From our archives:

85 years ago

Heavy loss of life and widespread destruction had been caused in Southern California by a series of earthquake tremors.

Figures had shown that over a 130 people had been killed and more than 5,000 injured, after more than 35 shocks hit the coast of America.

Long Beach, Compton, Huntington Park, Watts, and Santa Ana were some of the worst affected areas, with a bill of more than £6 million in damage.

Mr Victor Smith, a young South African airman, appeared to be well on his way to beating Mrs Mollinson’s record flight to the Cape, with a nine-hour lead.

And a new train designed with the capability of relaying 200 yards per hour, or 1,000 yards per day had been sent out on its first run between Welbury and Picton.

50 years ago

Actor Cary Grant, had been wheeled into St John’s Hospital in the New York borough of Queens after being injured in a road accident on the Long Island expressway.

According to the hospital Grant had suffered a broken nose and his companion, Baroness Gratia von Furstenberg had a broken leg, after Grant’s chauffeur-driven limousine had been struck head-on by a truck that jumped the divider between the lanes of the expressway.

With less than a week to Budget Day, the Government had released the latest trade figures. The verdict: desperately disappointing.

A Yorkshire Television film unit had set up position at the Castle Museum, York, to film the programme How We Used to Live, and Malcolm Storey returned to York’s first team after Peter Deighton dropped out.

20 years ago

County Hall top brass had issued an unprecedented public apology to the people of Selby over its handling of the controversial closure of the town’s former toll bridge.

“We made a mess of it,” confessed North Yorkshire County Council’s director of environmental services, Mike Moore.

Men’s magazine FHM was being sued by toy giants Mattel for publishing pictures of its Barbie Ken dolls set-up in sexual positions.

And the mother of the new man in actress Kate Winslet’s life Jim Threapleton, said she was delighted for her 24-year-old North Yorkshire-born son after Oscar-nominated Kate had revealed that she had fallen for the assistant director whilst filming her latest movie Hideous Kinky.