THE ARCHIVES

100 years ago

The story of the amazing experiences of a young Scottish Lieutenant and a brother officer while prisoners of war in the hands of the Turks provides one of the most remarkable human documents of the whole of the world campaign. It tells how they won their way to freedom by feigning madness under the critical scrutiny of leading Turkish alienists for a period of seven months. The two officers are Liet. E.H. Jones and Lieut. C.W. Hill. The narrative is almost beyond the flight of imagination.

50 years ago

Lillian Board brought Britain her second gold medal in the European athletics championships in Athens with a storming victory in the women’s 800 metres final last night. Yugoslav world record-holder Vera Nikolic and Rumanian Ileana Silai, previously the fastest European this season, were left behind by Miss Board’s explosive finish. She clocked 2 minutes 1.4 seconds and won by more than five yards. Lynn Davies almost made it a golden double, but narrowly lost the long jump title.

25 years ago

Five Dundee youths had to leap from a first-floor window after an explosion ripped through a bedroom. Alec Westwater (14) was trapped in his room at his home in Dunmore Street, Kirkton, with four friends when a canister of gas apparently exploded shortly before 10pm. His mother described the desperate attempts to reach the group as they were effectively locked in by a door that had no handle on the inside. The boys jumped 12 feet and landed on the ground below the window. All were taken to DRI for treatment.

One year ago

The UK Government is trying to cut its Tay Cities Deal funding by tens of millions of pounds, The Courier can reveal. It means public funding for the major investment package could be nearly halved, with a devastating effect on planned infrastructure projects. A combined £400 million is expected from Scotland’s two governments but three senior figures with close knowledge of the deal confirmed the UK Conservative administration is pushing its contribution down to around £120m.