Tuesday, October 12, 2004

100 years ago: A tribute was printed to Sir William Harcourt, former MP and son of York, a man whose dignity was counted as his chief characteristic. Sir William's repartees were always pointed, but they were never bitter. Lord Randolph Churchill, according to a biographer, used to relate an incident in which the invective on either side was exceedingly primitive. "I remember once, when I had irritated Harcourt beyond endurance in the House of Commons," said Lord Randolph, "that he leaned forward and called out to me across the floor: 'You little ass!' So I shouted back: 'You _____ fool!' His face was a delighted study. He rose several times, intending to call the Speaker's attention to the expression, but gave it up when he remembered how far from Parliamentary his own language had been. The Speaker afterwards remarked that this was the most highly-condensed debate he had ever sat through."

50 years ago: The land on Knavesmire had undergone changes in the previous few weeks. At one point, land was being ploughed up, and at another every effort was being made to make the grass grow, as ploughing, levelling and reseeding was going on near the racecourse on the Tadcaster Road side. This step was been taken because of subsidence caused by the Royal Show of 1948, and matters were not helped when the land was used for coach parking. The ground would be reseeded in the near future and should be fit for football next season. A different kind of scheme was going on in the paddock at the racecourse. It suffered badly from the heavy rain at the three-day race meeting in August when straw was put down in an attempt to help racegoers walk round in reasonable safety and comfort, and it was also now in need of some help to become pristine again.

25 years ago: A voice which police at the time believed was that of the Yorkshire Ripper rang out round York City's Bootham Crescent, as police extended their search for the killer. Detectives in the city had been asked to play a tape thought to be from the 12-times murderer at public events, as not everybody had heard it being played on local and national radio stations, in the hope that somebody would recognise his Geordie accent. The tape would also be played at York Races.

Updated: 08:32 Tuesday, October 12, 2004