Way we were

100 years ago

By the appointment of Sir George Gibb as successor to the late Mr Yerkes in the management of the Underground Railways of London, the North-Eastern Railway lost one of the most brilliant organisers, and one of the greatest railway administrators of the day. Sir George was to undertake not only the managing responsibility of the Underground Electric Railways Company, but he would also become Deputy Chairman and managing director of the Metropolitan District Railway. His resignation from the post of general manager of the North-Eastern Railway would be received with regret by directors and shareholders alike, for by his policy he had done much in the interests of the company. Efficiency was Sir George Gibb's watchword, and he went to his new post at a most interesting stage in the history of London underground and electric traction. In the Metropolis the problem of rapid transit was one of the most perplexing. Sir George had already expressed his views on the requirements of London traffic. He spoke of the desirability of a "constant service of trains, say at two or one and a half minute intervals on all the tube railways, and of securing the best possible connections of suburban trains with the trains on the tube railways by interchange stations."

50 years ago

Half of England and part of Wales were blanketed by fog. An Automobile Association spokesman said that conditions were the worst since the "killer smog" which blackened out London in December 1952. Traffic was affected in 28 counties and fog covered a total area of 25,000 square miles. Road traffic slowed to a crawl, trains were delayed, shipping held up, and all flying at London Airport halted. Blackout conditions with nil visibility had been reported from a number of places. The heaviest concentrations were round Birmingham. Before their morning news broadcasts, the BBC asked people living in foggy areas to burn only coke or smokeless fuel on their fires and not to bank them up. In the Thames Valley area thousands of motorists were recovering their cars that they had abandoned overnight.

25 years ago

Radio Moscow "jammed" a sermon preached in a York church. A programme in Russian came over loudspeakers at Southlands Methodist Church during morning service. Mr Ron Dodd, a local preacher, of Lidgett Grove Methodist Church, found himself in competition with effects beyond his control. Southlands had its own studio, Southlands Tape Communications Group, which amplified and recorded services. But the equipment sometimes picked up radio signals and messages from passing taxis. "There's nothing we can do to cut out the interference without going to a lot of expense," said one of the group, Mr John Whitworth.

Updated: 15:19 Wednesday, January 04, 2006