100 years ago

A woman was arrested on suspicion of stabbing her son-in-law with a breadknife, having been asked to move out from the young couple's home.

A row broke out after the woman had returned home to find herself locked out of her rented room.

She claimed many of her possessions were still inside.

She was arrested on suspicion of inflicting a stab wound to the chin of the young man and had to be physically restrained by a police constable who was in the vicinity at the time of the attack.

During the annual fair at Laval in France an a suicide took place.

Jean Grollier, aged 19, was an employee at a cinematic show and was in love with the daughter of the booth owner.

Unfortunately the girl did not return his feelings.

Totally heartbroken Mr Grollier resolved to suicide, previously before his job at the cinematic show Mr Grollier had worked with Ahmed-ben-Amar the famous Arab beast tamer so he still had access to the establishment.

Taking advantage of this Mr Grollier waited for an opportune moment and slipped into a cage occupied by several large lions. One lion sprang upon him and ripped his chest and shoulders apart and lastly tore out his throat.

Ahmed-ben-Amar and his assistants heard the cries and rushed to see what was going on but unfortunately they were too late, Jean Grollier was already dead.

Later on a farewell letter addressed to his sweetheart was found in his pocket.

It was the only thing that wasn't ripped to shreds.

50 years ago

RJ Shrimpton, of Montague Road and JS Farmborough of Castle Hill, Berkhamsted both celebrated receiving the results which confirmed they had passed the entrance examination for Sandhurst Royal Military Academy.

The Berkhamsted District Horticultural and Chrysanthemum show was declared a resounding success by its judges, having received a record number of over 750 entries.

County Councillor SH Smith, who oversaw the competition, declared that the standard of bulbs from the show was on par with what might be expected at a national event.

The success of the meet allayed fears that the standard of the annual competition may suffer, having been moved from the previous year's
location of Berkhamsted School to the town's Sessions Hall.

25 years ago

IT was 'On Yer Bike' for these five Tring boys who raised £40 for the Jimmy Saville Appeal for Stoke Mandeville Hospital with an 18-mile sponsored cycle ride.

The boys, all aged 11, are Andrew Chapman, Colin Gill, Stuart Culverhouse, Robert Hines and Neil Foskett.

The Hill O' Beans drama group based at Boxmoor Arts Centre took the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by storm, with their stage adaptation of the film Casablanca.

The festival box office was overwhelmed by enquiries for tickets to see the show which sold out weeks in advance of the performances.

The actors embodied the 'show must go on ' spirit in battling the noise and distraction of the bar and cafe it was forced to share a tent with.

Their achievement was all the more remarkable given that many of the group had little or no previous acting experience, yet the production won critical acclaim for the performance.

The Hemel Gazette ran a word jumble competition giving away prizes of home brew kits, as the increasingly popular pastime of home-made alcohol continued to grow.

The kits reduced the price of a pint to less than 10p and allowed the novice or expert brewer to produce bitter, lager
or mild.