A man jogging with his wife and two of his four children was killed by lightning only yards from cover on Parliament Hill during a freak storm. As torrential rain fell, fire engines fr

6 August 1982: Man killed by lightning in front of wife and children

A man jogging with his wife and two of his four children was killed by lightning only yards from cover on Parliament Hill during a freak storm. As torrential rain fell, fire engines from as far afield as Battersea were brought in to deal with flooding up to three feet deep in Highgate, and hundreds of basements were awash with water and sewage in Kentish Town and St John's Wood.

About 80 gipsies with seven caravans moved on to a designated open space in Quex Road, West Hampstead - to be barricaded in immediately by Camden Council. The gipsies say they have nowhere else to go and that the blockade prevents them from carrying out their daily work.

After five months of wrangling over almost every aspect of the Alexandra Palace rebuilding plans, the inquiry inspector now gets down to the task of preparing his report, to be published at the end of the year.

30 July 1982: Call to phase out corporal punishment in schools

Barnet's opposition leader calls for corporal punishment to be phased out in the borough's schools, but the chairman says Barnet's policy is to leave it to the individual heads of schools.

A nuclear campaigner living in Crouch End says it is rather peaceful to have no electricity. This discovery was forced on her by the Eastern Electricity Board, which disconnected her supply because she has refused to pay the 11 per cent of the bill attributable to the use of nuclear rather than fossil fuel, together with 100 or so CND supporters throughout Britain.

A 'high class' amusement centre can come to Muswell Hill Broadway, despite objections from more than 2,500 residents. Haringey council agreed the controversial application, going against its own officers' advice and disregarding local protests.