.

Today in 1960 Spanish football side, Real Madrid, won the European Cup for the fifth time, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 at Hampden Park, Glasgow.
Undoubtedly one of the greatest football matches ever seen in Scotland, the ecstatic crowd of 130,000 witnessed a spectacular display of footballing finesse.
Hampden's gate receipts of £55,000 logged a then British record, and the estimated 70m television viewers around Europe were at that time by far the largest audience for a live BBC outside broadcast.
The European Cup had been in existence only five years - and with this legendary performance, Real won the trophy, incredibly, for the fifth consecutive time.

“ The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards. ”

--Anatole France

I've not been permitted access to D C Thomson the last week. Anyone know what's going on? Mind you, Yoonited won the cup. Great celebration in Dundee.

I'm off to the capital city for the next few days-- hospital visit. Like MacArthur 'I shall return!"

:)

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On this day in 1685 the Earl of Argyll sailed from Holland to Campbeltown with 300 men in an attempted uprising.
After its failure he was executed.
The rebellion was designed to place Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, on the throne.
The failure of this revolt led to a close bond between the Stewart monarchy and the enemies of the Campbells in the Highlands, which was to become more apparent in the subsequent Jacobite uprisings.

"John Shepherd-Barron, the Scotsman credited with inventing the world's first automatic cash machine, has died after a short illness. He was 84."

Eh niver knew that.

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Today in 1859 saw the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Edinburgh.
Conan Doyle invented the great fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, and is said to have based the relationship between Holmes and his sidekick, Dr Watson, on Plato's Socrates and his disciples, Cervantes' Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and James Boswell's conversations with Dr Samuel Johnson.
In later life Conan Doyle became a vocal supporter of spiritualism, writing many books on the subject.

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On this day in 1915, 227 people are killed and 246 more are injured in a rail crash at Quintinshill, near Gretna Green.
The accident happened when a troop train carrying almost 500 soldiers of the Royal Scots en route to Gallipoli crashed into a stationary goods train.
The express train from London subsequently ran straight into the wreckage.
The Royal Scots suffered the vast majority of casualties, with 215 killed, as fire ripped through the wooden train, helped by the gas lamps used for lighting.
The crash accounted for 42 per cent of the battalion's casualties for the entire war and it remains Britain's worst rail disaster.

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On this day in 1701 Captain William Kidd, the notorious Scottish pirate, died.
Born, probably in Dundee, around the year 1645, Kidd became one of the best known pirates of his age.
Commissioned by King William III to attack pirates in the Indian Ocean, but secretly allowed to attack French merchantmen, Kidd was disowned by the establishment at his trial.
Kidd was hanged on Execution Dock, in London's docklands on the banks of The Thames.
Kidd became a legendary figure, largely because nobody ever discovered what had happened to the rest of his treasure - if there really was any more to be found.
Its value multiplied as time went by and treasure hunters have searched for his loot from the Americas to the South China Sea, but so far in vain.

CAPTAIN KIDD A DUNDONIAN?         

AN AMERICAN author has uncovered evidence that the legendary pirate Captain Kidd could, in fact, be a son of Dundee.

Documents found by Richard Zacks point to William Kidd being born in 1654 in what would become the City of Discovery, rather than in Greenock as was previously thought.

In his new book The Pirate Hunter: The True Story Of Captain Kidd, Zacks contends that Kidd’s father was local sea-captain John Kidd, who died when his son was five-years-old.

The author also seeks to redress Kidd’s notoriety as a pirate, arguing that he was in fact a respectable 17th century merchant sea captain employed by powerful Englishmen to hunt pirates and recover their spoils.

"Captain Kidd has gone down in history as one of the most notorious pirates who ever lived, a swashbuckler like Blackbeard," he said from his New York home.

"But Kidd was actually a pirate hunter, a privateer commissioned secretly by four of the most powerful lords in England. He was to capture pirates and bring their stolen treasures back to London where he and his investors would divvy the profits. When the mission went badly the English lords tried to wash their hands of this Scottish nuisance."

Though Kidd’s nationality was never in doubt, Zacks made a chance discovery in the Scottish archives in 1999 which led to the accepted wisdom on his birthplace being cast in serious doubt.

"I stumbled on a genealogical reference book by one David Dobson of St Andrews which mentioned in passing that the notorious Captain William Kidd was born in Dundee in 1654," he said.

