100 years ago

The Central News Amsterdam correspondent wrote: “The frontier between Belgium and Limburg is barricaded with barbed wire, except at three places where a passage is permitted under strict control.

This must be considered with reference to the military works executed by the Germans, and it is learned from a reliable source that they are digging trenches all along the Meuse. The garrisons of the villages along the Limburg frontier are now composed of Bavarian Landsturm men of the 9th Corps from Nurnberg who maintain good relations with the population.

Many of the older German soldiers returning from the trenches are no longer fit for military service owing to rheumatism and gout."

 

50 years ago

GR Dearlove wrote: “Regarding the recent naming of the two colleges of York University which are to be opened in October, the names chosen, Derwent and Langwith, sound well, but only in a geographical sense.

The persons responsible for the college names appear to have overlooked the point that the name of the University is that of York and that their patient, commendable industry has yielded an apparent indifference in acknowledging the names of famous figures concerned with the foundation of York’s educational history.

One of the earliest contributors to the greatness of our city was an outstanding scholar born here in the fourth decade of the eighth century. His name, the historians inform us, is the most eminent in the history of education in York and it is probable that he was England’s greatest schoolmaster. He and his predecessors collected the famous Library of York, the very foundation of the York School (now St Peter’s School) in which he taught for 20 years and by whose endeavours it became famous as the seat of learning throughout England and Europe.

May I therefore suggest that the name of this great man, who did so much for York, be associated with one of the University colleges yet to be built. I propose Alcuin College and when people inquire about the name the answer will surely be of profound interest.”

 

25 years ago

Author Salman Rushdie had broken his silence over The Satanic Verses controversy, protesting: “I am not the enemy of my own people.”

Rushdie, who had been in hiding since Ayatollah Khomeini ordered his execution almost a year before, said: “It would be impossible not to be affected by this degree of hostility, which is totally misplaced.” The Indian-born author told The Guardian: “One would wish the thing to come to an end, but I am not the maker of the problem.”

He had been forced into hiding the previous February after receiving death threats over his novel, The Satanic Verses.