100 years ago

A Scotsman, wishing to know his fate at once, telegraphed a proposal of marriage to the lady of his choice.

After spending the entire day at the telegraph office he was finally rewarded late in the evening by an affirmative answer. “If I were you,” suggested the operator, when he delivered the message, “I’d think twice before I’d marry a girl that kept me waiting all day for my answer.”

“Na, na,” retorted the Scot. “The lass who waits for the night rates is the lass for me.”

50 years ago

Mr Angus Ogilvy would be remembered by all who saw the Royal wedding as the bridegroom who never stopped smiling. Angus was determined not to be the bashful groom, and even though Princess Alexandra was a minute or so late arriving at Westminster Abbey, he was unruffled.

While the 2000-strong congregation stood waiting for her, Mr Ogilvy, self-possessed and confident, just smiled and chatted with his best man, Mr Peregrine Fairfax. This was a fairytale wedding, but the princess was no fairytale princess. She was the friendly, fun-loving, practical product of a democratic age. Bells peeled out joyously as the couple left the Abbey arm-in-arm. The crowd roared a welcome as their glass coach came into sight, wheeling round from the West door of the Abbey.

The BBC’s new streamlined method of covering a big national event came off remarkably well. The effect was of one smooth operation instead of a jigsaw of bits and pieces hastily put together. Instead of the five commentators the BBC had at Princess Margaret’s wedding, they had only one – Richard Dimbleby – sitting in front of a bank of monitor screens in a soundproof box in the Abbey.

25 years ago

York Green Party had called for better facilities for the 29 per cent of York’s commuters who cycled to and from work.

Jim McCallum, Green Party candidate for Bishophill, called for a range of initiatives for cyclists in the city including cycle hire for residents and visitors and more cycle routes. He said: “Given that 56 per cent of people said in a recent traffic survey that they thought York had too much traffic and 52 per cent of York households had no car, investing in better facilities for cyclists makes sense.

Ideally more people would cycle, reducing noise and atmospheric pollution, fossil fuel consumption and ill-health.” He said warning signs to motorists to expect cycle traffic should be provided together with well-signposted cycle routes into and across York. “It is time to recognise the crucial role of the bicycle in the life of our city and to accord it a higher priority.”