THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

King George, who arrived at the Boise de Boulogne this afternoon, left the Foreign Office in Paris to visit M. Poincaré. The procession passed by the Quai d’Orsay, the Bridge of Alexander and the Marignie Aveneue. Ovations were continued and the crowd surrounded the carriage, giving vent to the wildest enthusiasm. In his speech the King said: “It is difficult for me to adequately express the great pleasure that I feel in being your guest and in the midst of the great nation.”

50 years ago

Widespread anxiety on the safety of school children during the “dark hours” of British Standard Time was expressed yesterday by teachers, MPs, road safety groups and parents, following the death of a boy in Durham. BST – introduced this year on a three-year experimental basis – means that many children have to walk to school in the dark. MPs from both sides of the Commons asked questions about the advisability of continuing the experiment, described by one as “disastrous.”

25 years ago

Hundreds converged on Condor, Arbroath, on Saturday as the 45 Commando Group, Royal Marines, celebrated its 50th anniversary. The families’ day provided an opportunity for the families and ex-members of the unit to meet the Commando and 7 (Sphinx) Commando Battery Royal Artillery on home ground. Men and women travelled from all over the UK to attend the celebrations, which were marked by a parade of about 700 marines and a march-past to the marines band.

One year ago

There will be little Christmas cheer for 250 Rosyth dockyard workers whose jobs were consigned to the scrapheap. Staff were stunned by the extent of the cuts announced by Babcock as MP Douglas Chapman slammed it as a “crushing blow” to the skilled workforce. He called on the defence secretary to come to the base to “tie down” potential contracts. The announcement came as 151 redundancies were announced at the Dunfermline depot of Palmer and Harvey.