THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

From Correspondents’ HQ, Flanders: “Bitter hand-to-hand fighting with give-and-take results has followed upon the attack delivered by our troops against the positions along the high ground between Frezenberg and Inverness Copse. The Germans have been giving vigorous effect to their policy of swift attacks, thus demonstrating the great tactical value they attribute to the terrain thereabouts. They have been mainly fighting in the open and losses must have been prodigious.”

50 years ago

The first dead heat in the 32 years history of the national swimming championships sparked off a controversy at Blackpool. This came after referee John Zimmerman had called in the evidence of the new £3,000 electronic timing equipment to decide whether Susan Williams or Shelagh Ratcliffe had won the girls’ 220-yard freestyle final. After consulting the details printed by the machinery – installed in an attempt to prevent disputes – Mr Zimmerman ruled a dead-heat.

25 years ago

A driver trapped in the cab of his crashed lorry was pulled to safety by Montrose ambulancemen seconds before the cab was engulfed in flames at tea time yesterday. A series of explosions rang over the village of Hillside after the articulated lorry crashed through a garden wall and demolished a garage containing two collectors’ cars. The lorry straddled a 400 gallon central heating fuel tank and there were fears it would explode as flames spread to the load of wood pulp.

One year ago

China’s self-proclaimed King of Potatoes has flown to Scotland to meet producers, processors, scientists and Government crop certification experts with a view to building commercial and scientific collaborations between the two countries. Two weeks after China elevated the humble spud to staplefood status, Mr Liang Xisen and his general manager Dr Hu toured potato fields in Angus, met senior scientists at the James Hutton Institute and attended the flagship Potatoes in Practice event.