Death of the Ulster poet Patrick Kavanagh (1967)

He had published numerous poems and a few novels, including Tarry Flynn and The Green Fool.

The News Letter noted: “Tarry Flynn, a novel of the Irish countryside, which was banned in Eire four days after publication began in a Dublin magazine in 1948, was adapted and produced in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, last year.”

The report added: “Mr Kavanagh had been a contributor to well-known periodicals and journals in Eire, Britain and the United States and also broadcast on literary topics from Radio Eireann and the BBC. He married Miss Katherine Moloney, a niece of Kevin Barry.

Born in Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, in 1905, he started life as a small farmer and his first book of verse was entitled Ploughman and Other Poems.

In 1942 he published The Great Hunger, one of his best known poems. Later he became a columnist in a Dublin newspaper and then film critic with The Catholic Standard.”

Runaway road roller hits Londonderry wall

A seven-ton road roller owned by Londonderry Corporation had careered down Academy Road, crossed the busy Northland Road and crashed into a wall, reported the News Letter.

The roller, diesel powered, had jumped out of gear while coming down Academy Road, one of the steepest streets in the city.

The driver, 52-year-old, David Glass, who lived on Academy Road, made frantic efforts to bring the roller under control.

The News Letter reported: “Luckily there was no traffic on Northland Road as the roller crashed on to the footpath into the wall. Academy Road runs along side Londonderry Model School and the accident happened only a short time before the children were due to leave.”

Bomb hoax at Paisley meeting

Police had searched Limavady Town Hall in December 1967 after an anonymous phone call had been received stating that a bomb had been placed in the building, where the Reverend Ian Paisley, was addressing a meeting.

The meeting continued as planned.

Mr Paisley said afterwards: “Calmness prevailed, nobody left.

“It is absurd to think that anyone would tell us if they were going to blow us up.”