Tuesday, March 14, 2006

100 years ago

Antonio Pierri, manager of a troupe of wrestlers, which included Madrali, known as the "Terrible Turk," pleaded an action for £120 as payment of a troupe of wrestlers for one week, against Barney Armstrong, manager of a theatre. Pierri said that he and his troupe had duly implemented the agreement made with Armstrong but had been refused payment. During his defence Armstrong explained that Madrali was accompanied by a troupe scattered throughout the hall who would arise dramatically in response to the challenge issued on behalf of Madrali. The agreement entered into was on the express condition that he would be allowed to arrange a match between Alec Munroe, the Scottish champion, and Madrali, with the usual conditions - Madrali would allow Munroe to stay ten minutes without endeavouring to secure a fall. Munroe agreed to appear on the understanding that he would only be put down twice within one hour. On coming to Glasgow Pierri declined to allow Madrali to appear, his object being to have the event in London, where a faked match would be arranged to end in a draw with a re-match to take place in Glasgow. Armstrong said that in failing to implement the contract he lost more than the sum sued for.

50 years ago

Seventy-two-year-old Fred Snaith and his sister Annie were once proud of the neat little 14-acre dairy farm, which they owned. But it was currently an eyesore. Fred and Annie were just two of the frustrated band of farmers whose land, bordering Clifton Aerodrome, near York, was taken over by the Air Ministry at the outbreak of war and had now been handed back - looking like a blitzed site. Thousands of pounds would have to be spent on clearing away countless tons of brick, rubble, concrete foundations and hundreds of yards of runways. "It's heartbreaking, the only thing we can hope for is that someone will buy the land to build on," said Miss Snaith. "We shall certainly never see it as pasture land again."

25 years ago

Did anyone fancy an evening of fun and games -- or even a brain-bashing session -- with a batch of microcomputers? The recently formed York Computer Club were holding a Press Night when visitors could test their own skills with computers and see the experts at work. Quite a few people in York now operated home computers. All that was needed was a TV set as a visual display screen -- most modern sets could be adapted without interfering with the normal channels -- a cassette player and the minicomputer keyboard itself. Within weeks it became part of the furniture to be used by all the family whether for space invaders or as an educational tool.

Updated: 08:36 Tuesday, March 14, 2006