"This went against all available fact, including The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Dobson gave his source, so I went to the Public Record Office in Kew and requested the volume, which turned out to be an enormous leather-bound tome of about 1000 pages of court depositions from the 1690s.

"I turned page after page until, on page 313, I hit the motherlode: a deposition dated October 15, 1695, with the lead-in description in Latin, stating that William Kidd identified himself as 41-years-old, a resident of New York City for the past six years and originally a native of Dundee, Scotland.

"Counting backwards, that would place his birth in 1654. I contacted the Genealogical Record Office of Scotland and found a William Kidd listed on a parish register as born on January 22, 1654, in Dundee with a father John Kidd."

Captain Kidd was hanged in 1701 after some fuss. The first rope put around his neck broke, so he had to be strung up a second time. Again the rope broke, but the third one held.

His body was dipped in tar and hung by chains along the River Thames, serving as a warning to would-be pirates for years to come.

The author said, "Dundee should certainly acknowledge him as a native son and dedicate a corner of a local museum to him...Captain Kidd was a native of Dundee who, against the prevailing prejudice against Scots, rose to the top among privateer captains, and he was graced with a fine commission to hunt the terrorists of his day, pirates."

Though Kidd went to America as an adult and never returned to Scotland he renamed his Malagasy slave boy Dundee.

8=)

The goalscorers were Colin Stein and Willie Johnston with a brace.

However, the victory was marred as jubilant Rangers fans invaded the pitch, leading to violent clashes with the Spanish police.

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On this day in 1926 Stanley Baxter, the comedy actor and impersonator, was born.

Baxter began his show business career in the forces, entertaining troops in Malaya, along with the likes of Kenneth Williams and director John Schlesinger.

On his return to Scotland he worked at the Citizen's Theatre before moving on to a hugely successful career in television.

Perhaps Baxter's crowning moment was his series of sketches parodying the Glasgow dialect, Parliamo Glasgow.

Baxter was also well known for his impersonations and was the first to impersonate the Queen on air.

This included a belief in the power of prayer in the healing of disease: Zion existed without any doctors or pharmacists.
Smoking, drinking and the eating of pork were banned.
Dowie, the self-proclaimed apostle Elijah the Restorer, was expelled from the Church in 1905 after he had become increasingly eccentric, and the community fell into financial ruin.
He died a year later.

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On 25 May 1967, Celtic become the first British football club to win the European Cup.
The Glasgow side, managed by Jock Stein, picked up the trophy by defeating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon.
After falling behind to a first half penalty, Celtic fought back through goals from Tommy Gemmell and Stevie Chalmers.
The winning team was made up of eleven Scots, all born within a thirty mile radius of Glasgow.

They were mostly National Service and mostly gay, (Baxter being an exception).

The title of the film itself is a sly dig at the time honoured practice known as a short-arm inspection, by which the powers that be kept an eye on the incidence of VD amongst the troops.   

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones. ”

--John Cage

:)

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On 28 May 1926 Sir James Cantlie, the Scottish physician, died.
Cantlie achieved prominence as the founding President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine.
He spent a large part of his career in Hong Kong, carrying out many investigations into leprosy, and dealing with an outbreak of plague in the colony.
While in Hong Kong one of his pupils at the College of Medecine for Chinese was the future leader of China, Sun Yat Sen.

born June 5, 1939, High River, Alberta, Canada
prime minister of Canada from June 1979 to March 1980, the youngest person ever to win the post.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“ A man’s silence is wonderful to listen to. ”

--Thomas Hardy

:)

An affy lang time ti hae ee's tea...

And without his weather reports, we've had bra' summer days since rainy Sunday!

8=)

"..the beginning of the end."
--Winston S. Churchill

:)

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On 6 June 1838 Thomas Glover was born in Fraserburgh.
A leading figure in the industrialisation of Japan, Glover was the first non-Japanese to be awarded the Order of the Rising Sun - one of the top honours of the country.
It was he who brought the first steam train to Japan, and founded the fore-runner of the great Mitsubishi yard which dominates Nagasaki harbour today - also the main reason for the targeting of this city in the atomic bomb attack.
Ironically, Glover's main business was arms dealing and the selling of ships.
Another claim to fame is that Glover's Japanese wife Tsuru, whom he married in 1867, is said to have been the inspiration for Madame Butterfly.

