One of the best known names in the region Twenty years ago Douglas Hall, then in his middle twenties, stood alongside his father John, and showed journalists drawings of an ambitious plan to transform some mud-flats on the south bank of the Tyne into the MetroCentre. It seems inconceivable now to imagine life on Tyneside without Europe's largest indoor shopping centre, just as it is hard to imagine a time when the Hall family were not household names in the region. Yet in late 1982 that was very much the case. St James's Park was a ramshackle affair hosting Second Division football and it would be another 10 years before the Hall family would take control of Newcastle United, and transform the fortunes of both the club and the stadium. In 1982 John Hall was a little known property developer. His son was known, if at all, for being married to Tonia Pallister, a successful local model. The couple have now been married 21 years and have two teenage boys. Twenty years on, while Sir John Hall as he is now, is still hailed as a man of vision, Douglas Hall has become associated with the wrong sort of headlines again. The latest allegations, by two women in a Geneva hotel, are a reminder of the infamous "Toongate" scandal of March 1998. Newcastle supporters who had to endure the taunts of rival fans after Mr Hall was taped making derogatory comments about North-East woman and the profits from United's fans. Mr Hall has never recovered from the scandal in the eyes of many fans. He is rarely seen at St James's Park these days and the family business, Cameron Hall, has not prospered. In July this year, company accounts showed that the property development business founded by Sir John and taken over by Douglas when his father retired nine years ago, made a pre-tax loss of £74.7m during 2000. During that time, Mr Hall increased his salary from £78,000 to £327,000. He was also paid £250,000 by the business for the use of part of the family home, Wynyard Hall, near Sedgefield, County Durham, for office space. Work on proposed holiday complexes being built by the company in Portugal were halted. Cameron Hall also sold off a golf course at Wynyard Hall to a consortium led by course manager Gary Munro. | 
