Saturday, April 10, 2004

100 years ago: The Dean and Chapter of York Minster put on public view the unique collection of Bibles and scriptural manuscripts that belong to the Minster Library. For two hours the vestry thronged, and great interest was exhibited in the priceless collection which the Minster is fortunate to possess, and the like of which could probably not be seen elsewhere. The Bibles and manuscripts were neatly arranged, the rarer ones in glass cases, in the vestry, and the Dean and Canon Watson kindly gave explanations to visitors, many of whom expressed great delight at the treasures they were privileged to see.

50 years ago: Columnist John Blunt asked if readers' gas or electricity meter reader doffed his hat politely when he called. The question was put to seven of his colleagues, and if their answers were anything to go by, he thought it most unlikely that meter readers treated the public with due courtesy. Of the seven people he asked, six declared no, and the other one replied "some do," so the local woman who complained about a boorish North-Eastern Gas Board reader was probably not the only housewife rankled by the "hats on" brigade. Five times she requested the visiting worthy to remove his hat. Not only was she refused, but she was told of the occasion when the meter reader had his hat knocked off by a sensitive customer. "Am I foolishly thin-skinned?" asked the housewife. Certainly not, madam, replied the columnist, wishing there were more people like her.

10 years ago: Visitors would soon be able to visit North Yorkshire's very own "mousehole." The Mouseman visitor centre, at the workshops of the Thompson wood craftsman family at Kilburn, was nearing completion. The workshops were set up by the furniture maker Robert Thompson in the 1920s, and the company, along with its carved mouse trademark, had achieved international fame. The new centre would depict the story of Robert Thompson and furniture making, and visitors would have the chance to see craftsmen at work. The Mouseman, as he was known, adopted the mouse motif after overhearing a craftsman speaking of being as poor as a church mouse.

Updated: 10:51 Saturday, April 10, 2004