THE Adver interviewed a war veteran for a story this week in 1971.

Mr D Haddrell – he only gave the initial – wasn’t a veteran of World War Two or even World War One, though.

He had joined up in the late 19th century and fought in the Boer War, when Britain and the descendants of Dutch settlers battled for primacy in South Africa.

We said: “Seventy years after he left the Army he is still drawing a pension. And now, he reckons, he is the Army’s senior disability pensioner.

“The title, he says, used to be held by Mr Robert George Hayward, of Calne. But he died three weeks ago.

“Mr Haddrell, of Rayfield Grove, Swindon, claims he is next in line because he has been drawing a pension since 1901, when he was wounded during the Boer War.”

Mr Haddrell, we added, had been shot while on patrol as a member of the Cheshire Yeomanry, and the enemy bullet passed through his body and broke his right thigh.

He was taken to an Army hospital, only to come down with a form of typhoid. Expected to die, he recovered and returned to England and a pension of 7s6d (37 1/2p) per week.

We said: “Back home he joined the Great Western Railway as a riveter in the Swindon Works and retired in 1943, aged 66.”

Our range of stories that week was certainly diverse.

One of them was about a milkman called Fred Frankland, who lived in Linslade Street and enjoyed a drink at the West Swindon Club in Radnor Street.

The week before, he had heard about a London man claiming to be the world record holder for carrying the greatest number of pint of beer at once. We should add that, according to the rules, only pints carried in glasses in the hands counted, so nobody could boost their total by drinking a few beforehand.

Something else we should add is that in 1971 a standard pint glass was of the ‘dimple’ type with a handle, so more could be held. The Londoner’s total was 14 glasses of beer carried, so Mr Frankland decided to go one better.

“And he did,” we said. “Not once, but three times – once for practice and twice for photographers.

“He is now hoping his feat will appear in the Guinness Book of Records.

“The publishers say there is no record for holding pints of beer, but they would be willing to consider Fred’s efforts.”

A man with a rather more dangerous achievement in mind was Michael Dolling, known for many years as the Birdman of Swindon, and who has been mentioned in Rewind before.

Mr Dolling was 38, an age at which many men of the time considered themselves nearing their middle years and entitled to a pipe, slippers and an easy chair.

Mr Dolling was instead in the midst of many attempts to build a human-powered flying machine, and we photographed him hauling aloft his latest creation, which looked a little like a hang-glider.

He planned to attempt to fly it across a 150ft waterway in Peterborough, in response to a prize challenge by a supermarket firm.

His proving ground was a field near Broome Manor Lane.

“If a man can lift his own weight,” he said, “it should be easy if he was to control and balance the weight, to fly.” Mr Dolling’s machines never did soar, but his theory that human-powered flight was possible turned out to be quite sound.

In 1979 an American craft, Gossamer Albatross, crossed the English Channel under the pedal power of cyclist and hang glider pilot Bryan Allen.

Britain was increasingly multi-cultural by 1971, but visits by people from far-away places were still sometimes stories in themselves.

So it was with a Sudanese student called Mohammed Idris Elhadi, who had been helping on the wards at the old Stratton St Margaret Hospital before heading to Cardiff Polytechnic.

“Mohammed,” we said, “ has been in England for three years. His father is a mechanical engineer in Khartoum.

“Having finished a three-year course in zoology, chemistry and physics at The College, Swindon, he will now be studying biochemistry and microbiology.“ The young man, who planned to teach medicine in his homeland, said of his experiences in Swindon: “It was a good introduction to life in British hospitals, always very busy, hard work, and the staff were very friendly. I didn’t feel like a stranger.”

On the subject of health, we tend to think of flu vaccinations as a fairly modern innovation, but they were around 44 years ago and local recipients included Swindon Town FC.

We photographed Don Rogers managing not to flinch as a medic dosed him using a device resembling a cross between a ray gun and a welding torch.

The vaccination team were from Duphar Laboratoies in Basingstoke, who marketed the vaccine on behalf of a Dutch company.

After calling at Town’s Shrivenham Road training ground, they headed for a company called the Borough Press on Eascott Hill, where 75 staff were treated.