100 years ago

There were in York one or two gentlemen whose hair had got very scanty on the top, as the tonsorial artists put it. These gentlemen could take heart of grace for the remedy rested in their own hands independently of the gentlemen who desired to sell them something guaranteed almost to make hair grow on paving stones.

“If you are bald, learn the violin,” was one of the morals to be drawn from some startling statements made by Monsieur Henri de Parville, quoted in the Musical News.

"Monsieur de Parville’s line of reasoning was that, as music exercised a manifest action upon the nervous system, which itself also affected the nutrition of the bodily tissues, it seemed reasonable to conclude that in a general way music had an influence upon the physiological individuality. But, we were advised to make no mistake about it.

"The gentleman suffering from loss of hair had to avoid instruments of brass as he would the plague. When the Scots Greys came swinging down Fulford Road on their way to the Priory Street Church, the bald gentleman would be well advised to stop his ears and get as far away as possible. “For,” said Monsieur de Parville, “while string instruments prevent and arrest the falling off of the hair, the brass instruments exercise the most deadly influence upon the scalp.”


50 years ago

While decorating, under nine layers of wallpaper in the shop of Hookes of York, Ltd, Coppergate, Mr Christopher J Fox, son of the proprietor, had discovered a Great Northern Railway timetable dated 1856.

Apart from being rather dirty and torn in a couple of places, it was in remarkably good condition. “A very exciting discovery” was how Mr RJ Hunter, administrator of the Railway Museum, described it. “It is very seldom these days that one comes across this sort of thing,” he said.

The timetable revealed it had taken six hours and 15 minutes to cover the distance between York and London compared with the existing journey, which took as little as three hours, eighteen minutes. The six-hour journey was by express, but it appeared that one train left York at 7am and did not arrive in King’s Cross until 5.30pm.


25 years ago

Firemen in York were criticising foam furniture after it had been blamed for a blaze which gutted a flat in the city.

Smoke spread so quickly when a settee ignited that the occupant of the Holgate Road flat had to flee leaving his belongings behind.

Brian Kirk, deputy divisional fire prevention officer, said the blaze was another example of the dangers of foam-filled furniture. “It was the worst combination of modern furniture – a PVC outer covering over polyurethane.”