KEITH HAMILTON looks through past editions of the Echo and reviews the issues which made the headlines

50 Years Ago Members of the local firm, W. Dibben and Sons flew from Southampton Airport in a specially chartered aircraft to visit the British Industries Fair at Birmingham.

Supporters of the Missions to Seamen attended their AGM on the liner Queen Elizabeth.

40 Years Ago Southampton department store Edwin Jones was selling women's nightdresses for 10s 6d (52p) each, skirts for 21s (£1.05), garden gnomes for 15s 6d (77p) and suitcases for £1.

Bottles of a new soft drink Orangedew was the feature a widespread local advertising campaign.

30 Years Ago The Met Office said it would be "rather warm with sunny periods and isolated showers that might be heavy'' with temperatures reaching 60.

The Atherley cinema in Shirley was screening How to Undress in Public without Undue Embarr-assment.

20 Years Ago A nationwide industrial dispute meant that no copies of the Daily Echo appeared on the streets of Southampton.

Internationally, a cargo ship rammed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa River, in Florida causing a section of the structure to collapse.

10 Years Ago The South was counting the cost of a day of violence when 6,000 Leeds football supporters travelled to Bournemouth. Riot police were drafted in from all over the region to quell troublemakers causing thousands of pounds of damage.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.