From our archives:

85 years ago

Richmond was mourning the loss of one the North’s most famous personalities from the world of Turf, Mr Robert John Bourke. A keen hunting man in his younger days, Mr Bourke was one of the last of an old school of sportsmen and would be remembered for his scarlet jacket, which he wore with a yellow belt and black cap. Yarm Fair had opened under more favourable conditions then of previous years with trade from all over the country arriving at the old town to sell their wares. In the past a special court, known as the pie powder court, had been held at Yarm during the fair to deal with rogues and vagabonds caught thieving or fighting. This year, it was gypsies who were attracting all the attention with their picturesque attire. And a stained-glass window dedicated to the memory of Mr and Mrs William A Wood, at Haxby Church had been unveiled thanks to Knowles and Son Ltd, of York.

50 years ago

Jacqueline Kennedy, the 39-year-old widow of the assassinated US President, had joined billionaire Aristotle Onassis as they hurried off to his private island in the Ionian seas for their marriage and honeymoon. An Athens news agency report, quoting “local sources,” said the couple would be married later today on Skorpios. However, the powerful Mr Onassis had managed to get a ban on all newsmen attending the happy event. Two York women, both employed by Rowntree and Co Ltd, had received the gold award from the National Blood Transfusion Service for giving 50 donations of blood. They were Miss Edna Gibson, and Mrs Hilda Holmes, bringing York’s total of gold medallists to 17.

20 years ago

England’s coach Glenn Hoddle was at the centre of a new storm after captain Alan Shearer reportedly led a dressing room mutiny, speaking out against England’s lacklustre 3-0 win against Luxembourg. And sweet firm Trebor Bassett had been fined £2,000 by magistrates in York after admitting putting too much synthetic colouring in a cola-flavoured chew. The Pascall Kol-ang bar which had been purchased by a standard officer on a routine visit to a York sweet shop had been tested and found to contain nearly twice the maximum level of colouring.