Dateline: August 1964


THE BIG STORY

THE first close-up pictures of the moon indicated its surface was probably suitable for landing by man.

Of the 4,316 historic pictures which were radioed back to earth by Ranger VII, 10 were revealed to the public for the first time on August 1.

Scientists speculated that the lunar "dust" was probably not thick enough to swallow a landing craft. The pictures showed a surface sharply pock-marked with craters, some of them just three feet in diameter and only a foot deep.

Dr Gerald Kuiper, of the University of Arizona, said: "Perhaps the most significant observation is that these pictures have not resulted in any totally unpredictable problems for lunar landings."

However, questions still lingered: would a manned spacecraft slip accidentally into one of the larger craters? Would the moon's surface be strong enough to support any craft?


HEADLINES

A Leeds motorist whose business took him to Bridlington was so astonished at the lack of traffic that he rang the Yorkshire Evening Post. He said: "There was practically no traffic at all. I have never seen it so quiet. I did the journey via York and Driffield in an hour and a half and there were more flies on the windscreen than cars on the road."

Bradford's Telegraph & Argus was not published on Monday August 3 because of a dispute with the National Graphical Association. It had a daily circulation of 130,000.

Two swimming world records were broken in Los Angeles when Murray Rose of Australia swam the 1,500m in 17mins 5.5secs. Sharon Stouder of the US recorded a time of 2mins 26.4secs for the 200m women's butterfly, shaving just over two seconds off the old record. The current world records are, respectively: 14mins 34secs (Grant Hacket, of New Zealand, set in 2001) and 2min 5secs (Jessicah Schipper, of New Zealand, set in 2006). Meanwhile, seven Yorkshire athletes were in the GB team destined for the Tokyo Olympics in October.

Michael Morris, 13, of Wyther Park Hill, Stephen Alderson, 11 and Donald Sikes, 13, both of Houghley View, carried a live foot-long ack-ack bomb through Bramley after finding the object on waste ground. They were spotted by a resident, told to put it down and later the shell was destroyed by the Army bomb squad.

Leeds enjoyed its hottest day for three years on Wednesday, August 26, when temperatures soared to 83 degrees. A temperature of 84 degrees was recorded on August 25, 1959.


THE GOSSIP

Leeds chess master J Haygarth won the British Chess Championships when he defeated T J Beach in Whitby, breaking the latter's run of winning six successive titles.


THE WORLD

Nine French miners, trapped for eight days under Mont Rivel, Champagnole, Eastern France, were rescued on Tuesday, August 4. Rescuers had to drill a 260ft deep shaft to reach them. As the miners waited to be hoisted to safety, they asked for wine, cigarettes and matches.

Lt Col Tun Tin, the Burmese minister of labour went 112yds down Gomersal Pit to see how coal was mined. At that time the mine was producing 3,600 tons of coal per week and employed 350 men.


AND FINALLY

A retired ship's captain, John Bottomley, 57, of Merton Grove, Hull, was fined £15 for eating a packet of sweets he had been told to "keep and eye on". Police chiefs testified in court that several packets of sweets had been found at the man's home.