Sun shines on show and battle grows over Richard’s remains
THE PREVIOUS year’s Great Yorkshire Show had been lashed by torrential downpours, such that the three-day event had to be abandoned at the end of day one because parts of the Harrogate show ground were under water.
But the 2013 GYS dawned bright and beautiful, and visitors flocked in 30C heat. More stunning weather was promised, and organisers breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of many early arrivals, with hundreds happy to queue in the sunshine for welcome ice-cream and drinks.
Meanwhile, European judges ruled that life can never mean life, as removing the chance of release for even the most dangerous offenders was a breach of human rights.
Murderers Jeremy Bamber, Douglas Vinter and Peter Moore were told by the European Court of Human Rights that their whole life sentences amounted to “inhuman and degrading treatment”.
Whole-lifers should be entitled to a review of their sentence after 25 years at the very latest, the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg-based court said.
The ruling by 17 judges from across Europe sparked further outrage among critics of the court, despite reassurances that the decision did not amount to grounds for imminent release.
Under existing UK law, whole-life tariff prisoners would almost certainly never be released, as their offences were deemed to be so serious.
They could be freed only by the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, who could give discretion on compassionate grounds.
The increasingly bitter fight over where King Richard III’s remains should once again be laid to rests intensifying, with tourism chiefs in Leicester accused of rewriting history by laying claim to the monarch as one of their own.
Richard’s skeleton had been found by archaeologists beneath a carpark in Leicester. Now descendants of the king accused Leicester City Council of “riding roughshod over history”, after Richard was included in a list of famous people who had been born or bred in Leicestershire.
While Richard was born just down the road in Northamptonshire, his life is intrinsically linked with Yorkshire, which played a key role in establishing his power base in the north.
One of the many Yorkshire connections to Richard is Middleham Castle, where he spent much of his childhood and met his future wife, Anne. His only child, Edward, was born there. Stephen Nicholay, a 16th great-nephew of the monarch, was spearheading a High Court battle to bring the remains of Richard to Yorkshire. He said: “I have been concerned for some time about the commercial juggernaut in Leicester concerning Richard III. They appear to be riding roughshod over history and choosing the facts to suit themselves.”
A reunion of the six surviving A4 locomotives at York’s National Railway Museum attracted almost 45,000 visitors in its first five days, said delighted curators. The event was staged to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Mallard’s speed record of 126mph near Grantham on July 3, 1938. Mallard had now set a new record for the museum, which welcomed an unprecedented 13,000 visitors through its doors on Saturday alone.
And former Smiths singer Morrissey donated £10,000 to an anti-foie gras campaign after receiving the cash from Channel 4 for use of one of his songs in an advert without permission.
The vegetarian musician supported People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in opposing the sale of luxury foods such as foie gras.
– Sheena Hastings
The sun shone on the Great Yorkshire Show after torrential downpours the previous year.