Moon here we come

May 22 2007 By The Journal

Friday July 21,1969 - No man has ever been there. It has never been touched by any living thing. Now, this is about to change. It is July 21, 1969. On four spindly legs, its rocket spouting hot exhaust against the lunar cover, a manned spacecraft has settled shortly on the moon's surface. Two earthmen inside are preparing to emerge.

They arrived a few hours ago. They have not yet seen the moon at close range except for their view during descent and a few quick glances through their vehicle's two small triangular windows.

At first, after they set down, they had to be concerned about their safety.

They had to check the craft and its systems thoroughly for possible damage from the landing. The craft is their headquarters and home during their stay on the moon, and their only means of return.

During their brief glances out of the windows, their eyes met with an almost unreal view: Stretched out before them lay the desolate grandeur of another world. A crater-pocked, rock-strewn desert before a nearby horizon.

From all the evidence gathered over centuries - including visits by unmanned spacecraft in recent years - neither animal nor plant, neither insect nor even bacterium has ever disturbed this strange panorama or shattered its majestic serenity.

Decimalised: Goodbye £sd

Monday February 15, 1971

It's D-Day today, but all over the country people are still asking the same question - WHY? The Decimal Currency Board say we are going decimal because it's simpler.

They say decimals are also: More efficient for banks, businesses and shops.

Quicker for children to learn at school.

Easier for us when we are in the Common Market, and for businessmen in their dealings with the rest of the world.

Simpler for visitors to this country who are only familiar with decimals.

Lighter in your pocket.

The Board said yesterday: "The change-over is very much an investment in greater efficiency and simplicity.

"Marks and Spencer, who trained their sales assistants some time ago, found that afterwards they added up more quickly and made fewer mistakes in the new system.

"They believe they will get back all the investment through greater efficiency."

`Honky-tonk' leisure centres condemned Thursday December 12, 1968

Reprensentatives from 11 local authorities in the North-East met in Newcastle yesterday and unanimously condemned the spread of leisure centres, described by one speaker as "honky-tonks."

They decided that the Home Secretary and the Minister of Housing should be told of the serious concern felt by the local authorities, and urged immediate steps to change the laws relating to amusement arcades and prize bingo.

The meeting, called by Newcastle Corporation, which is leading the fight against these arcades in the North-East, was attended by Mr J. K. Whitney, an assistant secretary from the Home Office.

He was handed a letter from the headmaster of a junior school on the outskirts of Newcastle, who said that a leisure centre near to the school was very popular with infant and junior schoolchildren.

He found that 74 juniors and 40 infants played bingo at least once a week, and some of them nearly every night.

Council buys `mansion' for family of 12

Thursday January 2, 1969

There is no sitting down together to a family meal in the Service household - they have to eat in shifts. There is not enough room for them all in the dining room of their £2-a-week three-bedroomed council house home in School Avenue, Dunston.

The largest council house in the local authority build still had only four bedrooms.

Now, however, Whickham Urban Council has decided to buy them a three-storey house.

The local authority considered turning two council houses into one for the 48-year-old painter, Alfred Service, his wife Margaret and their 10 children.

The eldest is Alfred, aged 20, then Pauline, 19, William, 15, Margaret, 14, John, 11, Robert, 10, Michael, eight, Susan, seven, David, Five, and George, aged three.

Instead, they have now decided to pay £3,400 for a seven-bedroomed home in Dunston for them.

Their next-door neighbours, in one of the best parts of town, will be the families of professional men.

Yesterday the family were told of the council plan. Mrs Service said: "This is the best New Year news anyone could have.

"We cannot sit down together, even for a meal, because the dining room is too small."

Come in, we're just making love

Wednesday March 26, 1969

Beatle John Lennon and his Japanese bride Yoko went to bed for seven days yesterday - and invited guests in. Lying in bed holding hands, in the plush Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, they called it "a happening, a bed production".

"Why the bed bit, John?" asked a friend.

"Can you think of a better way to spend seven days," he replied.

"It's the best idea we've had yet, better than wriggling in a black back and stripping naked for people who don't appreciate," he said.