THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

Intimation was received yesterday from the War Office by Mrs Taylor, Brechin, that Captain Alexander Taylor, Royal Scots, had been killed in action. In legal circles throughout Forfarshire, the news of the death of Captain Taylor, who was Sheriff Substitute of the County, will be learned with the deepest regret. He was a native of Glasgow and was educated in the University of that city, where he crowned himself with honours in Classics and held, besides his degree in Arts, that of LL.B.

50 years ago

murder play “In at the Death”, at the Phoenix Theatre, London, acquired too much realism yesterday when 24-year-old actress Veronica Lang accidentally “shot” herself in the leg with a stage revolver loaded with blanks. Miss Lang was only slightly hurt, with burns and a “sort of graze” just below her right knee. “But I felt a bit shaky,” she said. The play went on again after her leg had been bandaged. It all happened within three minutes of the start of the matinee performance.

25 years ago

The major earthquake which shook northern California caused Britain’s bedrock to vibrate 11 minutes later, say experts. All 150 seismometers embedded into the rock around Britain picked up shockwaves from the epicentre 5,000 miles away. The quake happened at 7pm BST on Saturday and registered seven on the Richter scale. Energy from the quake went down into the earth, was refracted by roacks and reflected throughout the world, said Dr Chris Browitt of the British Geological Survey.

One year ago

Matthew Oliver, a horticulturist hopes to reap a rich harvest after being asked to nurture a £1,250 pumpkin seed. Horticulture firm Thompson & Morgan, based in Ipswich, bought the seed at a specialist auction in the hope that it would produce the biggest pumpkin the world has seen. Staff said the seed was about two inches long and came from the biggest pumpkin seen so far – a 2,323 lb, 1,054 kg, specimen produced by a Swiss grower. Mr Oliver works at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Chelmsford.