100 years ago

The King and Queen had seized the earliest possible opportunity of visiting the wounded who had been exchanged for German prisoners and who had recently arrived in London.

Their Majesties, attended by Colonel Sir Harry Legge and Lady Isabel Gathorne Hardy, motored to the Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Grosvenor Road, shortly before three o’clock, and although the intention had been kept as private as was practicable a small crowd of people had assembled at the main gateway to see them pass in, and they were greeted by cheers and the waving of handkerchiefs.

The King and his equerry wore khaki; the Queen was tastefully dressed in bright blue. From the windows of the hospital the soldier patients witnessed the arrival of their Majesties. The staff received the Royal visitors, who at once proceeded to make a tour of the wards, paying particular attention to the latest arrivals.

Both their Majesties displayed the utmost sympathy and solicitude, and their kindly interest in the brave fellows who had suffered so severely in the service of their country was appreciated to the full.

 

50 years ago

They looked just like tiling, could be washed down like tiling but they were, in fact, new wallpapers for 1965. And what was more, this tiling look with wallpaper cost a lot less than the real thing.Experts considering anything from £6 to £8 a square yard reasonable for ceramics on the walls. The new wallpapers that simulated tiling cost anything between 9s and 12s a roll.

You could get a wallpaper inspired by hand-painted Portuguese tiles (sea blue and emerald green or orange and pink mixtures at about 9s a roll), flower vase and flower basket designs whose designs originated in Holland (in blue or a mixture of amber and brown, about 8s 6d a roll) and reddish or ginger brown wallpaper in a circular tiling pattern which originated in Germany. These tiling wallpapers were obviously going to look great in a kitchen.

 

25 years ago

BREL’s York plant had come in for praise at the company’s first annual general meeting since it had been privatised the previous year.

In his operations report, chief executive Peter Holdstock, said: “Output of the class 321 from York is well ahead of the contractual dates, achieving an average production of nearly two complete trains per week. All at York have been complimented by British Rail for the consistently high quality of the train and its high reliability in service.”

The praise for York was in sharp contrast to severe criticism from BR the previous week for the Derby plant over a 40-week delay to a £150 million contract for diesel express trains being built there.