THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

The claims of disabled soldiers and sailors upon such appointments as the secretaryship of the Joint Disablement Committee for Central Scotland were pleaded by Mr D Macdonald when that body met. He proposed that, as the secretarial work now demanded the appointment of a secretary who would devote his whole time to the work, they should advertise for applicants, preference to be given to disabled soldiers and sailors belonging to Fifeshire, Forfarshire and Perthshire.

50 years ago

Richard Nixon strode toward his second Republican presidential nomination. In a final desperate bid to stop him, governors Nelson Rockefeller and Ronald Reagan searched the resort city of Miami Beach for delegate allies. But Nixon’s count of secure first-ballot strength mounted inexorably toward the 667 votes which would make him the 29th Republican nominee for the White House. Rockefeller commented: “Nixon is not going to have it wrapped up unless the delegates panic.”

25 years ago

Disc jockey Dave Lee Travis stopped the music at lunchtime to tell his BBC Radio 1 programme fans he was resigning. He blamed sweeping changes being made within the organisation for which he has worked since 1967. Afterwards he said: “Dave has left because he is a man with some principles. You can only take things for so long. I have stood up to be counted.” The DJ, known as the “hairy monster”, joined the BBC at the launch of Radio 1 alongside Tony Blackburn and John Peel.

One year ago

A weekend inferno in Angus has sparked a security overview at abattoirs across Scotland. Operators in other parts of the country were looking at their security after the blaze in Brechin. A probe is continuing into the fire, which raged for more than eight hours at the £10 million Quality Pork Limited abattoir. Staff were allowed back in to the plant yesterday. The blaze is being treated as “unexplained”, but there are strong suspicions it was started deliberately.