulverston, Cumbria – more than 80 miles away .

Visit County Durham has apologised for the error but says it doesn’t have enough money to recall the 50,000 leaflets.

Laurel did spend much of his early life in Bishop Auckland, where he parents ran the theatre. He was baptised in a local church, and attended the King James Grammar School there.

However, his birth certificate proves he was born in Ulverston in 1890, 20 years before moving to America.

Craig Wilson of Visit County Durham admitted: ‘It seems that urban myth has perpetuated an error in the Bishop Auckland town visitor map.’

Published: 28 Sep 2010