Friday, October 14, 2005

100 years ago

A case of interest to teachers in elementary schools came before the Malton Bench, when Miss Annie Elizabeth Nelson, headmistress of the village school at Barton le Street, was charged with assaulting a scholar named Jane Elizabeth Sandeman, ten years of age. It was alleged that because the girl could not do a sum the mistress struck her on each hand and the knuckles with a pointer, and then gave her several blows on the back, also with the pointer. For the defence, evidence was given that the girl, who was in the fourth standard, had failed to do a third standard sum, and became insolent to the teacher, who admitted smacking her on the back but not on the knuckles. The blows were not hard. The Chairman said the Bench thought the instrument used was not a proper one, but they deemed the punishment moderate, and dismissed the case.

50 years ago

A gaily-coloured pyjama suit, so intent on disguising itself that it did not look like night wear at all, was ideal for TV watchers. With brightly striped drainpipe slacks, and a green sloppy shirt top trimmed with a matching striped scarf collar, the whole outfit in spun rayon cost only 39s 11d. A neat feature was the little toggle ring, which held the scarf ties in place. This and many other novel, useful or economic items, were being shown all week in a parade of Lingerie and Corsetry by Gossard, Kayser Bondor, and other well-known firms at Leak and Thorp Ltd.

25 years ago

A new, small, family hatchback car the Mini Metro went on sale from over 1,800 Austin Morris dealers and distributors throughout the UK. Demand for this supermini had already presented some problems. People were going to have to wait to take delivery until the projected 6,000-plus a week Metros rolled regularly off the assembly lines. However, it had to be worth it, considering the Metro HLE had better fuel consumption figures at 56 mph and 75 mph than those of any car listed in the European official tables. An AA test confirmed a spectacular 83 mpg at 30 mph, and 62 mpg at 50 mph! The Metro had to be the most space-effective volume production car available in this country. It was easily the shortest in its class, yet equalled or bettered all its rivals on total interior space. The mini Metro was the first volume production car in the world to go to 12,000-mile annual service intervals. The list price of the cars ranged from £2,484 for the Mini Metro to £3,448 for the Mini Metro HLS.

Updated: 12:44 Thursday, October 13, 2005