THERE were many notable events in 1968. Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, the Kray twins were arrested, Jeff Astle scored the only goal to win West Bromwich Albion the FA Cup, the Beatles released the White Album, Dad’s Army was first broadcast on BBC1 as was Gardeners’ World, fronted by Percy Thrower.
In Newcastle, 11-year-old Mary Bell (above) was convicted of strangling two boys, aged three and four, in crimes which shocked the nation.
A very proud owner with his 1968 Ford Escort 1.3GT
And in January, Ford launched its new family car, the Escort, while on August 11, 1968, the engine Oliver Cromwell hauled British Rail’s last steam train after which steam was banned from the mainline.
READ MORE: THE CURIOUS STORY OF THE SPADE THAT TURNED AYCLIFFE'S FIRST SOD EXACTLY 75 YEARS AGO
Four of the five Dassault Falcon jets at Teesside Airport in 2006. They were built in the late 1960s. Under different livery, they still work daily from the airport
“I live in Hurworth and often see the Dassault Falcon small twin engine jets, that are based at Teesside airport, fly over,” says Gordon Best. “I have just checked and the one that just went over, G-FRAH, was built in 1968.”
How unusual is it, he asks, for a jet to be operational? If a steam train comes through Hurworth, people gather on the mainline bridge to see it; if an Escort or Ford Capri, introduced in 1969, went by, you’d remark upon, so should we be celebrating these training aircraft in our skies?
WHEN mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, was executed at Durham jail on March 24, 1873, two men from the West Hartlepool Phrenological Society stepped forward and chopped off her “long glossy black hair” so that they could make three wax models of her face.
READ MORE: MARY ANN COTTON EXECUTED 150 YEARS AGO
One model was kept in the prison; a second was sent to phrenological scientists in Edinburgh, and the third was kept by the Hartlepudlians.
Phrenology – also known as craniology – was the fashion of the day. Phrenologists believed that they could work out a person’s character by examining the lumps and bumps on the surface of their skull.
After three months of phrenological study, Mr N Morgan, of Monkwearmouth, told The Northern Echo of his craniological conclusions 150 years ago this week.
He’d found that Mrs Cotton’s brain was large, occupying 150 cubic inches which was 30 inches larger than the average female, and so she had “great mental power” – poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s brain was 157 cubic inches, said Mr Morgan, but he had bigger “poetic faculties”.
Mr Morgan said Mrs Cotton’s brain showed the potential for her to have “led an honourable and useful life” but that she was “apt to nurse revengeful feelings”.
The lumps and bumps on her head indicated “kindness, plausibility, vindictiveness, cunning, selfishness and great destructive energy, love of property, and courage in the execution of her purposes and plans,” he said.
The shape of her skull “indicates fitful attachment and capacity for dark, designing malignity, love of order and neatness of physical arrangement, reticence, and self-possession, an analytical and scientific intellect, and aptness to feel contempt for small-brained persons”.
It is clearly clever stuff, this craniology.
THE DEANERY, at South Church, near Bishop Auckland, is 731-years-old, as Memories told last week, which makes it County Durham’s oldest private house. It is now for sale for £650,000.
READ MORE: LOOK INSIDE THE DEANERY
“My family has a strong connection with the Deanery farms which spanned almost two centuries,” writes Tim Brown, in Ferryhill.
His great-great-grandfather, Timothy Brown, was born at Greystoke, near Penrith, in 1723, and moved with his parents to the Deanery in about 1750.
“In addition to farming, they were involved in local government, being members of the parish 100 and acting as collectors for the Land Tax,” says Tim.
“Timothy married twice. His first wife, Dorothy Downs, died aged 50. Apparently there were no children from this marriage. His second marriage to Mary Parkinson was more successful, with five children reaching maturity, four of whom married.
“Timothy, who remained single, and Thomas – my great-grandfather – continued to farm at the Deanery. Thomas married Elizabeth Humble, and their only son, Timothy, was born in 1852. That Timothy was the last Brown to farm at the Deanery, carrying on until his death in 1936.”
READ MORE: THE SHILDON REFEREE'S SON MURDERED ON THE HIGH SEAS
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel