Thursday, October 20, 2005

100 years ago

The Evening Press columnist, in his review of York, observed the spread and development of its suburbs. One instance of York's extension was the building of terraces on the road towards York at Haxby which had so progressed, that one might be forgiven imagining the time when York and Haxby would be connected with a road that had no fields on either side, despite there being four miles separating the two. There was very little news to record from the suburbs it being a time of year when matters were very quiet in the villages. Harvest had quite concluded, and all that remained to be done in the fields was to gather potatoes and wurzels, and these operations were giving employment to large numbers of Irish people, mostly women.

50 years ago

Nylon had been adopted for more than 200 purposes since 1948, when it first became available to Britain in commercial quantities. One of its most recent developments was as upholstery for cars. Many leading British car manufacturers had been investigating its possibilities for some time, and some were ready to incorporate it in production models. Nylon upholstery could give a great variety of styles. It could be produced in many bright, clear colours, and had long life and durability. One of its advantages was its coolness in hot weather. One car had already been produced with blue, golden brown or two-tone grey nylon upholstery as an alternative to leather.

25 years ago

There was £5,900 to be won in this week's Mark the Ball competition. Competitors were required to look at the picture of the football match shown in the coupon and test their skill using their knowledge and judgment of the game; the ball had been erased from the picture. Taking account of the position of the players it was necessary to mark with a ballpoint pen on the picture where you thought the centre of the ball was. The competitor who marked the exact centre of the ball would receive the weekly prize plus the week's jackpot, currently £5,300. If there were more than one correct entry the £400 would be shared equally. Because no competitor had won the weekly prize on mark the ball the previous week the £200 prize money would be added to this week's weekly prize making a total of £400, for this week only. The Sportsman's Bonus of £100 would be paid to the best entry received from the Saturday Sports Press in addition to any other prizes that might be won. Entry fees were as follows, 20 crosses 15p, 30 crosses 20p, 40 crosses 25p, and 60 crosses 35p

Updated: 15:36 Wednesday, October 19, 2005