From our archives:

85 years ago

The “Yorkshire Herald” regrettably announced that Sir Gilbert Parker the famous author and playwright had died in London.

His best known books included, “Pierre and People,” and “The Pomp and the Glory.”

For 18 years he was also a well-known figure in Parliament sitting for Gravesend as a Unionist from 1900 to 1918, knighted in 1902 and created a baronet in 1915.

The reading habits of children had been discussed at the annual conference of the Library Association.

Mr Osbourne a county librarian, said that as a result of a questionnaire issued to 1,200 children “girls had long since dispelled the idea that an exciting book such as “Treasure Island” was exclusively for boys.”

Actress Ursula Jeans had signed a contract to play the part of “Fanny” in a Fox Film Production of “Cavalcade” which was to be made in Hollywood.

A clause in the contract was that Miss Jeans must put on 5lb.

50 years ago

Nearly 300 people queued outside York Minster to see the first Festival of Flowers.

The Festival, which had attracted more than 40,000 visitors, had involved nearly one thousand people with donations going to the Minster Appeal Fund.

An inquest into the death of the 32-year-old Beatles manager Brian Epstein, had concluded that his death was the result of the accumulative effect of bromide in a drug he had been taking for some time.

Engineers began the delicate operation of moving £98,000 worth of finely-balanced computer equipment into a special block at York University.

The difficult task of wheeling the seven main units 30 yards from the delivery vehicle to position them inside the block was expected to take several hours of careful handling.

“If any part of the computer were dropped as it was being moved then it just would not calculate,” said Mr D G Burnett-Hall, university director of computation.

20 years ago

York completed a promotion and cup double when they beat Pocklington in the final of the Prendergast Memorial Trophy at Percy Road.

The match which had been switched from Bishopthorpe, Pocklington’s home ground earlier in the week provided a dramatic start, only to be followed by a hospital trip by York bowler Pete Dobson, who was hit on the head needing six stitches.

And David Coulthard brought a traumatic week of nationwide mourning to an emotional end by dedicating his victory at the Italian Grand Prix to Diana, Princess of Wales.