WHEN Nostradamus was making his predictions in the 16th Century, they must have seemed unlikely in the extreme. But he correctly foretold, among other things, two world wars in the 20th Century and the rise of Hitler. As the millennium approaches, the scribblings of more modern-day prophets - newspaper reporters - have been discovered in a pile of old papers. CARREN HERON reports.

IT IS January 1, 2000, and everyone is flying around in their own aerocar, which they will later park on a personal landing pad at their home.

At the end of a day's work, we will swallow a "compound food tablet" rather than a hot meal and a glass of wine.

And the result of not having to chew food will mean no one has a chin.

This is the bizarre picture conjured up by the predictions in a newspaper discovered by Clive Oxley when he was sorting out his late mother's belongings.

Among the piles of papers and documents in the house in Buckingham Road, Shoreham, he found an envelope marked "Keep" in his late father's handwriting, dating back to 1928.

Inside was a Daily Mail printed more than 70 years ago but dated January 1, 2000.

The mock newspaper, available at the 1928 Ideal Home Exhibition, is written as if it was published on the first day of the millennium and includes a list of intriguing predictions about what life would be like.

As well as aerocars and no chins, the bizarre ideas include:

Washboards and mangles will be a thing of the past - in the millennium people will simply boil their clothes for 20 minutes with soap.

Meals will be replaced by "compound food tablets". GM foods had never been heard of then and one of the adverts reads: "Our food is chemically compounded by the magic of science".

The Government will provide 1lb of free beef suet to every home.

All children will be raised in public institutions and have their tonsils and appendixes removed.

Families will holiday in airships - obviously the writers had no idea about the 1937 Hindenburg disaster when the airship caught fire.

An open air sports ground, complete with mountain, will open in Blackpool where people can play winter sports all year round.

Anne Hathaway's cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon will be enclosed in glass for protection.

The weather will be controlled.

There is even a story about a Rottingdean man murdered by a "power of suggestion machine".

It reads: "The deadly uses which criminals may make of the latest discovery of science has been revealed today with the atrocious murder of Heritus Smith.

"The security police discovered, hidden in a corner, a small black box, found, after examination, to be a common suggestion machine, capable of inducing various emotions.

"The dial was turned to suicidal impulse."

With space travel still many years away in 1928, landing on the moon is not mentioned, although visits to Mars are.

But no one predicted the health risks from the sun or cigarettes. Adverts include one for an artificial sunlight machine for "the wonderful health-giving and disease-banishing power of sunlight".

It was thought these machines would be in everyone's homes so sunlight would be available even in bad weather.

Cigarettes are advertised as being "made specially to prevent sore throats".

Car fumes and asthma had not been thought of either, with the paper declaring that in 2000 we will be living in clear air with no soot from fires.

The writers thought people would be living to 150 and cancer would be under "complete control".

They also said the minimum speed limit would be 50mph, that rats would be wiped out and housework done by machine.

"Automatic calculating machines" would mean maths was no longer taught in schools and children would sleep with "memory impressors" attached to their heads, filling their brains with schoolwork.

One accurate prediction is the Channel Tunnel, although it was thought there would be numerous exits at Boulogne, Ostend and Calais.

With television still at its very early stages, the writers talk about "a televisor" for the year 2000.

A mock news story reads: "A man who was fined £10 for hitting his wife stated at Bow Street that she refused to turn off the home televisor during a debate in the House of Commons."

And in the personal adverts, someone is offering to exchange an "auto-cum-helicopter for a modern flying bicycle".

New books listed include Round The World In Two Days and there are adverts for weekend breaks to Australia.

And never mind Vivienne Westwood. Apparently next year we'll be wearing crash-proof lingerie and green nail varnish.

Mr Oxley, 59, of Edburton Gardens, Shoreham, said: "It's fascinating. A lot of it is silly like the flying cars. Imagine the chaos - it's bad enough on the roads, let alone in the air.

"Mind you, they were pretty spot on with the Channel Tunnel."

And there are still nine months to go.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.