100 years ago

Whilst travelling “somewhere in the British Isles” the King noticed a small encampment of soldiers about a quarter of a mile from a well-known station at which his train had stopped.

The presence of the King in the neighbourhood was not known and his Majesty, who delighted to move about amongst his troops without ceremony, expressed his intention to pay a surprise visit to the men, who numbered some dozen or fifteen.

To reach the encampment his Majesty had to climb an embankment and jump across several small ravines. As the King and his suite reached the camp the men were performing their morning toilets with the aid of buckets and any other receptacles which held water.

Most of them had not seen his Majesty before, and he remained unrecognised as he entered into conversation with them.

One man, busy washing his face, realising that an officer stood before him, came to attention as promptly as possible, but the King relieved his embarrassment by telling him to continue.

During a quarter of an hour's stay his Majesty questioned several of the men as to their duties. It was only after the King's departure that the men learned with delighted surprise who their visitor had been.


50 years ago

Film taken by American scientist Harold Agnew of the A-bomb explosion on Hiroshima had been screened for the first time on the BBC.

It was included in a 70-minute documentary, The Building of the Bomb. With his 16mm camera Agnew had caught the fantastic mushroom cloud on film as he flew in a Superfortress bomber over Japan.

The film explained the early work done in Britain and the reasons for continuing the effort in America.

Many leading European atomic scientists were Jews who fled to the US and Britain, following the rise of Hitler. They had helped in the race to beat Germany in creating an atomic bomb.


25 years ago

A top highways official had painted a gloomy picture of congestion on roads in the York area beyond the year 2000.

And he had suggested that the over-burdened road network would best be able to absorb extra traffic if a proposed new 2000 home settlement was located close to the A64 York-Malton Road.

Acting County Surveyor Mr Mike Moore said major housing developments in the period between 1996 and 2006 would put “severe strain” on the Greater York road network.

Mr Moore said the Department of Transport was planning to turn the York-Malton section of the A64 into a dual carriageway, increasing its capacity to accommodate any commuter traffic from a new settlement.