From our archives:

85 years ago

The Gold Rush had started with a vengeance in Thirsk.

The amazing part about it was that although Thirsk was a comparatively small town, a large number of sovereigns had changed hands during the last few days.

One well-known Thirsk jeweller had disposed of £4,000 worth, leading many to believe that there must be untold wealth lying in Thirsk.

This was not the case as the remaining sovereigns had come from other districts.

A strong plea had been made on behalf of the British herring industry by Mr A N Skelton, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, at a “Buy British” luncheon, at the Forum Ladies Club, Grosvenor Place, London.

“If every British person had a herring a week,” he said, “I am told that the problem of the herring industry would be solved, and is worth solving.”

50 years ago

At least nine people were killed and hundreds injured throughout Germany as hurricane-force winds raked North Europe.

A woman’s legs were cut off when a shop window crashed on to the street in Schwandorf.

The great York ham plot had been uncovered according to the York Consumer Group’s monthly magazine.

The article exploded the myth that York ham came from York, stating that the York hams supplied to the Queen at Christmas came from Birmingham.

But that was not all. The article revealed that the factory that supplied the Queen sold 40,000 York hams a year, more than 1,000 to Yorkshire and 50 to York alone.

It seemed that the Great York Ham Plot had started 1871, when the recipe was leaked to a Lancashireman.

20 years ago

One person was killed and six others wounded when a lone gunman opened fire on the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building.

The 69-year-old Palestinian then turned his automatic handgun on himself after the shooting rampage in the New York skyscraper.

Preachers were arrested as they delivered firebrand sermons in York city centre, a complaint against police, claiming that officers ignored people showering them with insults and fluorescent paint.

The group, already facing charges for causing uproar among shoppers on an early occasion, were arrested for a second time as they were being heckled by an abusive audience.

Hundreds of shoppers looked on as officers arrived to break up the disturbance in the middle of Parliament Street.