From our archives:

85 years ago

The Archbishop of York had launched an Emergency Appeal Fund in hope of raising £250,000 towards the ever-decreasing diocesan funds.

The appeal was issued as widely as possible, and contributions were invited of any sum according to the means of the donor.

For all those who had the ability to donate more than 5s per year they would then be enrolled as “Friends of the Diocese,” and receive an enrolment card.

York Health Committee had decided to recommend that the City Council support the resolution of the People’s League of Health urging the Government to take steps to eliminate tuberculosis from among dairy herds and to authorise local authorities to require the efficient pasteurisation of all milk sold within their area, which was not drawn from tuberculosis free cows.

50 years ago

Full scale fighting had broken out between the two nationalist fractions in Aden.

According to an official an estimate of around 45 people had been killed since fighting began at midnight on November 2, and more than 100 had been wounded.

In the Tawahi shopping area and the Ma’Alla district, men carrying machine guns walked the streets looking for nationalist rivals, some carrying lists of people to be assassinated.

Gloom had descended on the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, York, after a blown fuse plunged the building into darkness, and officers of the Company of the Merchant Adventurers had to greet members and guests by candlelight.

Normal lighting was however resumed as soon as possible, just in time for the company court and feast.

20 years ago

Guy Fawkes, that infamous son of York, was back in town with a website directly linked with his old school, St Peter’s.

The site, created by Jeremy Boot from Nottingham combined impressive graphics with a spoken introduction, music, and various pictures of Guy Fawkes and the other Plot Night conspirators.

Bawdy entertainer Freddie Starr was in danger of being upstaged after theatre yobs disrupted his show at York’s Grand Opera House.

The disturbance occurred during his adults-only show, where a group of people towards the back of the stalls were falling out among themselves.

And Malton was in mourning for one of the most popular former landladies who had died peacefully at her home.

Dorothy Scott, known as Dot, had run the Black Swan in the town’s Market Place with her husband, John, from 1958 until the couple’s retirement in 1983.