On this day in Yorkshire 1976

Yorkshire moor blaze. 'Bugged' sword Russian disqualified at Montreal and the Viking Mars landing.

A huge moorland blaze was halted last night - 400 yards away from bringing disaster to the farms and homes of Glaisdale, North Yorkshire.

As weary firemen feared that a wall of flames 20ft. high and one and a half miles wide woudl race out of control through a plantation at the head of the dale, the wind suddenly changed.

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The change in the wind, a stone wall which helped to contain the flames, and water from a wartime bomb crater allowed the fire crews and volunteers to stop the advance of the fire which had raged for more than 24 hours and destroyed more than 1,000 acres of moor.

Earlier, Divisional Officer Alan Stow, of Scarborough has said that if the fire reached the plantation it was unlikely that it could be contained.

Less than 200 yards from the semi mature plantation of several acres stands Midge Hall, otherwise known as Glaisdale Head Farm, the home of Lord and Lady Simon.

A Russian fencer got his marching orders from montreal yesterday when he was disqualified for cheating in the modern pentathlon against the leading British medal hope Jim Fox.

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The Russian, Boris Onischenko, a team gold medallist in Munich four years ago and several times world champion, was leading in the fencing competition when it was alleged that he was using a “bugged” weapon.

The American Viking spacecraft is due to land on Mars today to search for life on the red planet that mysteriously destroyed two Russian craft, one seconds before and the other seconds after, touchdown.

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