100 years ago

An inquest had been held on Lt Hugh Frederick Treebe, of the 1st Battalion West Riding Regiment, who had recently been killed by falling with a Maurice Farman biplane at the Central Flying School, Upavon.

The coroner said that as there had been other fatal accidents in the neighbourhood, he deemed it necessary to have a very close and careful inquiry. Commandant Paine stated that the deceased, who had secured his Aero Club certificate on a Bristol biplane at Brooklands the previous November, had been flying aero machines until March 6th, when he was transferred to another corps, which used Maurice Farman machines. He had been reported as a very good aero pilot.

There were 36 machines at the school of different types, all up-to-date machines. Lt Babington, RN, who had witnessed the accident, expressed the opinion that the deceased, in banking his machine, lost his flying power, which caused it to fall. A verdict of accidental death was returned.

 

50 years ago

There was “something” in Loch Ness. An expedition in June the previous year, led by Mr David James, Conservative MP for Kemptown division, Brighton, to solve the mystery of Loch Ness, had photographed on two occasions “some ¬thing” which corresponded with what had been reported in the Loch for many years.

This, said Mr James, was the main conclusion reached by a panel of experts who examined the evidence provided by the expedition. Two professional zoologists would go no further than suggest it was a phenomenon, but two other members of the panel concluded they had photographed a living creature in the Loch.

 

25 years ago

The secret was out after 75 years - many Brownies did not like their uniform. Now, with the Brownies past and present gathering in London to celebrate the founding of the movement in 1914, leading designer Jeff Banks was about to unveil his redesigned uniform for the girls.

The existing uniform, the distinctive but boring brown dress, yellow tie and brown woolly hat, had remained virtually unchanged since shortly after the Brownies were launched. Mr Banks had been given carte blanche to come up with new look uniforms for Brownies, Guides and Rangers and had come up with two Brownie uniforms, one a functional tracksuit and the other fairly similar to the existing one.

The designer, who was giving his services free, had carried out extensive market research, consulted current and former Brownies and had even had some tips from his own daughter, Gracie, a former Brownie.