THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

In the action east of Caposile, Italy, which General Diaz describes as a “surprise action carried out with admirable elan, in which we enlarged our bridgehead and seized several trenches from the enemy, repulsing his repeated counter-attacks,” stationary or mobile batteries of naval artillery co-operated effectively. At five o’clock in the morning of the 14th naval batteries of small and medium calibre began a bombardment of the advanced and support enemy lines.

50 years ago

A Dundee publican, Mr James B. Keir, has died in the Royal Infirmary after being ill for more than two months. Mr Keir, who was 45, had been licensee of the Globe Bar, West Port, for the past 10 years. He was in business before that as the Keir Taxi Service. In his younger days he was a keen cyclist with Thistle Road Club, and was Dundee district champion in 1944. Mr Keir was the hero of a dock rescue in the city in 1953, when he dived into Earl Grey Dock to save a six-year-old boy from drowning.

25 years ago

A Dundee pensioner and his eightyear old grandson were winched to safety by a helicopter from RAF Leuchars when their bakery van was stranded in five feet of flood water on a section of the AlythMeigle road. William Hackney (76) was on a Sunday roll delivery round in Angus and Perthshire with grandson Kevin Anderson. The routine delivery became a mini adventure as he had to change routes to avoid fallen trees. They then got stuck in floods and had to wait four hours to be rescued.

One year ago

“Nightmare” Dundee speed bumps that have caused “thousands of pounds of damage” to cars are to be assessed by experts. The administration has hired an external assessor to review the bumps after drivers across the city complained of serious damage to their vehicles. Residents, taxi drivers and mechanics in the vicinity of City Quay all agree the bumps are causing significant damage. One garage owner said: “We had one customer whose exhaust came completely off.”