Wednesday, January 11, 2006

100 years ago

The scene within the walls of the York Mansion House the previous evening was of the most brilliant description. Each year that the Lord Mayor (Alderman Vernon Wragge) and his Lady Mayoress had occupied the Mansion House, they had delighted the hearts of a large number of the young people of the city by giving two entertainments. The first took the form of a party for children aged four to nine years old, and the second a fancy dress ball for those aged nine to sixteen. The latter had taken place the previous night, when nearly 300 young guests received a hearty welcome by the Lord Mayor, wearing Court dress, and the Lady Mayoress. Dancing immediately commenced, comprising a selection of Polkas, Waltzes, Barn Dances, Lancers, a Two step and Galops, concluded by God Save the King. The evening was complemented with a supper served in the dining room where the tables had been tastefully adorned with flowers.

50 years ago

Would we soon be cooking with high frequency currents and tuning-in to a frequency designed to cook a leg of lamb in a turn? For the first time, the Yorkshire branch of the British Interplanetary Society was to devote a meeting to the reading of three short papers on subjects of wide variety. The first of these was entitled "High Frequency Cooking." This dealt with food preparation in the shortest possible time, with the minimum of effort and utensils, by the use of high frequency currents.

25 years ago

Top comedians Morecambe and Wise laughed off claims that their Christmas show was a flop. The programme came 17th in the overall ratings for the Christmas period. But Eric and Ernie said they had already started compiling material for a show for ITV the following Christmas, and they had no plans to change their format. Eric said: "We gear the show for Christmas Day and we were certainly in the top three for the day. We have no complaints about the show. There was nothing wrong with it." And Ernie joked: "I think it was the Hamlet sketch. It was too highbrow -- I overdid it." The comedians topped the ratings when their show was screened by the BBC. The Christmas Show was their first in two years owing to Eric's heart condition. It was watched by 14.6 million, and Thames Television claimed it was a success because it attracted more people than the Mike Yarwood Show screened at the same time by the BBC. The BBC audience research ratings said Mike Yarwood was watched by 12 million people but the disaster film Airport 75 -- also screened while the Morecambe and Wise Show was on the air -- attracted 18 million viewers.

Updated: 12:46 Tuesday, January 10, 2006