100 years ago

The handsome pavilion on the Britannia Pier at Yarmouth had been completely destroyed by fire.

A night watchman had discovered flames in a new tearoom being erected at the rear of the pavilion, and by the time he could give an alarm the pavilion, which had been built four years before at a cost of £9000, was ablaze from one end to the other.

How the outbreak occurred was not known, but the watchman stated that he heard a loud report like a gun prior to seeing the flames. A postcard, however, had been picked up on the beach marked on one side, “Votes for women,” and on the other, printed in capitals, “McKenna has nearly killed Mrs Pankhurst. We cannot show any mercy until women are enfranchised.” This card was quite clean and bore no traces of fire or smoke.

 

50 years ago

Mr Khrushchev, who was 70 today, said in a light-hearted “off-the-cuff” birthday message to the world: “For those of you who haven’t reached 70 don’t be afraid. It’s not that horrible.”

Mr Khrushchev, speaking at a Kremlin ceremony, added: “If a man has a desire to work, man can work if he really wants to. This is the main thing. You should not give up in your old age. Don’t submit to age.” Mr Khrushchev, his voice choking with emotion as he was presented with the Order of Lenin and a Hero of the Soviet Union gold medal, said, “I have worked hard in the past and I am working just as much now.”

Britain’s Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, sent a birthday telegram to Mr Khrushchev. It read: “I send you my sincere congratulations and good wishes on the occasion of your 70th birthday.”

 

25 years ago

A York fireman told how he had struggled through a sea of bodies to save lives in Britain’s worst ever sport disaster. Peter Clarke had stood on a human carpet, four bodies deep, to pull fans free from the crush at the Leppings Lane end of the Sheffield’s Hillsborough stadium.

“It was a waste of life, it should never have happened - once they opened those gates it was suicide,” he said. Reports suggested that two uniformed police officers had ignored a steward’s warning and forced open the gates which allowed fans to stream into the ground.

South Yorkshire police had refused to answer all questions relating to the handling of the disaster, and said another force would be handling the investigation.