1981 Leeds: Is this the city you remember?

In the March the city was on lockdown after a bomb scare with emergency services cordoning off several streets.

Changing face of a city: Is this the Leeds you remember in 1980?

The incident resulted in specialist bomb disposal teams being called in and the deployment of a remote controlled robot on the streets of the city.

Workers in the surrounding buildings were put on lockdown while the operation took place, but some managed to sneak a few pictures of the incident as events unfolded.

The drama happened on Great George Street, near Calverley Street, just down from the Merrion Centre.

A specialised robot could be seen moving across the street, tethered to a wire, which was used to control it’s direction and its mechanical arm.

It is heading towards a suspect package - a briefcase - which had been left at the back of a parked white Ford motorcar.

The incident followed a bombing in London in January, which killed two people and which was later claimed by the Provisional IRA.

Elsewhere, two ambulance drivers were sacked after admitting going on rabbit shooting parties during quiet spells whilst at work.

They were rumbled after a member of the public reported shots being fired from an ambulance parked up at Roundhay Park at dawn.

The drivers admitted staging regular early morning rabbit hunts.

In world news rock star Eric Clapton was seriously ill in hospital with a bleeding ulcer. It forced him to cancel his tour of North America.

Ronald Biggs, the Great Train robber, was arrested in Barbados after what appeared to be a bungled kidnapping but was in fact an operation carried out by ex-SAS servicemen. Biggs eventually managed to avoid extradition to the UK by using legal loopholes, only to return voluntarily in 2001.

The BBC announced it would spend £115,000 filming the July 29 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, it’s biggest outside broadcast ever. It said it would mean setting up seven separate broadcasts to take the pictures to an estimated audience of over 500m.

Two workers died during launch tests for the US space shuttle Columbia On March 19 after they were gassed accidentally with nitrogen.

In pictures: Historic Pudsey - the Leeds market town famed for treacle mines and ducks flying backwards

In pictures: Historic Farsley - the Leeds village mentioned in the Domesday Book

In pictures: Historic Armley - the suburb in the shadow of the city centre