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RETRO: Britain loses its oil
Dateline: August 1951
THE BIG STORY
Britain lost control of its oil interests in Iran – formerly Persia – after the Iranian government, under Mohammed Mossadaq, nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
Diplomatic discussions took place between Britain and Iran, which shut down oil production at Abadan and expelled workers.
The company was founded in 1901 by William Knox D'Arcy, a wealthy socialite who negotiated concessions from the Shah Mozzafar al-Din Shah Qajar of Persia to drill for oil.
He sunk more than 500,000 into the project and after years of searching with no luck was about to abandon all hope and return home when, in 1908, he struck oil.
It was the first company to extract oil from the Middle East and was one of the antecedents of the modern BP.
The 1951 crisis happened because Iran was not given the full amount of its concession, which led to resentment.
By the middle of September, Britain was considering sending in troops to keep control of the 200m oil refineries at Abadan.
Iran mobilised its troops in response and the matter went before the UN, with Britain eventually having to concede Iranian control of the oil fields.
THE HEADLINES
There was concern for the welfare of King George VI, after an "internal inflammation" was discovered. The King left Balmoral to meet medics for further examinations in early September but by the 22nd it was announced he was to be operated upon for a lung condition. Crowds gathered outside Buckingham Palace as a number of esteemed physicians were driven in by car.
The BBC was criticised over its habit of broadcasting the "tail end" of football matches on radio. The issue came to the fore after its plans to broadcast the second half of the Newcastle v Tottenham match were leaked to a London newspaper. The corporation pulled the plug on the broadcast, stating part of its agreement with the Football League was that match details remain secret until the last minute.
The Yorkshire Evening Post dancing competition finals took place at the Spa Hotel, Bridlington on Thursday, September 20. The winning couple, Mr D Bygate, of Revill Close, Rotherham and Miss V H Beber, of Canklow Road, Rotherham, were both injured after the competition when their taxi crashed into a wall at Thrybergh, near Rotherham.
Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced a general election would be held on October 25. Tory leader Winston Churchill vowed to end socialist rule.
Only a million people had TV sets, as opposed to around 13 million with radios.
Members of Leeds City Athletic and Social Club arrived en masse in Boroughbridge to compete in the Chief Constable's fishing competition. All the fish caught were put back after being weighed.
Pigs and sheep kept escaping from the newly opened Scunthorpe Cattle Market, the reason for which, it was later established, was due to the bars being too wide apart as a result of the Government slashing the original 50,00 cost of the market in half. In the end, new bars were ordered.
THE GOSSIP
George Formby was kept waiting after a union dispute threatened production of Zip Goes a Million, in which he was to star at Coventry Hippodrome. The dispute arose after it emerged US actress Barbara Perry, 25, was not a member of Equity, nor the Variety Artists' Federation. The show went ahead after a producer agreed to pay the 41 6s annual membership of Equity.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello starred in Comin' Round the Mountain, while Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie appeared in The Prince Who Was A Thief. Both were filmed in Technicolor. Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell starred in His Kind of Woman.
THE WORLD
China occupied Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.
A blue sun was seen over Europe from September 26 to 28. The effect was due to ash from forest fires in Canada, which happened four months earlier.
British world middleweight boxing champion Randolph Turpin, lost a rematch against Sugar Ray Robinson in New York after the referee stopped the match in the 10th round. Turpin previously beat the man considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Turpin's manager said his man could have won and accused the US referee of being scared to allow the match to carry on because of a recent death in the ring. Turpin had a troubled private life and later committed suicide aged just 37 in May 1966.
AND FINALLY...
Historic bells in Leeds Meat Market were dismantled. Their 'ting-tang' chime had sounded every quarter hour for 40 years.
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