25 YEARS AGO

MR Wilson has formed a new Labour Government, and made Mr Denis Healey the new Chancellor of the Exchequer - the man who has to pull Britain out of the red. The miners leaders had talks with the new Employment Secretary, Mr Michael Foot, and it is hoped that new negotiations will now bring an end to the long pits dispute.

50 YEARS AGO

THE ballot of the Lancashire and Cheshire coalfield shows a majority of 88.6 per cent in favour of the withdrawal of labour on the question of concessionary allowance of seven tons a year per householder or breadwinner in the industry. A spokesman said: 'We believe we have a perfect case in that wages in the Lancashire area are less than the average earnings throughout the British coalfield, and allowances are considerably less.'

125 YEARS AGO

THE 'thousand and one accidents' which acrobats and trapezists are liable to in their dangerous profession was painfully illustrated on Thursday night at Mr Weston's Museum, Churchgate, Bolton. On Thursday night, two of the Culeen troupe acrobats came on stage. Thence descending into the pit, Mr Culeen ascended, hand-over-hand, up a rope up to the horizontal trapeze, which had been securely fastened to a large beam extending across the building, and on reaching it swung himself on, and turning a somersault on the bar, hung by his legs from it. He then began to draw up his son by the rope, and just as he was taking hold of his hand, the apparatus gave way, and man and boy were precipitated into the pit below, the man head foremost. A doctor was called, and Mr Weston then went into the Museum and announced to the audience that the medical gentleman had pronounced both acrobats out of danger, an announcement that was met with loud applause. The programme of the evening was then gone on with.

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