On This Day...

Ten Years Ago

Guest speaker at Diggleby Bright Hour Club was Desmond McGinty of the McGinty Museum of Bubblewrap, whose talk came with an extensive collection of slides to illustrate the many different types of bubble packaging in use around the globe. The vote of thanks was given by Mrs Pilling, the only member still present when the lights came back on again.

Twenty Years Ago

A meeting of the Writers' Collective in North West Haringey was unable to proceed with business as planned when it was found that none of those present had thought to come with a pen.

Sixty-Five Years Ago

One month on from switch-on, the newly installed traffic-lights at Yarmouth Bridge (the first and only such lights on the Isle of Wight) were proving a big hit with local residents. Road surveys reported a steady increase in traffic flow, peaking on Sunday afternoons, as car-loads of visitors armed with cameras made their way across the Island to view the latest attraction. A spokesperson for the Council's Highways Dept expressed pleasure that the new system had bedded in satisfactorily, with, thus far, no major incidents reported. 

Ninety Years Ago

Speaking at the launch of his motorised carving knife, inventor Horace Pring of Tring described his new device as a must for every home and a gadget that would save labour in all departments, be that kitchen, larder or game-store. In answer to questions from the Press, he conceded that dining-room conversation could be difficult over the engine whine, but only temporarily. 

In a message from the hospital bedside the following day, Mrs Pring paid tribute to the ambulance services and their prompt action, which had saved her husband the use of two fingers on his left hand.