Armistice 100: Man accidentally shot while standing in garden during practise run by aeroplane

Amongst a farmer’s £112 fine for selling milk at an exessive price, a list of Yorkshriemen who died in battle and one soldier’s 11th hour refusal to marry his betrothed (for which he was fined £50), are the likes of ‘Killed by Shot From Aeroplane’, which relates the tragic and it has to be said unlucky tale of the man who was apparently stood in the garden of his cottage near the Elstree Reservoir just as an airman intent on practising his aim flew past. Said airman missed his intended target by some measure and ended up gunning down the innocent and no doubt unsuspecting bystander, who was found with gunshot wounds to the head (and other injuries).

There was also the no less tragic story a woman who was killed by her former lover amid a backdrop of tale-telling and jealousy.

Ann Mayne, 29, of Atkinson Hill, Low Road, Hunslet, died of wounds in the throat after being admitted to Leeds Infirmary. The wounds were said to have been inflicted byher loved, Ben Hindle Benson, 41, a mechanic in the RAF, with whom she had lived.

At an inquest into her death it was stated that the two got into a heated row after Ann returned home drunk with another man. At some point, Benson took a razor blade from a nearby table and slashed her throat. He later confessed, admitting he had acted in a rage.

There was also an article calling on Sunday dinners to be cooked in “monster national ovens” in a bid to save fuel. Others argued the traditional Sunday roast usually made meals for the rest of the week.