There was good news for Mr Arthur Hetherington and some of his neighbours after they learned that their homes would not be demolished to make way for the M65 motorway.
Mr Hetherington had retired in early 1971 and had hoped to remain at his Rosegrove Lane home for the remainder of his life, where they had lived since the early 1940s.
The Ministry had reprieved 42 houses in Clery Street, Liverpool Road, Ronald Street, Rosegrove Lane and Woodsley Street and a happy Arthur said: "Now I can get on with the jobs I would have done if I hadn't thought the house was coming down."
He was happy, but there was a health scare when a Marsden Hospital spokesman confirmed a patient was in isolation suffering from typhoid. The spokesman said the patient was satisfactory and added: "This has been confirmed as a mild case of typhoid, but there is no need for any panic or anxiety for the general public. It is being treated as any other infection case."
The patient wasn't named but it was disclosed that he lived in the country area and that he had been on holiday in Majorca about two weeks before he became ill.
Burnley had welcomed 25-year-old Roy Frances Davis. He'd decided to move to the town to get away from the London 'drug scene' but he soon found his own personal 'drug scene' when he decided to help himself at a local chemist's shop on Oxford Road.
To make things worse, he'd already pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to burglary from a shop, handling stolen goods and unlawful possession of drugs. All this, according to his defence, was down to an unfortunate meeting with some youths who had put temptation in front of him.
He was already subject to two suspended prison sentences but the court thought he needed medical treatment rather than imprisonment and he was placed on probation for three years and ordered to pay £10.23 costs. This was all on condition that he submitted to treatment.
Davis stole drugs, but Eric Kelly was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, for stealing an electric wall clock, valued at £6.51, from another Oxford Road shop. He was also ordered to pay a further £60 compensation for a window that was broken during the burglary.
Large screen televisions were all the rage. Radio Rentals were now offering the super large 19" screens, complete with stand, for £1.48 a week. People taking up this offer wouldn't be able to see Ernest Bishop in Coronation Street; he'd been shot dead over six years earlier, or so we thought.
The truth is, he, actor Stephen Hancock, was in Burnley conducting the Wingates Brass Band during a concert at the Cat's Whiskers. Band president, Mr Sid Ratcliffe, said: "Mr Hancock was exceptionally good. He is a musician of high repute. We certainly hope that he will come and conduct the band again.
"He was really brilliant, and after his performance he went to every member of the band and thanked them individually."
You might think this has no place on a football web site, but the whole concert had been arranged as a tribute to Burnley Football Club to honour the club's return to the First Division. They'd even played a specially written tune called Victors' Return which Mr Ratcliffe thought was very fitting.
Wednesday 3rd October 1973 was the day I probably spent more time on the road going to and coming back from a Burnley game than on any other occasion as we embarked on a trip to Methil to face East Fife.
Because of a pick up and drop off in Gateshead, meaning a longer route, we travelled not too far short of 600 miles on the round trip. That's not as far as a return trip to Plymouth, admittedly, but this one felt almost never ending. Still, it's not every day you should get to see the Tyne Bridge AND the Forth Road Bridge on the same day. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the latter as the mist prevented any sight of it.
It was one game where you did question your sanity for attending given the big lead, but there proved to be a decent following of Burnley fans in the sparse crowd at Bayview Park, the then home of our opponents.
Manager Jimmy Adamson had promised to play his strongest team and when Keith Newton was passed fit we thought it was going to be the team that had played in the win against City.
That proved not to be the case; Doug Collins was ruled out with an injury with Billy Ingham stepping in. What a wasted journey for Doug's mum. His dad rarely missed a game but his mum was too nervous to watch him and rarely attended. With little at stake she decided to make the journey for this one only for him to be out of the side. In any case, she had second thoughts and sat in the car outside for the entire game.
I'm not sure how you approach a second leg when you lead 7-0, but the way this game went was not what was expected with the home team giving it everything they had. They'd behaved impeccably at Turf Moor but here, in front of some of their fans, the attitude was much different and some of their challenges were shocking.
One, from full back Duncan on Leighton James, was a shocker that he got away with and another on Paul Fletcher wasn't far behind.
Did it cause us to drop the pace? That I don't know but East Fife it was who took the lead when McPHEE sent a vicious serving free kick from around 25-yards out of the reach of Alan Stevenson.
We should have equalised immediately but Geoff Nulty hit the bar with Ray Hankin firing the easy rebound over the bar.
It was still 1-0 with 23 minutes remaining when things got even worse for us. They cleared our corner which was then hit forward by Hegarty for RITCHIE to run on to. He was still in his own half but with us having pushed players up for the corner, he had a free run. He drew Stevenson before hammering the ball home.
The journey home was now looking a really long one, but that second goal was just what Burnley needed.
Adamson made a tactical change, pushing Peter Noble into midfield with Nulty dropping to right back and within a minute we'd pulled one back when FLETCHER seized on a slip by Printy to hit home a shot past McGarr from the edge of the box.
Four minutes later and we'd drawn level. Newton forced his way past two men as he went on a run down the left. His cross was perfect for HANKIN who scored with a downward header.
There was only ever going to be one winner now and the winning goal came two minutes from time. Hankin flicked on a James corner, Fletcher nodded it down for NOBLE to volley home.
The linesman, ridiculously, flagged, to try and get the goal disallowed. No one could see why, and that included the referee. The goal stood and Burnley won 3-2 with an aggregate victory of 10-2.
Burnley were congratulated by the home side. Their chairman James Baxter had already written in the programme: "Although we lost heavily in the first leg at Turf Moor our disappointment was tempered to some extent by the fact that we lost to one of the best footballing sides in the country.
"I have seen many English First Division sides over the years bur in my book Burnley were an exceptional side and with such skill and panache that one could not help but drive pleasure from their play."
The news came through that our opponents in the second round would be Hearts, who had beaten Everton, giving us an opportunity to exact revenge for them having knocked us out of the competition three years earlier.
The teams were;
EAST FIFE: McGarr, Duncan, Printy, Hamilton, Martin, Rutherford (Dailey 47), Ritchie, McIvor, Hegarty, Love, McPhee.
BURNLEY: Alan Stevenson, Peter Noble, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Geoff Nulty, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Billy Ingham, Leighton James.
REFEREE: Mr L. Thomson.
ATTENDANCE: 2,000.
England just about came out on top in the first legs with three wins, but the two Scottish wins, by Hearts and Motherwell had both come away from home.
The first leg results are all shown below.
Texaco Cup First Round Second Leg Results (aggregate score in brackets)
EAST FIFE 2 BURNLEY 3 (2-10)
HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN 0 EVERTON 0 (1-0)
DUNDEE UNITED 2 SHEFFIELD UNITED 0 (2-0)
LEICESTER CITY 2 AYR UNITED 0 (3-1)
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 MORTON 1 (3-2) - after extra time
NORWICH CITY 1 ST JOHNSTONE 0 (3-0)
BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 STOKE CITY 0 (0-0) - after extra time, BIRMINGHAM won 5-4 on pens
MOTHERWELL 3 COVENTRY CITY 2 (4-2)