100 years ago

The Estate and Bridges Committee of the York Corporation had considered the question of lowering the portcullis at Monk Bar to enable it to be inspected by the public, and they had had statistics taken of the traffic passing through the bar on a particular Sunday to enable them to judge as to the best period of the day the portcullis might be lowered so as to interfere as little as possible with the traffic passing through the bar.

As the result, the committee had recommended that the portcullis be lowered between the hours of 3pm and 4pm in the afternoon of the first Sunday in each month up to and including the first Sunday in October 1914, and also on bank holidays and other public holidays during the same period.

 

50 years ago

Japanese wrestler Harold Sakata had found a new outlet for his oriental art – as a cold-blooded killer in the new James Bond film, Goldfinger.

Sakata, popularly known as The Great Togo, was playing his first screen role as Oddjob – a part which topped anything he had ever attempted in his 2,000-odd wrestling bouts. For a start he killed one attractive girl by painting her body with heavy gold paint. But the release of the film later in the year would pose a problem for the Japanese wrestling star.

“I’m so mean in this picture that promoters may have trouble finding opponents for me,” he said. Togo’s great strength and his knowledge of karate and judo combined to make him one of the ring’s villains. He had made two appearances in York. During a televised show at the SS Empire in November he had beaten Barry Douglas from Leeds, and then in February he had figured in a controversial bout with British mid-heavyweight champion Norman Walsh, the former Thirsk publican.

Togo, a native of Hawaii, had represented his country as a weightlifter in the 1948 Olympic Games.

 

25 years ago

Entertainers from all over Britain were competing in York in the finals of the city’s National Busking Festival.

The original 100 entrants in the competition sponsored by InterCity, had been narrowed down to just 12, who were due to do battle in Parliament Street during the afternoon. The various acts had been delighting visitors and residents over the previous fortnight by performing at set venues all over York.

The Yorkshire Evening Press supplements editor, Martin Lacy, would judge the acts, along with British Rail promotions officer Stuart Rankin and representatives from Tyne Tees and Yorkshire Television and the Yorkshire Post. The winner would be presented with a cut-glass crystal bowl and free return rail tickets.