25 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, June 23, 1972

THE Pound is floating, which means that it is not tied to any official exchange rate. The move was announced today as a solution to the tremendous battering the pound has taken in foreign exchange markets during the past week. The floating pound is being described as a temporary measure. Its immediate effect will be equivalent to a 'mini- devaluation'.

50 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, June 24, 1947

DOMESTIC science for boys is a feature of the curriculum at one Bolton school.

Recently the boys were washing football clothing when the supervisor noticed a boy doing one stocking at a time.

'Put them all in together and soak the dirt out of them', she advised.

'Ee, Miss, if I do that I'll never know which is right and which is t'left' was the indignant reply.

125 YEARS AGO

From the Evening News, June 24, 1872

ON Saturday morning, a young woman, aged about 30, named Elizabeth Halliwell, wife of Richard Halliwell (alias Slabby), a collier, living at Langshaw Bottoms, Billinge Higher-end, was unable to make the fire burn. She placed on the fire a quantity of lamp oil, but this inflammable liquid did not have the effect, so she resorted to the use of gunpowder. She brought a tin bucket, which, it is believed, contained four or five pounds weight, and this she carried close to the fire. She took from it a handful of powder and placed it on the fire, and as it exploded it communicated with the remainder in the bucket, which exploded with a loud report, doing considerable damage to the house, and inflicting serious injuries on the woman and also on the child. The woman, who was thrown to the ground, was severely burnt about the face, breast and arms, and she lies in a very precarious state. The child was about twelve months old, and was lying in a cradle near to the fireplace.

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