100 Years Ago - July 5, 1912
A MAN working in a party at Parkhurst Prison broke away and charged into the governor’s office, wielding an iron bar.
In a fit of rage, the man smashed pictures, a dining table and other belongings, causing considerable damage.
Fortunately the governor wasn’t in his office at the time.
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Two men were charged with riding their bicycles "furiously" on Binstead Road, Ryde.
The pair set off very quickly and knocked over a woman, injuring her hands, elbows, knees and breaking her watch.
They were fined 4s with 4s costs.
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A man from Cowes was charged with indecent sunbathing.
PC Tatchell said he received a complaint and went to Town Quay, where he saw the defendant, who had just come out of the water. He was standing naked, drying himself in full view of everyone.
The young man promised he would never do it again and the case was dismissed.
75 Years Ago - July 10, 1937
A rehearsal for a coastal defence and air-raid precaution operation would be held on the Island.
Included in the precautions would be a blackout and motorists were requested to drive without lights at night.
The object of the exercise was to test whether the IW would be ready in the event of war.
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A motorcyclist and a young woman pillion rider were severely injured on their faces and heads in an accident on the Military Road.
The rider, from Portsmouth, and the woman, from Cowes, were travelling from Freshwater towards Brighstone, when the motorcycle clipped a kerb and sent them flying into bushes.
They were taken to hospital where they were kept overnight.
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A company of London artists, called the Island Festival Company, were praised for playing a number of Shakespeare’s works, at Ryde.
They visited many different venues on the Island during their nine-week stay, attracting large audiences wherever they went.
50 Years Ago - July 7, 1962
An angling expert from Southsea was enjoying a visit to Yarmouth when he spotted a coastal tanker in difficulty.
Mr Tremlett, who was in his motor cruiser, noticed the 228-ton vessel had broken down, so he attached a line to it and helped keep the ship on a straight but slow course to Yarmouth.
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Friends and users of St Saviour’s Church, Shanklin, were hit with the bad news the church was in need of drastic repairs, which would cost thousands of pounds.
A surveyor estimated during the next 25 to 30 years, the church would need about £50,000 worth of work to the decaying stonework.
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A Ryde hotelier and his wife found the sitting room of their home ablaze after a threatening letter had been pushed through their door the previous evening.
The owners received two letters but said they did not treat them with much seriousness.
The couple occupied an old coach house at Wellington Lodge Hotel.
Fires had been started on three items of furniture in their hotel but everyone had managed to escape unharmed.
25 Years Ago - July 10, 1987
A letter from Brading to Sandown, a distance of about two miles, took 41 days to be delivered.
The delay happened at the same time as public phones being out of service for several days.
The IW Posts and Telecommunications Advisory Committee asked the Post Office and BT to conduct an investigation.
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A 19 year old man staggered badly burned from his wrecked Ryde home after a gas explosion ripped through the building.
An eye witness said ambulancemen turned a garden hose on the teenager after the blast, which demolished much of the property in Highland Road.
The man was taken to Salisbury Hospital, where his condition was serious but stable.
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A spark from a petrol engine may have set a Dutch barn alight at the weekend, causing £25,000 worth of damage.
The 60m x 40m barn complex, with lean-to buildings, was swept by flames, which engulfed 5,000 bales of hay at Yard Farm, Wroxall.
It took around 50 firefighters and six fire engines to extinguish the blaze.
10 Years Ago - July 5, 2002
Work started on the £10 million project to revamp the IW College and provide new facilities.
Contractors moved in after two years of planning the project, which would also see the construction of a giant B&Q store on the college car park as a means of part-funding the work.
The improvements were due to be finished by September.
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A rooftop protest by prisoners at Parkhurst Prison caused more than £30,000 worth of damage to the listed building.
Two prisoners climbed on to the roof and started hurling tiles to the ground in a protest lasting nearly eight hours.
The pair eventually came down peacefully and were put into the prison’s segregation wing.