FROM this newspaper 100 years ago. - Early on Monday morning the attention of a passing policeman was drawn to a pig-stye in Parliament Road in Middlesbrough.

On close inspection PS Blakeborough found the stye to be occupied not only by pigs, but by a woman and her 12 year old granddaughter. He got them out as quickly as possible as the place was filthy and the stench abominable. PS Blakeborough asked the woman why she had gone into such a place with a young girl, and she replied that she had quarrelled with her husband, who had turned her out of their house in Lamport Street. She had nowhere else to go for shelter before happening on the pig-stye. The policeman returned them to their house and reasoned with the husband by which means the matter was resolved.

From this newspaper 50 years ago. - Two Thornaby men blamed a night's drinking after being arrested for breaking into a Co-operative Society shop with the express purpose of stealing a tin of biscuits. A police officer saw the pair, who appeared to be drunk, holding the tin. When he asked what was inside it, the two men said it contained biscuits which they had bought minutes earlier from a passing merchant seaman. They claimed the seaman "resembled a pirate" and was walking the streets selling biscuits to anyone in need. When the policeman suggested the two men had in fact stolen the biscuits from the nearby shop, the men denied this and urged the officer to launch a street wide search for the culprit. The men were taken to the police station and later admitted the theft.

From this newspaper 25 years ago. - More than 500 hopeful actors queued up for three hours outside Barnard Castle parish hall on Saturday for a chance to be an extra in a Walt Disney production. Parts of The Spaceman and King Arthur are being filmed at Raby Castle next month. The film is of an American spaceman who travels back in time to the reign of King Arthur. The spacecraft scenes will be shot at Raby Castle and about 400 men, women and children will be needed to don sixth century attire ... three students from Darlington College of Technology, Janet Adamson, Margaret Duston and Jenny Lincoln said they "wanted to go to Hollywood".