Saturday, October 22, 2005

100 years ago

The schoolroom at Rufforth was crowded, when Mr F G Parton, from the University of Leeds, gave the first of a series of lectures on poultry. The lecturer, in a most interesting and instructive address, dwelt chiefly on the principal characteristics of the three classes of fowls, the non-sitting or table fowl, the layer, and the general-purpose fowl. Much valuable information to the poultry keeper was given on each class, and admirable lantern views illustrated each point in the discourse.

50 years ago

Following complaints of bad behaviour by newcomers to his Church Youth Club, the Rev W P Mason, of St James' Church, Selby, and another Selby vicar had stressed the need for an un-denominational Youth Club in the town. Rev Mason said that new members had smashed furniture, thrown cake about and poured tea over tablecloths, and that the church would have to pay for the damage caused. Such people, he stated, had no place in the Youth organisation unless they could have a club separate from the ordinary Church Youth Club, where they would be subject to special discipline and have special activities. The young people against whom the complaints were made did not belong to the church and he thought the town should run a club for them. The vicar of Selby Abbey said that more than a year before, the Abbey Youth Club had to restrict certain people from membership because they were causing trouble owing to bad behaviour.

25 years ago

K9, Dr Who's devoted doggie, was going to that great big kennel in the sky. The Beeb was pulling out the plug on the mechanical mutt -- because he was too clever for his own good. "He has become an easy way for the scriptwriters to solve any dire situation in which the doctor is placed. For example, if the doctor is locked up K9 will force the door open," was how producer John Nathan-Turner explained the dog's enforced retirement. But then K9's intelligence level had always been a bit of a poser, according to the tin terrier's operator, Nigel Brackley. After all, he argued, a computer like K9 should never let the doctor get into the scrapes he does in the first place. But such arguments had not stopped millions of viewers, both adult and children, from falling for the faithful fido. There was even a waxwork K9, next to the Tom Baker version of Dr Who, at Madame Tussauds.

Updated: 16:33 Friday, October 21, 2005