Tuesday, December 21, 2004

100 years ago: The Lord Mayor of York sitting at the Police Court dealt with a man who had having been unfortunate enough to be unemployed, found work through the Labour Bureau, but spent his earnings in over-indulgence in alcohol. The Lord Mayor made an example of him, meting out severe punishment, although he also took pains to make it known that it was not his intention to cast an aspersion on the general body of those who have been unfortunate enough to fall upon evil times in this period of trade depression. This was the first case of its kind, and it was hoped that it would be the last, as such offences were "unpardonable." The Lord Mayor added that it was all very well for a man to take his refreshment now and again, but let him take it moderately and not to such an extent that he falls foul of the law and has to confess that he remembers nothing of the circumstances. The article did not record the nature of the punishment handed down.

50 years ago: A Selby man walked into a pub looking pale and frightened, and told friends: "I have had a terrific shock, I have just seen a flying saucer." He had been standing by his garden gate at about 8pm, when his attention was attracted to the sky. "It was a very bright, orange coloured light and it was flashing in and out like a pedestrian crossing beacon," he said, "but it was not a plane, as the flashing was too slow and there was no noise from it. It was certainly not a shooting star. Judging from the speed of a Sabre jet, this light must have been travelling four times as fast, at about 3,000 miles an hour. Then it faded as it went towards the coast. I have never seen anything shift so fast in all my life," the frightened man concluded.

25 years ago: The battle to save one of York's oldest and best known pubs, The Board Inn on High Petergate, was lost after the City Council's Development Services Sub-Committee approved plans to change the 15th-century building into a shop. Ground floor alterations had already been made because of structural deterioration, and now very high estimates for more work to be done meant that owners Bass North Ltd did not feel they could justify keeping it open as a pub. The old pub, often known as The Hole In The Wall, was closed in May of last year after structural cracks were found.

Updated: 16:33 Monday, December 20, 2004