THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

German troops have occupied Riga. The news, which is contained in last night’s German official communiqué, was not unexpected. The Russian admission that the enemy had crossed the Dvina was followed yesterday by the announcement that owing to the threatening situation orders had been issued for the abandonment of the Riga region. The Germans were within comparatively easy reach of the city and with the Russian troops showing little fight, the fall of town was quick.

50 years ago

Twenty-four detonators exploded in quick succession as the last passenger train on the Strathmore line pulled out of Forfar station last night. They covered the diesel engine in clouds of smoke as well as a number of startled amateur photographers who jumped back in fright. Seconds earlier, station foreman Jim Stewart moved them back in case of danger from flying splinters. The explosion marked the requiem of a line which has been in existence for more than 100 years.

25 years ago

Kevin Maxwell, youngest son of disgraced newspaper owner Robert Maxwell, became Britain’s biggest-ever bankrupt yesterday. At the end of a two-hour private hearing at the High Court in London, Mr Registrar Scott made a bankruptcy order against Mr Maxwell for £406.5 million. The bankruptcy petition was filed by the liquidator of Bishopsgate Investment Management, who is trying to trace the millions that went missing from the Maxwell pension funds.

One year ago

Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said he will shun sequins and glitter when he appears on Strictly Come Dancing. Mr Balls will swap his suits for tuxedos when he appears on the BBC show. He said: “I’m not wearing any sequins, and no glitter, it’s all very classical.” Mr Balls who lost his Morley and Outwood seat last year in one of the greatest casualties of the 2015 election admitted that his wife, MP Yvette Cooper, encouraged him to take part in the hope it would help him lose weight.