In a case at Watford Police Court on Tuesday, in which a man was summoned for begging, a constable said he saw the man endeavouring to play a violin in Watford High Street. Asked by the magistrates’ clerk if the defendant was playing any tune, the constable replied: “No, sir; he was just sawing his bow backwards and forwards.”

This made the defendant quite indignant. He exclaimed that he was playing a Bach selection and offered to give an example of his musicianship.

The Chairman (Mr A. W. Wiggs), turning to the other magistrates on the bench, asked: “I don’t know whether you would like to hear it?” The offer was declined and the defendant fined 5s.

[From the Watford Observer of April 14, 1934]

 

Somewhere in Essex or Hertfordshire, someone owns a new car – because of a big heart and a good sense of judgment.

He, or she, is the winner in the car competition recently organised by the Society for the Aid of Thalidomide Children. Entrants had to estimate how far a new Consul Cortina Estate car would travel on exactly one gallon of petrol.

At 6am on Thursday April 2, the Cortina was driven by Mr Peter Arundell, the well-known racing driver, from the boundary of Chelmsford westwards on the A414 for a total distance of 43 miles 65 yards two feet seven inches.

[From the Watford Observer of April 10, 1964]

 

Watford FC are to increase ticket prices for next season. Terrace admission is to be increased by 20p to £2.50 while the cost of terrace entry to the Rookery End will be increased by 20p to £3.

Seat prices will rise by 50p all round, although there will be a reduction in one price for the family terrace. Adult entry to this area will be increased by 20p to £2.50 and the child’s admission will be reduced by 20p to £1.50.

[From the Watford Observer of April 6, 1984]

 

A Kings Langley old-age pensioner has painted his own double yellow lines where he thinks they ought to be – outside his home in the Nap – in a desperate bid to outwit inconsiderate car parkers.

Says 75-year-old Mr Bertram Garrard, a retired paper merchant: “We’ve been trying since 1966, to get something done. People park right in front of our steps, preventing us from getting in or out of our own house. I’ve written 15 letters to the parish council, the former Hemel Hempstead Rural Council and the county council, and have a great stack of correspondence but nothing has been done, except the recent painting of white lines in front of our garage entrance.”

Mr Garrard continues: “The police are sympathetic but say there is not much they can do. They can only tow a car away if it is causing an obstruction to other traffic not if it is obstructing our access, so I decided to paint my own yellow lines outside. They are painted on my bottom step, on my own property.”

 But at meeting of the parish council on Friday, councillors disagreed. “It is painted on our property,” one councillor said.

At the meeting Mr D. Farndon said members of the public had been complaining about the yellow lines. He said: “They are not lawful.”

[From the Watford Observer of April 12, 1974]