100 years ago

BENJAMIN Stead, one of the crew of the trawler Octavia, told of the battle they had witnessed out on the North Sea.

He said they were fishing on the Dogger Bank when at about 9.30am on Sunday they heard a terrific cannonading. Fishing operations were immediately stopped. A few minutes later a large number of German warships – probably about 35, and including battle-cruisers – hove into sight, travelling at a great speed.

Some distance behind them, also steaming at full speed, came British vessels, all in line.

“The Germans,” Stead continued, “were discharging wildly from their stern guns as they passed along, and they came close to us. British shells were constantly striking the German ships, despite the speed at which they were going. Some of the shells dropped near us, but we were not hit.

“The British ships were driving the Germans southwards, and preventing them from returning to their side of the North Sea. Many of the German ships were badly damaged.”

 

50 years ago

AT the rate of 4,000 an hour people filed past the coffin of Sir Winston Churchill at the lying-in-state in 800-year-old Westminster Hall, London. By the afternoon a queue of thousands stretched back from Westminster for over a mile across Lambeth Bridge and along the opposite bank of the Thames.

It was estimated that the queue was so great that it would take probably at least two hours for people to reach Westminster Hall. The gates had been open for the people’s mourning as Big Ben tolled 11am and slowly they filed past the Union Jack draped coffin on the black shrouded catafalque in the Hall of Kings.

Two hours earlier the Prime Minister, Mr Wilson accompanied by his wife, had led the nation’s pilgrimage of honour. Candles burned at the four corners of the bier which was covered in black velvet with silver braided edging. On a black silk cushion rested Sir Winston’s insignia as a Knight of the Garter, comprising collar, star and garter.

 

25 years ago

WEST Yorkshire police were to get the ultimate in video games – except this one was deadly serious. The new £70,000 firearms training computer would be used to train the elite marksman who had to face up to armed criminals.

A videotape scenario would be projected onto a large screen, and officers would react by firing their laser guns at the animated targets.

The system instantly responded to a hit or miss from a pupil, and assessed reaction times in fractions of a second. Chief Inspector Barry Coulthard, of Firearms Training, said the computerised system would never replace live ammunition training which would continue.