100 years ago

The “Echo de Paris” had published the following amusing anecdote concerning the methods which were sometimes used by French soldiers to communicate with the enemy in the trenches opposite them.

“What we do,” said a machine gun corporal who told the tale, “when we want to give the Germans our views on things in general, is to catch a live rabbit and put our message in a tin box, which we tie to the animal’s body, and then start it with a fillip on its journey to the enemy’s lines.

"As the animal leaps forward a tin box makes such a noise that it rouses the Bosches from their lethargy. They lie in wait for ‘Brer Rabbit,’ delighted at the thought of fresh meat for dinner, and when they have caught him and opened the box they find our message which, of course, only conveys an account of our successes.

"They immediately show us their bad temper by a vicious rifle fire, to which we reply by some good work with our quick firers.”
 

50 years ago

The Daleks were on the move again – in a new six-part Dr Who serial. And it was on the move literally, for the mechanical beings from space with the waving antennae and monotone voices would move about far more than they had done in the previous Dr Who serial.

Producer Verity Lambert said: “This has been the most complicated and most exciting serial we have ever done. Viewers will see the Daleks in some very familiar situations, such as Westminster Bridge, the Embankment and Trafalgar Square.”

For London in the year 2000 was the setting for the new serial, and the Daleks had invaded the Earth so that they could burrow through to the centre and steal the magnetic core. The Daleks, created by scriptwriter Terry Nation, had been a hit with viewers of all ages.
 

25 years ago

The US space agency has given details to President Bush’s vision of American outposts on the moon and Mars by envisaging four humans arriving on the red planet in 2011 and returning for a 600-day stay in 2018.

The study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration contained no cost estimates, but Richard Darman, director of the US Office of Management and Budget, had put the price tag of going to Mars at 400 billion dollars.

“We will not stop at the moon,” said the report, “because the imperative to explore will lead men and women to Mars. The planet most like earth, Mars offers many unique scientific opportunities, but perhaps the most intriguing question is whether life exists or has ever existed on Mars.”