100 years ago

It was notorious that the wisdom of the so-called insane frequently compounded that of the wise.

A short time before, two Borderers were walking by the high boundary wall of a well-known South of Scotland institution for the feeble-minded when they were hailed by an inmate whom they recognised as a native of their town.

Perched on the top of the wall, with a pipe in his hand, he requested a match, adding that he had not had a smoke for weeks. They replied that they would gladly give him a match, but they did not see how they were to get it up that height.

"Dear me," he remarked, as if astonished at their impotence, and, pointing to the potato field on their side of the wall, he added – “Stick it in a tattie”.

They did so, threw it over, and passed on with the melancholic reflection that there were men of greater intellectual ability on the wrong side of that wall!

50 years ago

A quiet revolution was taking place in the naming of our streets. Those responsible were getting quite lyrical in their search for names to match the cosy all-mod-con affluence of our new estates.

Street, of course was unthinkable, Avenue, which had been so popular, also seemed to be out. Drive was still in but really smart people lived in a Close, Paddock, Covert, or Glade.

We were reminded of this by the list of street names for the Foxwood Hill Estate which had been recommended by York City Council’s Streets and Buildings Committee.

The names were Otterwood Lane, Otterwood Bank, Forrester's Walk, Huntsman’s Walk, Beechwood Glade, Cedarwood Close, Beagle Ridge Drive, Firheath Close, Deerhill Close, Maplewood Paddock, and Thornwood Covert.

25 years ago

A man was badly injured when he leapt from York Minster’s South Transept while being led away by a policeman.

He plunged 20ft on to a sloping roof, and then slid for 15ft until stopped by a gutter. Firemen rescued the man by using a turntable ladder. He was stretchered off the roof in a tricky five-minute operation, with the ladder operating in slow motion.

The man was taken to York district Hospital with back injuries. First reports were that his legs were paralysed as he lay in the gutter. The drama started when a watchful admissions clerk alerted York Minster Police to the man because he appeared to be upset before going up to the Central Tower.

The man had been loitering on the walkway before a policeman was sent to talk to him. He had walked with the policeman towards the tower entrance but just before they reached the door the man wrenched free and leapt over the knee-high parapet.