From our archives:

85 years ago

One of the worst storms for 40 years had swept the East Coast, after huge seas, swept along by wind reaching a velocity of 60 miles an hour, swept over the piers at Whitby, Scarborough and Bridlington. One heavy gust had wrecked the glass roof of the fish quay and washed three small cobbles out to sea. The damage was however not just confined to the North, the strength of the gale had also been felt in Lowestoft. And Betty, the youngest patient in York County Hospital, sucked contentedly at her feeding bottle while the memorial cot in which she laid was comfortably presented and dedicated by Mr Reginald Hunt. Tucked up in warm clothes and covered with a pretty blue eiderdown she had little interest in the short but simple service.

50 years ago

Russia had launched its first manned spaceship for 18 months. The spacecraft, Soyuz-3, was identical with Zond V which the Russians clearly wished to test as it was similar to one in which a cosmonaut was killed. In Cornwall, crowds had gathered to watch lorry driver Derek Heath, set out from Falmouth Cornwall, in thick fog, to cross the Atlantic in a 12-foot dinghy. Armed with enough provisions, mostly dried foods, to last 30 days and a small gas stove, Mr Heath started to row his dinghy out of harbour straight after the Lord Mayor gave the start sign. And York Theatre Royal’s redevelopment fund was still £47,000 short of its £60,000 target. According to the chairman of the theatre’s board of governors Mr Geoffrey Fox, this was “terribly disappointing,” unfortunately it had clashed with the Minster appeal which had been launched at the same time.

20 years ago

The search was on for a “little angel” to help switch on York’s Christmas lights. The special boy or girl would also be the VIP guest of Lord Mayor, Coun Derek Smallwood, at the official switch-on in Parliament Street. Mothers, fathers and grandparents could pick up a form at the Lendal post office to nominate a deserving child and raise cash for the city’s Christmas lights appeal at the same time. And Home Office minister Kate Hoey had reaffirmed that North Yorkshire Police will be one of the first to receive a new communication system in Britain.