From our archives

5 years ago

A lifelong Take That fan has a set of wedding photos to treasure after Gary Barlow, pictured, turned up to serenade the newlyweds. Bride Katie Hardy had no idea the singer was about to walk in on her big day after friends kept the secret for eight long months. Even groom Stephen Hardy was kept in the dark, having booked a local Robbie Williams tribute act to fill in at the reception at the Three Nuns pub in Loughboroug on Saturday. But when the tribute singer finished his last number, Barlow walked on to the dance floor.

10 years ago

Tony Blair today tells how he considered sacking Gordon Brown as Chancellor but always concluded such a move could have led to civil war within Labour. In his eagerly awaited memoirs, A Journey, the former Prime Minister reveals he concluded it was better to have a “maddening” Mr Brown in government rather than outside as the figurehead of a left-wing rival faction. However, he claims his long-term Chancellor effectively blackmailed him in negotiations over the cash-for-honours scandal.

25 years ago

A diver was found alive yesterday 10 hours after he went missing in Loch Long. Cameron Bell, 32, managed to crawl ashore and was found by a passing cyclist while police divers were still searching the waters where he had gone missing earlier.

Rescuers said he must have spent most of the time in the water and had done very well to survive. Diving experts called it “a miracle”. Semiconscious after his long ordeal, Mr Bell was taken by ambulance under police escort to a decompression chamber at Faslane.

50 years ago

Men may find themselves staying at home looking after the children while their wives have responsible jobs if the present trend continues, an article in this month’s issue of “Business Management” states. Women are now being recruited into top management jobs in British industry, it is added, but compared with many other industrial countries, such as the Communist bloc, Scandinavia, and parts of Germany and France, Britain has been slow to realise the enormous management potential of women.

100 years ago

At Greenock Sheriff Court yesterday Gilbert Duncan Mcintyre, 28 years of age, a railway porter, pleaded guilty to bigamously marrying Janet Thomson, flax worker, in St Mary’s Episcopal Church, Port Glasgow on July 23, 1920, while his lawful wife was alive and reading in Glasgow. On behalf of accused an agent stated that his lawful wife was a Catholic and that he was under the impression that the first ceremony was not in accordance with the religious rites of the Catholic Church.