Saturday, September 4, 2004

100 years ago: A letter had been printed from a doctor wondering why there was no education for the rising generation on the serious and proper subject of infant hygiene, and especially feeding, in the higher classes of public schools. The letter had been shown to the Superintendent of Cookery under the York Council, who wanted to point out to the doctor, and readers, that during the last three years one of the lessons given to the elder girls in the York Cookery Kitchens was on that very subject. It included teaching the girls the importance of a purely milk diet to babies under a year old, perfect cleanliness, management of feeding bottles, avoidance of starchy foods and the reason, importance of regular feeding and preparation of browned flour and of simple foods for older children. The scheme was prepared in the first instance with the assistance of a medical man.

50 years ago: Mr Nobody was surprised to see aubergines, or egg-plants as they are often called, in the window of two York green-grocers recently. In case readers were hazy about what an aubergine looked like, he described it as a pear-shaped vegetable varying in size from that of an egg to a large potato, the most common variety was a deep purple colour although there were white, yellow and crimson aubergines. The columnist had noticed that many of the glossy magazines on interior decoration use egg-plant as a form of decoration instead of the old-fashioned bowls of fruit that used to decorate sideboards. Someone told him that the best way to eat it was peeled, sliced, dipped in batter and fried in boiling fat as an accompaniment to roast beef.

25 years ago: There was an unexpected publicity boost for the National Trust's restoration of Beningbrough Hall near York. A short documentary film on the restoration project at the 18th century hall, was being put on general release by Rank Organisation, as an accompaniment to the full-length feature films. Staff at York were delighted that they would be able to show it on the same bill as the latest James Bond film, Moonraker.

Updated: 16:14 Friday, September 03, 2004