Monday, August 16, 2004

100 years ago: A cyclist coming in from Strensall one evening was punctured with a tin tack, and upon alighting he found a score or more scattered about. They had not been accidentally dropped, for they covered quite a considerable area. His experience was not peculiar, as the paper had received two or three "growls" from cyclists at a rally on the same subject. Poppleton Road was another area reported to be dangerous, although here broken glass took the place of tin tacks. A writer blamed boys for this adding: "A good birching - if they could but be caught - would do them the world of good."

50 years ago: Crack jockeys from the Malton and Wetherby racing stables would be relaxing on Ebor day by riding donkeys. They had agreed to take part in a Donkey Derby which the licensee of the Ebor Hotel, Bishopthorpe, arranged in aid of St Andrew's Hall Building Fund. He was something on an expert in this field, having raised about £2,000 for charity at six similar Derbys, but this one, to be run in a field at the back of the hotel, was his last. "I'm thinking of charity-racing next," he said. "Jockeys dressed in white sheets, like the Romans, driving donkey-carts. It ought to be quite an attraction." Crowds of between 8,000 and 10,000 had turned up for the races he has arranged in the past. To mark his retirement from donkey racing with a flourish, the landlord donated a cup to be won in the Jockey Championship Stakes.

25 years ago: With less than 150 shopping days to Christmas, two local restaurants were advertising in the Evening Press, urging customers to book their Christmas dinners now. The company that supplied York's major chain stores reported that they had already sold out of frozen turkeys, their order books being full with orders for their two million oven-ready birds, something that normally didn't happen until October.

Updated: 08:46 Monday, August 16, 2004