1952

NEWLY-released figures revealed that Swindon's telephone exchange dealt with 166 emergency calls from the public during the previous month. Of these, 35 were for the fire brigade, 101 for the police and the rest for the ambulance service. Mr W Mosely, the Area Telephone Manager, urged people not to misuse the service, and added that a frivolous 999 call might hold up a genuine one on which somebody's life depended.

1962

AN EXPLANATION for a mysterious and very loud bang heard over Ipswich Street in Swindon one night the previous week was offered Mr HA Wilkins of Whitworth Road. He recalled a similar detonation over Dean Street one day in 1937, which a local doctor put down to a phenomenon he called lazy lightning, which drifted slowly and sometimes struck metal with dramatic results. However, a spokesman for the reference library said he could find no mention of such a phenomenon in any book.

1972

PUPILS of Highworth's Warneford Schools staged a classroom walkout, claiming they were too cold to concentrate on lessons. Head teacher John Tasker said the school was changing to a new system of heating, and only the examination room was currently being heated.