Saturday, March 12, 2005

100 years ago: A 17-year-old labourer pleaded not guilty to indecently assaulting a girl at Newport, Howden, but admitted a common assault. The solicitor defending him said the prisoner had received a punishment already in that he had been thrashed, which was interrupted, to which His Lordship said: "Then it was only half a thrashing?" The solicitor replied: "Well, his father received the second half of the thrashing," which received great laughter in the courtroom. His Lordship said a thrashing was the best treatment for youths who did that kind of thing. However, he could not order it, and so he would have to go to prison for three months' hard labour.

50 years ago: The well-worn expression "the good old days" did not bear close scrutiny, according to Mr Nobody, after reading the 17th century writings of Sir Thomas Widdrington, Recorder of York during the reign of Charles I. Sir Thomas suggested that the City Councillors should accept the dedication of his history, to which they said: "Give us leave to tell you that a good purse is more useful to us than a long story." The purse might enable them to "make our river more navigable, re-edify the decayed parts of the city, raise a stock to set up some manufacture and to relieve the poor, into which number we may all of us fall, if some timely course be not taken by which, through God's blessing, this tottering and wasted city may be upheld. York is left alone, situate in a country plentiful for provisions, if the people had money to buy them. Trade is decayed, the river becomes unnavigable by reason of shelves." So enraged was Sir Thomas at this realistic attitude, that not only did he refuse to publish his work, Analecta Eboracensia, but by his will imposed a prohibition on his heirs that it should never be published. The work was finally published in 1897, when the Reverend Caesar Caine edited the book, which had been withheld from the public for nearly 240 years due to the beliefs of a City Council struggling with a depression.

25 years ago: York children were asked to take on the dual role of detectives and town planners, by tracking down waste or derelict sites then devising schemes for them such as gardens or play areas. The scheme aimed to make children more aware of the environment, and to select a site for improvement which was at the time creating a blemish on the environment.

Updated: 15:26 Friday, March 11, 2005