As it’s the eclipse this week, I found two accounts of the solar eclipse of June 29th 1927 in ‘Bootham’ magazine.
Two boys travelled to Giggleswick, partly because a group of astronomers from Greenwich Observatory would be there – they were “lucky enough to be able to help the Astronomer Royal’s party to move their camera”. There were quite a few clouds, but the clouds parted with two minutes to spare. “Suddenly the darkness swept over us, and as we turned towards the sun we saw the black disc surrounded by the corona, which was shown up like ‘bright metal on a sullen ground’ by the dark blue sky behind it. All our instructions were forgotten in that wonderful moment. Ignoring all scientific details, we just gazed at the beauty of the corona, until the rim of beads flashed out a bright white, telling us that totality was over. O.C.R.”
Another group got up at 2am and travelled to Wensleydale, to view the eclipse from Middleham Moor. They weren’t as lucky as the Giggleswick group – they saw glimpses of a partial eclipse, but clouds hid the sun at the moment of totality. “The moor was crowded with spectators, but all was quiet during those twenty seconds; then the light swept across the countryside, and conversation started again. A few minutes later a rift appeared in the clouds and we saw again the partially eclipsed sun…. K.F.N.”