Ally Pally ‘bankruptcy’ and a Marks & Spencer salmon heist: This week’s Ham&High 30 years ago

This week in 1990 the Haringey Conservatives leader claimed Alexandra Palace was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Mr Hall demanded a special council meeting to discuss the management of the palace, which he said defied belief for its stupidity and financial ineptitude.

The trustees of the site were at the time trying to raise a £27.5 million mortgage to complete works on the palace.

At Highbury Corner magistrates, a court heard that a grandson of the late Air Vice-Marshal Lord Trenchard stole 18 packets of salmon and four books to pay for his drug and alcohol habits.

The 22-year-old admitted stealing salmon worth £88.85 from Marks and Spencer in Camden Town.

Elsewhere, a teenager bought scraps from a butcher's shop and covered them with fake blood for a scene in a science fiction movie he made on a budget of £504 using facilities at William Ellis School in Highgate Road.