April 28 (From York Press)

April 28

6:20am Saturday 28th April 2012 in Way we were

100 years ago

Probably there were few industries that had been carried on continuously without a break in the city of York for such a long period as that of stained glass window making and wall painting.

It was only fitting, too, that this should be so in a minster city.

As far back as 1340 the industry was conducted within the walls of the city, and many of the old churches in the North, and especially in Yorkshire, currently contained beautiful examples of stained glass windows the handiwork of industrious skilled York citizens.

The Minster windows were all made in York, and there was in existence a complete list recording the continuous line of men engaged in glass colouring in the city from the middle of the thirteenth century.

50 years ago

A woman did not have to be young, slender and beautiful to make a hit in show business, Mrs Mills had proved that.

Six months before she had been a Civil servant - a supervisor at the Paymaster-General's Office - unknown outside social circles in Essex where she did some spare-time entertaining at the piano.

Then someone “discovered” her, she made a record and Billy Cotton put her in one of his television shows.

She was not so young, not so slender, and had a “homely” face. But she caught on because she could play the old tunes on the piano with a rhythm as infectious as her smile and because she radiated a “laugh and grow fat” personality.

After that first television appearance the offers came tumbling in and she had to acquire a manager.

In January, she had handed in her notice as a Civil servant. Mrs Mills was currently a full-time professional with a regular spot in The Billy Cotton Band Show.

25 years ago

The Royal York Hotel had been sold in a multi-million pound deal.

The sale came halfway through a £6 million refurbishment and only four years after the 130-bedroom hotel was acquired by the American-owned Orient Express Hotels.

The new owners, taking over later this week, were understood to be the Crown hotel group.

The Royal York had gone on the market in March in a shock sale move by Orient Express Hotels, to raise £34.4 million.

The 110-year-old Royal York was the second major hotel in York to change hands in the previous three weeks.

Earlier in the month, the 80-bedroom Chase Hotel, bought by Maj Philip Morris in 1956 for £25,400, was bought by Swallow Hotels in a deal thought to be worth in the region of £3 million.