A home-made “burglar alarm” installed by the then mayor of Islington Candy Atherton had immediate results.

Within an hour of setting it up at her house, a crook was caught out by the alarm – and taken away by police.

Candy, 32, said: “I felt very strongly that one should be able to sleep safely at night.

“I’m not going to say I was brave – all I had to do was phone 999.”

Freelance journalist Candy, who had at that point been an Islington councillor for two years, decided to act after a series of break-ins in the area of Mackenzie Road, Holloway, in which she lived.

• A cinema was saved – by film fans flocking through its doors.

A boom in business earned a reprieve for the Holloway Odeon which was threatened with demolition or conversation into a bingo hall.

On the eve of the Odeon’s 50th birthday, bosses announced a massive investment to ensure the cinema had a future stretching into the 21st century. Now there are plans to redevelop it again.