THE world was a very different place when the Queen acceded to the throne. Georgian Britain became Elizabethan Britain 50 years ago this week, and although it was the dawning of a new age, it was too soon for the nation to come to terms with the fact.

That becomes clear from reading the special issue of the Yorkshire Evening Press on February 6, 1952, which reported the death of King George VI.

Leaving aside that momentous news for a moment, the rest of the paper is a testament to a time when Britain was still recovering from the ravages of war. The 1960s, beat music and the permissive society seem centuries away.

The advertisements are as evocative of the era as the editorial. Redmans of Bridge Street was advertising "real coconut cake flour" for one shilling and four pence; Boyes, "the store on the bridge" had a special offer on cream flannelette sheets, at 23s 6d; and Lorranes, the Colliergate hair salon, was asking "why not form a perm club?".

In the news columns, York readers were told of the "Seeds For Britain" campaign. As a "gesture of friendship", 100,000 packets of vegetable and flower seeds were sent here from the US.

There were items on Whitby's housing allocation, the coal output from the North Eastern mines, and the execution at Leeds Prison of a Huddersfield poultry farmer, convicted of murdering a policeman.

To modern eyes, this Britain seems like an anachronism. But this was the country that Elizabeth II inherited, aged just 25.

Most of the paper was, of course, dominated by news of the King's passing. A heavy smoker, he had been suffering from lung cancer. He died of a heart attack in his sleep. He was 56, and in the 16th year of his reign.

The Evening Press reported that "the whole nation and Commonwealth was stunned by the news which was announced from Sandringham at 10.45am".

Princess Elizabeth became Queen, and immediately flew home from Nairobi, which she was visiting as part of a Commonwealth tour with Prince Philip.

Organised entertainment ended on news of the King's death. The BBC, after carrying the official announcement, closed down. Theatres across Britain shut for the night. All racing was abandoned.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill headed a special meeting of the Cabinet to make the necessary constitutional arrangements.

Also preparing to meet were the Accession Council and the Privy Council, to prepare for the proclamation of the new sovereign.

The Evening Press paid generous tribute to the monarch who only became king after his elder brother, Edward VIII, abdicated.

"He came suddenly and unexpectedly to responsibilities 'from which even an archangel might shrink', he carried his throne through a scourging conflict, he bore his long personal sufferings in silence."

The special edition also carried a feature on the King's associations with York. "A visit by the King and Queen to the Royal Show when it was held on Knavesmire in 1948 was the culmination of his long interest in York, which began when he was made a Freeman of the city in 1920, not long after the Royal Dukedom had been bestowed upon him."

After being made a Freeman, he said those famous words: "The history of York is the history of England."

During the 1948 visit, tens of thousands of people cheered the King and Princess Margaret as they made their way along Station Road to the Castle Museum.

After his death, the body of George VI lay in state in Westminster Hall.

On the first day 25,000 people waited in a blizzard before the great doors swung open and allowed them to file past the coffin in silence.

On the second day, a woman from York was the first in the queue, taking her place at 5am.

The funeral took place nine days after the King's death.

Thousands of people, who had waited on the streets of London through a bitter night, watched in silence as the cortege took the body of George VI from the Hall of Kings in Westminster to its resting place with other British monarchs in the 400-year-old shrine of St George's Chapel.

York marked the day with its own solemn ceremonies. A two-minute silence at 2pm, was observed; the police even stopped the traffic to ensure total quiet.

For half an hour before the memorial service in the Minster, the muffled tones of Big Peter pealed out.

A requiem was sung by the Minster choir as the State procession through London began.

Lord Lieutenants of the three Yorkshire Ridings were at the service, along with the Lord Mayor of York, Alderman John Kaye and the rest of the civic party.

Before it began, the Lord Mayor made the official proclamation before a large crowd gathered outside the Mansion House. He then toasted the Queen with a 17th-century gold loving cup - valued at the time at £10,000 - before calling for three cheers for Her Majesty.

Goodramgate florist Mr R Nutbrown had been commissioned by the Corporation to make a wreath to send from York to Windsor Castle.

It was a work of art, four feet in diameter comprised of orchids, lilies of the valley, hyacinths, arum lilies and white carnations.

York had also sent her own representatives to the funeral, including Army leaders of the Northern Command, a police officer and a fireman.

The King would be remembered with affection, the Evening Press said that day.

"Remembered as a Briton who believed in his country, in its strong fibre, its resilience, in its past and - surpassingly - in its future...

"Remembered as a King who married for love when heavier and unsuspected cares were far from him, and who found in his wife a Queen...

"Remembered as a father who raised, with that Queen, a family to gladden, deep down, the fundamental heart of the world.

"A family, one of whose members now testifies to his most skilful tutelage as Our Sovereign Lady, the Queen of England."

Updated: 10:19 Monday, February 04, 2002