Saturday, March 20, 2004

100 years ago: York Police Court dealt with a man summoned for being disorderly and refusing to quit the Britannia Inn, Heworth, when asked to do so. The defendant allegedly told the landlord a witness would pay for his drink, to which the witness replied: "I say, there'll be time enough for that when I ask you to have a pint." The witness told the court: "He used awful language. I asked him three times to stop it, and as he didn't I gave him a smack on the nose." The Lord Mayor asked: "did that stop him?" The witness replied: "no sir, it did not." The defendant interjected at this point: "you struck me twice," the witness agreeing: "Oh yes, I gave him another," which started people in the court laughing. The Lord Mayor then asked the landlord: "did you think (the witness) had had a little drop too much?" provoking more laughter, which intensified when the landlord replied: "Oh no sire, he was drinking aerated water." The Lord Mayor said: "That accounts for it, then," and the entire courtroom erupted in laughter, except the defendant, who was found guilty and fined 10s plus costs.

50 years ago: Judging by the number of coins found during excavations in York, the Romans and others were very careless with their money, according to columnist Mr Nobody. The Keeper of the Yorkshire Museum found many Roman coins during excavations at St Mary's Abbey. One find, however, told the story of a more recent excavation. A gentleman called Dr Wellbeloved had dug the site in 1828, and left his mark by dropping an 1806 coin while he was finding Roman ones.

10 years ago: York MP Hugh Bayley opened the first York Science Festival in Parliament Street. In his address he recounted how many political decisions were about how society uses science, and used examples of local issues such as the contaminated land at Heworth car park and water fluoridation, and national decisions about mad cow disease.

Updated: 10:31 Saturday, March 20, 2004