20 years ago today...

The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher flew back from an EEC summit in Venice to attend a Finchley & Whetstone Chamber of Commerce ball in her honour.

Mrs Thatcher was presented with a medal to mark 21 years as president of the chamber.

Vice-president Dennis Signy, also the editor of the Hendon Times, told the 200 guests at Alexandra Palace: 'She was front page news with us long before the rest of the world discovered her.'

At the event, Councillor Mary Phillips won a two-week holiday in Torremolinos.

Dr Rhodes Boyson, Tory MP for Brent North and Education Under-Secretary claimed that the Labour Party was out of touch.

'The Labour Party is no longer 'the man for all seasons',' he said.

'It is frozen in a cold and frosty December while our people wish for spring and hope again.'

England cricket captain Ian Botham took a break from the Lord's test against the West Indies by enjoying 18 holes at Finchley Golf Club. In a fundraising tournament for Middlesex CC, Botham came second behind Finchley man Jim Potter, but ahead of Mike Gatting and John Emburey. Our reporter wrote: 'Botham agreed that it had been an excellent afternoon.'

The president of the National Consumer Protection Council, Mrs Regina Dollar, from Woodward Avenue, Hendon, called for zebra crossings to extend their stripes onto the pavement.

She said that the current law where vehicles only had to stop when pedestrians had a foot on the road was 'sheer insanity'.