One of the cars at the Festival Of The Unexceptional, external at Whittlebury this weekend is the Hillman Imp.

Here we look at the history of the family saloon car, and see how it lost out to a British rival:

Stuart Linnell
BBC Radio Northampton

A classic car show for ordinary family cars is being organised in Northamptonshire.The show at Whittlebury Park will feature Morris Marinas, Ford Cortinas and Austin Allegros (pictured).

Marcus Atkinson is one of the organisers of Saturday's Festival Of The Unexceptional event, external and told me that it is for "cars that used to be on the drives, not the bedroom walls".  

Andrea Leadsom for her part has been getting on with her new job of environment secretary and yesterday met Labour's London Mayor Sadiq Kahn to talk about air quality in the capital.

BBC News England

A man and a woman have been charged with multiple historical drug and sexual assault offences, alleged to have been committed in Northampton.

Nicholas Taylor, 47, is accused of 71 offences, including supply of Class A drugs, rape and other sexual offences, police said.

Joan Taylor, 43, faces 34 charges, including supply of Class A drugs, rape, and other sexual offences.

Both defendants, from Northampton, are due to appear before magistrates on Friday.

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Northamptonshire South MP Andrea Leadsom has been blocked from speaking on the HS2 rail scheme in the House of Lords according to the Chronicle and Echo, external.

They say lawyers working on behalf of HS2 Limited have successfully blocked eight MPs from speaking at the House of Lords' High Speed Rail Bill select committee, external.

During her campaign for the Tory Party leadership she said that she would "look again" at the business case of HS2.

Image source, PA

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

A member of the House of Lords has questioned Andrea Leadsom's credentials to be environment secretary.

The MP for South Northamptonshire was promoted to the cabinet after pulling out of the Conservative leadership race to allow Theresa May to be appointed prime minister.

Image source, AFP/HoL

The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Thomas said she's the "wrong person" for the job, citing a statement from 2007 where Mrs Leadsom said farming subsidies should be "abolished".

Lord Thomas also criticised her comments during a EU Referendum debate where she suggested "farmers with big fields do the sheep and those with hill farms do the butterflies".

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

Despite the big swing to the Liberal Democrats in the Westone by-election, they still have some way to go before they can make an impact on the ruling Conservatives on Northampton Borough Council.

It takes the number of Lib Dem councillors to on the borough council to three while the Conservatives have 25.

Labour are the biggest opposition party with 17 seats on the council.

Elizabeth Rizzini
BBC Look East weather

It'll be a rather cloudy start but the skies will brighten, allowing some sunshine, though scattered and slow-moving thundery showers will also develop, highs today of 24C (75F).

Here's my full forecast...

There are more details on the BBC Weather website.

Andrew Radd
BBC Radio Northampton

The Liberal Democrats have gained a seat on Northampton Borough Council, with a huge swing from the Tories and, to a lesser extent, from Labour.

Brian Markham, a former mayor of the town, won the by-election in Westone ward. The seat was left vacant by the resignation of Conservative councillor Matthew Lynch, who has moved out of the area.

Pete Cooper
BBC Local Live

It's Friday and we are here until 18:00 today.

We've got plenty for you including the problem of bed blocking at Northamptonshire hospitals, the work of the new Environment Secretary, South Northamptonshire MP Andrea Leadsom and the all-important weather.

Here's a picture of Kettering from BBC Weather Watcher 'thunder'...

But we'll start with yesterday's borough council by-election in Northampton.