Wednesday, June 30, 2004

100 years ago: A new landmark made had appeared in York, 140 feet above the city. The weather vane on the highest turret of the North-Eastern Railway Company's new office was said to typify "in a very happy and ingenious manner" the prominent position which York occupied as a railway centre. It took the form of a representation of a railway locomotive, made of hammered copper with a hollow centre, strong enough to stand the severest gale. The engine measured six feet in length, and stood on a rail of about 12 feet, which projected in front of the engine, and not only pointed the direction of the wind by means of a bold spear head with a scroll underneath, but helped to balance the vane on the top of the rod. A curious feature of this "novel and appropriate" weather vane was the realistic representation of smoke issuing from the funnel at the front of the engine.

50 years ago: There's not a lot one can do in a lunch hour, according to Mr Nobody, but an 18-year-old man from Stamford Bridge found time the previous week to eat a good farmhouse meal and shoot an otter, earning him the gratitude of hundreds of fishermen who spend their leisure hours near the village on the banks of the River Derwent. They alleged that the otter had claimed more fish than their well-baited hooks, although Mr Nobody did ask whether that was just a disgruntled fisherman's story, if so they could no longer blame the "black shadow" for their poor catches.

25 years ago: Columnist Pressman continued to highlight abuses of the English language, a favourite hobbyhorse of his. The latest target was York Waterworks Company, who had issued a list of water rates for various premises, and instead of calling a house a house, they called it a domestic hereditament, which he thought was unnecessary.

Updated: 09:48 Wednesday, June 30, 2004