JULY was a month of sensational news headlines. Following a week of revelations about phone hacking by the News of the World – including the shocking news that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had been hacked – the 168-year-old newspaper dramatically closed.

Its last edition, on Sunday July 10, was headlined simply “Thank You & Goodbye”: a rare moment of dignity from a tabloid newspaper that had done more than most to destroy faith in the integrity of the press.

If News International thought closing the newspaper would be enough to assuage public anger, the media giant was sadly mistaken. Rupert Murdoch and his son James were both required to give evidence to the House of Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

During questioning, an interloper to the proceedings – comedian Jonnie Marbles – lunged at the ageing newspaper tycoon with a plate full of shaving foam. Quick as a flash, Mr Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng sprang to his defence, delivering a clout to Mr Marbles’ head with her open palm. Footage of the incident became an instant internet sensation.

July was also a month of tragedy and horror. In Norway, Anders Breivik – a crazed far-right militant ideologist – murdered 77 people in a bomb attack on government buildings in Oslo, followed by a mass shooting at a youth camp.

Many of those who died were teenagers.

Famine struck southern Somalia following the worst drought in the region for more than half a century. The UN later warned that as many as 750,000 people could die.

Yet at home, newspapers were more preoccupied with the death of the singer, Amy Winehouse.

Here, two North Yorkshire breweries – Samuel Smith’s and Cropton – went to the High Court over whether Cropton should be able to use the cap badge of the Yorkshire Regiment, with its white rose, on bottle labels and pump clips. Samuel Smith’s claimed it was a breach of trademark, because it had been using a white rose for 40 years.

Inevitably, the clash was dubbed the ‘Wars of the Roses’.

It ended in a costly score draw when a High Court judge, Mr Justice Arnold, ordered Cropton not to use the white rose on its warrior beer – but made no order for payment of damages. The case should never have come to the High Court, the judge said, adding; “This is a case about Yorkshire pride.”

In other local news, York student Frank Fernie was given a 12- month prison sentence for throwing sticks at police during anti-cuts protests in London; and 21-year-old barman Richard Horrocks died after jumping from a balcony into the River Ouse. His death – the latest in a series of deaths in York’s rivers – prompted The Press to launch its ‘Think, Don’t Swim’ campaign.