100 years ago

According to official communiqués published in Constantinople the Russians at several points on the Caucasian frontier had attacked Turkish detachments, but had been obliged to retire at certain places with losses.

In the Mediterranean British cruisers were stated to have fired upon and sunk a Greek torpedo boat which they mistook for Turkish. The communiqué added: “These events demonstrate that our enemies opened hostilities which have been long premeditated. The entire Ottoman population is ready, confiding in the protection of God the only supporter of right and loyalty, to reply to these attacks directed towards the shattering of our existence.”

A telegram from Trebizond reported fighting all day. The “Tanin,” in a leading article, said it regarded the events in the Black Sea as a mere frontier incident and that Russia desired that the affair would not overstep those bounds. The journal added that the key of peace or war was in Petrograd.

 

50 years ago

President Lyndon Johnson had smashed the election hopes of Republican Senator Barry Goldwater with the biggest popular vote in US history. He was expected to follow his landslide victory with a “whirlwind of personal diplomacy.”

“I am going to do a great deal of travelling,” he said at Austin, Texas, and he was known to be considering a tour of West European capitals, including Paris and Bonn, and possibly London. For President Johnson it was the big victory he had sought, the victory to make him President in his own right just 19 days short of the first anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.

 

25 years ago

Firework night would be celebrated in ear-splitting style at the Eye of York. The city council had again chosen Clifford’s Tower as the venue for its half-hour show following its success the previous year, when 20,000 people poured onto the streets.

Among those preparing for similar scenes were street entertainers, toffee salesmen - and firefighters. The previous year’s crowds had threatened to delay pumps called out on an emergency, and special measures were in hand this time to make sure streets did not become impassable.

Clowns and fire eaters would be in action from 6.30pm at the Eye of York and the Castle Museum car park. York city council arts and entertainments officer Joyce Wilson said the display would be quite different from the previous year’s and added: “It will be extremely loud. Very young children, I imagine, would hate it. They would have to be five or six to enjoy it - old enough to put their own fingers in their ears.”