THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

This afternoon the freedom of Paris was conferred upon President Wilson at the Hotel de Ville. In reply President Wilson said: “Your greeting has raised many emotions within me. It is with no ordinary sympathy that the people of the United States, for whom I have the privilege of speaking, have viewed the sufferings of the people of France. Many of our own people have been themselves witnesses of those sufferings. We were deeply moved by the wrongs of war.”

50 years ago

The Government is not to intervene in existing arrangements for supply and distribution of vaccine to combat Hong Kong flu, it was disclosed in a Commons reply yesterday. “If an outbreak of flu occurs this winter it is likely, but not certain, that the Hong Kong virus will be the cause. So far there has been no evidence of any general outbreak in this country of any type of influenza. However, information from other countries increases fear of an outbreak in Britain this winter.”

25 years ago

A Dunfermline family narrowly escaped death after a call to a GP saved six children and two women from carbon monoxide poisoning. Mrs Janet Grieve had just watched her mother, three sons, two nephews and a niece collapse around her due to the effects of a gas leakage. She managed to call a doctor before being knocked out by the gas herself. She and the other victims were treated with oxygen before being taken to the Queen Margaret Hospital where they were released after treatment.

One year ago

Hundreds of disadvantaged children will have presents to open on Christmas morning after Courier readers came to the aid of a gift appeal. Organisers of the Gift of Christmas Appeal Fife feared having to let youngsters down as its warehouse was all but empty with just days to go. A surge of donations came after our reports and the appeal expects to distribute gifts to around 700 children, some of whom will spend Christmas in a refuge, having escaped with their mothers from domestic violence.