Objections

Watford is objecting to North Orbital Road plans even though the Mayor has said the town’s massive roadworks will give their greatest advantage only when the extension is built. Says the council, there is no change of heart. The borough council has always been one of the strongest supporters of the extension proposals.

[June 2, 1972]

Character?

As one of the babies of the borough, The Gossamers, part of the tightly knit council development known collectively as the Meriden Estate, isn’t old enough to have developed any special character of its own. “Character? It hasn’t got any,” seems to be the standard reply when you ask these Garston residents their views.

[June 2, 1972]

Don’t forget the camera

In a few weeks the moment of departure for your foreign holiday will have arrived. No doubt you and the family are already collecting together the essentials – including, of course, the camera. Maybe you haven’t used the camera much during the dreary winter months so before you go on holiday it’s a good idea to run a film through it, to make sure it’s in perfect working order. Talking of film, you should take plenty to last you during the holiday because when you are abroad you are going to see sights you’ve never seen before.

[June 2, 1972]

Herts show hit by gale

Herts Show 1972 will be remembered as the day that the wind blew. It was wind which flattened a huge dog tent, in which two people were hurt and an escaping collie killed when it ran on to the M1. Wind which whisked another marquee on to the A5. And wind which blew the floral arrangements over as fast as they could be judged.

[June 2, 1972]

Mayor was a sport!

Competing on Saturday for the title of Watford’s Jubilee Cyclist of the Year were 20 boys and girls. Watford’s Mayor, Alderman Robert Caton, was present, and after it was all over had a go himself on the obstacle course. He presented the first prize to the winner, 11-year-old Kevin Turnball, of Hagden Lane, Watford. First prize was a £38 cycle.

[June 9, 1972]

Cash by machine

The Bank Court branch of Barclays Bank, Hemel Hempstead, has been equipped with an electronic note and coin dispenser. A small visual display unit facing the customer enables him to check the keyed-in amount before the money is dispensed. More than 100 cheques an hour can be cashed by the machine.

[June 9, 1972]

Cold war hots up

Competition between two ice cream salesmen was more than a cold war. When they met in a cul-de-sac, it became a hot war as one pulled the other from his van and punched him, breaking his cheekbone.

[June 9, 1972]

Queen’s award

Outstanding work in exporting earned a Kings Langley company the Queen’s Award to Industry. 500 employees watched on Friday as the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire presented the award to Dr A.C.E. Wander, chairman of Wander Ltd, makers of Ovaltine.

[June 16, 1972]

Murders

Extracts from what the prosecution called a “chilling” and “callous” document of death were read to a jury when the murder trial of a 24-year-old foreman accused of poisoning eight people opened at St Albans Crown Court this week. Seven of the people poisoned worked with him, said prosecuting counsel, who added that the poison victims appeared to have been used as “human guinea pigs” by accused.

[June 23, 1972]

Donkey derby

More than 5,000 thronged the grounds of Chorleywood House for Saturday’s donkey derby. All facets of the afternoon’s entertainment were being filmed by a BBC camera crew for a documentary on Metroland, to be screened later in the year.

[June 23, 1972]

Leavesden beats the record

Engines made at Rolls Royce’s small engine division at Leavesden have powered a Westlands Lynx helicopter to a world speed record. The Lynx achieve 200mph over a course at Glastonbury, Somerset.

[June 30, 1972]

What was happening in the world in June 1972?

• Pablo Picasso completed his final painting at his home in France (June 1)

• Sally Priesand became the first American woman to be ordained as a rabbi (June 3)

• The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also called the Stockholm Conference, convened in Sweden, the largest international meeting ever held on ecological issues (June 5)

• An explosion at a colliery in Rhodesia killed 426 coal miners (June 6)

• The US Department of Labour issued the first regulations in America to limit exposure to asbestos (June 7)

• A South Vietnamese village was bombed with napalm in an errant air strike by the South Vietnamese Army. Huynh Cong Ut took a photograph of the strike that became an iconic symbol of the horrors of war (June 8)

• The Canyon Lake Dam in South Dakota gave way under the pressure of a downpour, sending millions of gallons of water through the city and destroying 700 homes (June 9)

• Captain Nikolay Grigoryevich Petrov, a secret agent stationed at the Soviet Embassy in Indonesia, defected by surrendering to the American naval attaché in Jakarta (June 13)

• At around 2.30am five men were arrested at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington (June 17)

• Bringing an end to an era of secret wiretapping by the US Justice Department, the Supreme Court ruled that the American government did not have the authority to spy, without a warrant, upon private citizens (June 19)

• President Richard Nixon and his Chief of Staff, H.R. Halderman, had three conversations where the President directed that the FBI should be told to stop further investigation of the Watergate burglary (June 23)

• Five American states were declared disaster areas following the arrival of Hurricane Agnes (June 23)

• A 19-year-old woman in Pennsylvania became the last American to be sentenced to death prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the death penalty was unconstitutional (June 26)