25 YEARS AGO

THE Royal opening of Parliament today went back to wartime austerity. There was none of the usual pageantry and colour, and the Queen went to Westminster from Buckingham Palace by car instead of horse-drawn carriage. She wore a day dress, hat and coat, instead of evening gown and tiara. Peers wore morning dress, not robes. The usual pageant was passed over because there was no time to make arrangements. The Queen was to have resumed her tour of Australia after the General Election, but the political situation kept her in London, and she decided to open Parliament personally, instead of by Royal Commission.

50 YEARS AGO

IT astounds the followers of Bolton Wanderers and many other teams to see Derby County consistently outbidding all rivals for star players. They did it with Doherty and Carter, and went on to win the FA Cup with the aid of those two master forwards. Then they repeated it with Steele, paying what was a new record fee for the Scottish wizard. Prices have leapt since then, and so, in breaking all previous records by acquiring Manchester United's John Morris yesterday, they are stated to have paid £24,000. Yet the holding capacity of Derby County's ground, which means Derby County's revenue resources, is barely half that of Burnden Park and other leading enclosures. How they manage to balance the books is Derby's secret, although chairman Ben Robson said yesterday: 'It is not our intention to make money, but to give our supporters first-class football.'

125 YEARS AGO

WHILST a number of men were on Monday engaged in excavating at Messrs John Emmett and Co.'s paper mills, an iron ball, presumed to be a cannon ball, was found in the embankment near the River Croal, measuring 8 inches in diameter. It is now in the possession of Mr William Gerrard, bookkeeper for the firm, and can be seen at his residence, 86, Great Moor-street.

AT the recent Northumberland Assizes, five young men , three 20 years of age and the other two 28, were sentenced to receive twenty lashes each with the 'cat', in addition to terms of penal servitude, for having used violence to persons whom they also robbed. On Thursday afternoon, the ruffians were flogged in Newcastle prison. They did not bear their punishment well, each, after the first or second lash, commencing to shout and ask for mercy.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.