Monday, May 16, 2005

100 years ago

A somewhat novel contest was to take place at Tadcaster. The Parish Council had eight applicants for the vacant position of bellman, and the question was to be decided in a practical way. Together with the members of the parish council, the contestants would repair to the allotment gardens, from the low end of which the contestants would in turn "call" out a notice. The councillors, at the other end, would then decide on the "shouting" powers of the men.

50 years ago

Danny Kaye, considered by many to be one of the greatest entertainment personalities of our time, was to feature at the London Palladium for a six-week variety season. This would be his first variety appearance in England since 1951, when he had had a successful eight-week season at the London Palladium. His first appearance in England was in February, 1948, for what was originally planned to be a four-week stay, but he was so successful that he stayed for a further two weeks. In 1949 he appeared at the Palladium for six weeks, followed by one-week visits to Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. He was the first entertainer to fly the Atlantic specially to appear in a Royal Command variety performance in 1948.

25 years ago

Many children had stopped staying for school dinners in North Yorkshire since the price of a meal rose to 50p. After a check on every school in the county it had become apparent that the overall number of pupils staying for meals had dropped by more than 30 per cent. Ken Chapman, senior education officer, special services, for the county council, said the percentage was an overall average and there was considerable variation between each school. The survey took place a week after the beginning of the summer term to assess the response to the dearer meals, which had gone up from 35p to 50p at the start of the term. Brian Male, secretary of the North Yorkshire branch of the National Union of Teachers, was concerned that the county's education committee might be tempted to save money by cutting back on the number of ancillary workers - kitchen staff and meals supervisors - on the basis of the survey. He believed the survey might have been taken too soon after the price rise to give an accurate indication of a trend, as after previous increases the number of meals being served started to go up again after a few weeks.

Updated: 09:26 Monday, May 16, 2005