Saturday, October 2, 2004

100 years ago: There was an unrehearsed incident while some Volunteers in the North were firing at the ranges. The marker, after awaiting some time on the Volunteer who had to fire, put out a flag to make an inquiry about the delay but it appeared that as the Volunteer was preparing to fire, a bull came tearing up in a rather menacing attitude, with the result that the shooting men deemed it advisable to take cover. In their hurry to get away, they left their rifles and ammunition behind, and the bull had a complete victory.

50 years ago: Mr Nobody had an unusual visitor, and he didn't mind confessing that he was pleased when it left. This was because the columnist had never been able to summon much enthusiasm for spiders, and this one was "a beauty." It was over an inch long and with legs almost twice that length, although he couldn't bring himself to measure them to be sure, it was found in a consignment of bananas from Brazil delivered to a York firm. He left to readers' imagination the feelings of the workman when he found it, glaring at him, inches from his face, in the ripening shed. Experts described it as - "why of course!" - a banana spider.

25 years ago: The peafowl population in York had increased by two chicks, which could now be seen strutting around the Museum Gardens. Snowy, their mother, had carefully protected them from unwanted visitors, the offspring having already had some narrow escapes avoiding cats, and children keen to capture them as pets. The chicks were expected to spend their lives in the gardens, but York's peafowl were renowned for their adventurous spirit. Staff at the Yorkshire Museum had over the years had reports from the public who had seen the birds riding round on the tops of single decker service buses, although some of the others preferred the more sedate occupation of visiting the kitchen door at Betty's tea rooms.

Updated: 16:38 Friday, October 01, 2004