Way we were

100 years ago: The "Spanish prisoner" who fleeced a local man to the extent of £140, made an attempt to bamboozle a well-known licensed victualler in Beverley, but the latter had too much Yorkshire instinct about him to be "had" in so thinly-veiled a fashion. He received a letter bearing a Spanish postmark, informing him that the writer had married a relative of his who had died, leaving him with a teenage daughter who was entitled to £37,000 under her mother's will. The documents relating thereto were in a secret drawer in a portmanteau, which had been stolen, and it was to ransom it that the writer asked for a few pounds. The recipient of the letter was asked to supply this, and promised that if he adopted the child, the £37,000 should be his. The "bait," however, failed, as the writer presumed too much upon the credulity of his so-called marriage relative, who was sufficiently wide aware not to trust the stranger, no matter how specious his promises might be.

50 years ago: After bemoaning the demise of hats, Mr Nobody moved onto frockcoats. One London firm used to receive many orders for them, for shop-walkers and maitres d'hotel, but nowadays such orders were rare and the firms' cutters looked to a glorious past and a gloomy future. This cry of "we are letting the old crafts die out" was echoed in every age - for example it was only about 100 years previously that the lacemakers raised a hullaballoo because it was decreed that Army uniform should not make use of lace any more. But men and women continued to be employed in other jobs and new crafts sprang up, replacing the lost arts, and so the columnist assured the tailors and cutters and the other 20th century craftsmen that there was hope for them yet.

25 years ago: When an Alne gardener declared he could grow the biggest pumpkin in the district, growers at neighbouring Tollerton took up the challenge. A show was arranged for the next month at the Black Horse, Tollerton, but the application for extended drinking hours for the big event posed magistrates with a problem. The police had no real objections to the extension. "But one must ask the question, is a pumpkin show a special occasion?" they said The magistrate did not make a specific ruling, but he did grant the licence.

Updated: 13:56 Friday, September 10, 2004