Friday, August 12, 2005

100 years ago

Work on Scarborough's Marine Drive was progressing. A 1,851-feet long stone dyke wall had been built and appeared to have admirably answered its purpose of stopping the boulders which fell from the cliff during the severe trial it had had in the previous month when the contractors were engaged in getting stone from the top of the cliff for the purpose of the wall. The building of the extra gullies was well in hand, and considerable progress had been made with the pitching of the surface of the roadway. The pointing up of the blocks with open joints on the bag section and the finishing of the top of the wall at this junction with the East Pier had been done. The committee had agreed to pay £500 to the Gas Company to fix gas mains and lamps on the Marine Drive.

50 years ago

Radio-Iodine used in tests on 400 patients had thrown new light on the functions of the human body and might help to provide a cure for excessive fatness, it was disclosed in Geneva. Two Canadian doctors reported on the tests to the International Conference on the peaceful uses of atomic energy. Their report said that the result provided "Strong clinical evidence for a connection between the salivary and thyroid gland systems." Doctors had long known that there was a connection between obesity and the activity of the thyroid gland, but the knowledge that the thyroid and salivary gland systems were linked was new. Doctors stated there was no immediate significance in the discovery, but they expected it to open up new possibilities for investigation into the cure of fatness.

25 years ago

A pricing system at several York petrol stations had been condemned as "nonsense". The criticism came from motoring organisation officials. Under the decimal-point system motorists could be asked to pay 132.9p for a gallon of four star. If they bought ten gallons it would be only lp cheaper than if the price had been 133p. The system was perfectly legal as long as the decimal-point figure was not less than half the height of the main figures. The system, however, did not have the blessing of the Motor Agents' Association. Mr Ted Gilbert, the association's regional director, based in York, said: "It may be that 134.9 was a bit better than 135 down the road but, to be sensible about it, the whole thing was a lot of nonsense."

Updated: 08:46 Friday, August 12, 2005