100 years ago

A HINDQUARTER of frozen beef exhibited at Smithfield after being in cold storage for 18 years offered a remarkable example of the revolution which refrigeration was making in food supply.

Although somewhat faded in appearance and obviously deteriorated by age, part of it had already been used as food and was said to be still sound.

The hindquarter had been shipped from Australia in 1895, and had been kept in cold storage for experimental purposes by a firm of military contractors at Malta until the Government took over their warehouse fairly recently.

It was not uncommon for meat to be kept in a frozen state for two or three months in order to obtain a better market. It would retain its freshness for years, but the cost of cold storage, usually 1d a stone each month, prevented its preservation for long periods.

50 years ago

AN American professor had taken a look into the future and spoken of a time when electronically-operated machines would change many familiar aspects of life - and even make the weekly pay packet a thing of the past.

Prof Ken A Christiansen, who was Prof of Communications at the University of Florida, was speaking at a luncheon of the York and District Branch of the English-Speaking Union, at the Creamery Restaurant.

Referring to the revolution in communications and the link-up between nations which Telstar had made possible, he said: “We stand on the threshold of a tremendous age.”

Turning to advances in other fields of communications, he said a new telephone service was being started in the United States which would enable people on both ends of the line to see each other while they were speaking.

Women would want to get their hair “all fixed” before they answered the phone and the new service would, he smilingly forecast, cause a lot of frustration among husbands.

25 years ago

THE first steps towards bringing cable television to Yorkshire, with a choice of up to 32 channels, were to be taken soon.

Franchises to operate services including the existing BBC and ITV channels as well as some satellites, were to be advertised “in the near future”, confirmed a spokeswoman for the Cable Authority.

Keen interest was being shown, and at least one potential bidder, with strong Canadian backing, was already known to be laying the foundations for what it was hoping would be a successful application to supply programmes to an area likely to include York, Harrogate and Wakefield.

For franchise purposes, Yorkshire, with a potential audience of around 100,000 viewers, was being split up into three areas. West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire were being classed as separate franchise areas.