From our archives:

85 years ago

It was premiere night for the film King Kong, starring Fay Wray.

Both the Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy Theatre in New York were packed to the seams with A-listers, grossing $100,000 in its first week before going nationwide.

The movie about a gigantic ape was the first feature film to use stop-motion animation.

And with two days remaining in his term, US President Herbert Hoover created the America’s first national historical park, at Morristown, New Jersey and the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park.

50 years ago

A midnight decision had been made by York University students to go ahead with a “selective boycott” of their four dining halls unless they received a written assurance by 10am that there would be no alteration to food prices and portions for the next 12 months.

The boycott planned by 19 students was the first form of militant action since the University opened in 1963.

Discussions about catering had been going on for a long time.

The crux came when the administration admitted that the size of food potions had been reduced.

Complaints had been made about a disturbance caused by an overnight motor car rally in the Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside areas in which over 100 members of the De Lacey Club, Pontefract, had been involved.

Local residents were furious at been kept awake all night by drivers flagrantly ignoring traffic signs through Helmsley and of the amount of litter being scattered on one stretch of the route at East Morton.

And more than 30,000 Leeds fans travelled to London for the League Cup Final between Leeds United and Arsenal.

20 years ago

Retailers in North Yorkshire were bracing themselves for a rush as Britain’s most successful film, The Full Monty, was released on video.

Its distributors predicted that the gritty comedy which starred York-born actor Mark Addy, would eventually top the all-time UK feature film home video chart.

At HMV, Woolworths and Blockbuster Video in York, stockrooms were bursting with extra copies of the hit movie and staff were preparing for crowds eager to get their hands on a copy.

Arrangements for a post-mortem examination were being made to establish what caused the sudden death of Irish comedian Dermot Morgan, who played Father Ted in the hit Channel 4 comedy show.

Tributes were flooding in for one of TV’s best-loved comedy stars, who died just ahead of his 46th birthday after a suffering a suspected heart attack.