Leeds nostalgia: Plenty of fish in the river in Leeds in 1918

Dateline: September 20, 1918: Go back a hundred years and Yorkshire's rivers had been in a state of floor for about a fortnight. This had dire consequences for the potato crop, upon which many were relying, as there was a general shortage of fruit and veg. However, it was good news for fisherman, in particular those hunting for trout.

An article from the YEP on this day in 1918 reported that trout had “come out of the boiling flood into the quieter water near the banks. “The Wharfe has fished excellently from Buckden to Weeton and reports from both the Yore and Swale are most encouraging.”

On the latter river, said the report, fish up to 3lb were being taken and baskets had touched the “20 brace mark”.

In other news: a headline many people, particularly those living in the North, would doubtless like to see in today’s papers, as it read: ‘The Railway Difficulty Settled’.

This centred on a dispute by rail workers and after a tense meeting, Chancellor of the Exchequer Bonar Law, offered the rail men a weekly increase of 5s (for all male workers over 18 and 2s 6s for boys under 18).

Female workers over 18 were also to receive the same deal. The increase was retrospective to August 3.

And finally, the whiff of propaganda with a news story based on an eye-witness account of “a lady who had just returned from Belgium” and who saw first hand just how weary the Germans were of the war, some of them swapping their uniforms for civilian clothing. It ran: “The overbearing swagger of 1914 has gone, their uniforms are for the most part dirty and worn and the general bearing is one of indifference to the course of events.”