July 10 (From York Press)

July 10

11:53am Tuesday 10th July 2012 in Way we were

100 years ago

North Wales presented many attractions for summer tourists, and since the visits paid to that quarter by Royalty it had become rather a favourite spot.

It was furnished with several splendid seaside resorts, which had the advantage of possessing most interesting historic associations, and the climate was both genial and bracing.

The scenery in many parts was picturesque and grand, so much so indeed that the Principality had been not unhappily named Nature’s Wonderland.

Those who had not yet had the privilege or pleasure of spending a holiday there could learn of its attractions from guidebooks of the L and NW Railway, and that company were to be congratulated on their enterprise in instituting a special daily service of through trains, commencing the following Saturday, which would leave Leeds at 11.45am and 1pm, and would continue during the season.

50 years ago

A 90ft Thor-Delta rocket, carrying the communications satellite Telstar, had roared aloft at Cape Canaveral to start Man’s first attempt at inter-Continental communication via space.

The rocket lifted off at 9.33am BST and the satellite went into orbit ten minutes after launching.

Mr Robert Gray, of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), said that tracking stations at Cape Canaveral and on Antigua, in the West Indies, had picked up good and strong signals from the satellite.

A trans-Atlantic television experiment with Telstar would start tonight at 12.36am and last 17 minutes, announced Raymond Baxter from the giant television aerial at Goonhilly Down, Cornwall.

It would consist of five minutes of live pictures, two minutes of “pulse” and “bar” test signals and ten minutes of taped pictures.

25 years ago

York City and York Rugby League Club could, it was suggested, be sharing City’s Bootham Crescent ground within a year.

The plan involved the rugby club selling its Clarence Street ground, contributing a sizeable cash sum for improvements at Bootham Crescent, and paying a yearly rent for sharing the facilities.

City’s chairman, Mr Michael Sinclair, had issued this statement: “York City Football Club and York Rugby League FC have had preliminary discussions regarding the possibility of a ground-sharing scheme at Bootham Crescent.

It was clear from these discussions that, before such a major decision could be taken, there are a large number of problems to be overcome, not least the cost of a new pitch which would require undersoil heating and a sprinkler system, and administrative offices for the Rugby League club and other facilities.”