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Today in 1891, Sir John MacDonald, the Scottish-born Canadian statesman, died.
MacDonald was considered to be the architect of the Confederation of Canada and served twice as the first Prime Minister of the unified Dominion, between 1867-73 and 1878-91.
Already an experienced local politician, he helped form the 1854 coalition with Upper Canadian reformers and French Canadians, creating the Liberal-Conservative Party.
Within this coalition government, Macdonald was promoted to be attorney-general, and later acted as co-premier between 1856 and 1862.
In 1864, MacDonald accepted that constitutional change was necessary for Canada, and spent that summer preparing proposals for a Confederation.
He was a leading delegate at all three Confederation conferences, and was knighted for his work towards union.

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On this day in 1329 Robert the Bruce died at Cardross Castle in Dunbartonshire.
The cause of his death remains unclear, but there is a suspicion that Bruce suffered from leprosy for a long period and that this is what killed him in the end.
He was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, and in 1819 his tomb was discovered and opened.
Bruce had always wanted to take part in the Crusades, and in death he got his wish.
Bruce's right hand man, the Black Douglas, took his embalmed heart to Spain to fight the Moors.
After Douglas's death, the cask containing the heart was returned to Melrose Abbey.

><><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><>><><>

According to official reports Nagasaki became the target of the A-Bomb because of cloud cover at Yokohama. Nagasaki was the second choice. Interestingly, there were British P.O.W., working in Mitsibushi shipyard.

:)

From a book by David Wragg;   " Plan Z "
------ Communists nationalise property , while Fascists nationalise people "

Good read on the preparations inside Germany for building their navy up to parity and beyond with the RN.

— Franklin P. Jones

         ><><><><><><>

The Aircraft Carrier HMS Glorious was destroyed at Narvic seventy years ago this day, 1940, 1200 crew died.

:)

But on this day June 8 1967 The USS LIBERTY was attacked by Isreali forces; in an effort which some are now saying was approved/ " sanctioned " by the USA itself.

— Heywood Broun”


:)

"The truth is always attended by a bodyguard of lies."

--Winston S. Churchill

He was referring to wartime activiies in the business of waging war.

United States
• Previous World Cup appearances: 8
• Best finish: third place (1930)
• FIFA world ranking: 14
• How they qualified: first place in CONCACAF qualifying play

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“ I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities he excites among his opponents.
— Winston S. Churchill”


:)

8=)

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On this day in 1778 the Earl of Seaforth raised a regiment for the American War from the MacKenzies and MacRaes of Ross-shire and Sutherland.
In 1961 the Seaforth Highlanders amalgamated with the Camerons to form the Queen's Own Highlanders.

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In this day in 1573, William Maitland, Scottish statesman, died.
Known as "Secretary Maitland", he was Mary, Queen of Scots' Secretary of State, and one of the country's ablest administrators.
He sought to bring about the union of England and Scotland through the recognition of Mary as Elizabeth I's heir.

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The 10 June 1719 saw the Battle of Glenshiel, the final act of a minor Jacobite rising.
The Jacobite side, under the command of the 10th Earl Marischal, consisted of only 1,000 men.
After some hours of engagement with a Hanovarian army under General Wightman, the Jacobite forces disbanded and the revolt was over.

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On this day in 1858, Scottish botanist, Robert Brown, died.
Brown had sailed on many early missions to Australia, and his work with the flora and fauna of the new continent had made him eminently respected in his field, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Linnean Society.
Brown is also famous for his death, as it led to a free date at the Linnean Society which was filled by Charles Darwin's lecture on the theory of evolution.

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On June 11 1939, Formula One champion, Jackie Stewart, was born in Dumbartonshire.
The winner of 27 Grand Prix and World Champion three times, Stewart remains one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport.

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On this day in 1488 the Battle of Sauchieburn took place, where King James III and the Royalist army fought against his son and a collection of disgruntled nobles.
James was wounded falling from his horse after fleeing the battle and was subsequently killed by one of the rebels who was pretending to be a priest.

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On 12 June 2001 Thomas Wilson, the Scottish composer, died.
His works include the three-act opera, Confessions of a Justified Sinner, which was commissioned by Scottish Opera.
The libretto, by John Currie, is based upon James Hogg's 1825 novel of the same name.

:)

Later, the Countess of Sutherland, who married an Englishman, evicted her people so her English husband could run sheep on the land.   When an attempt was made to raise a Regiment to fight for the English in Crimea, the recruiters were told "you prefer sheep to people, let sheep do your fighting".

As it turned out, 2-legged sheep did just that, most dying of disease before a shot was fired.

Nicknamed "daftie" by his fellow pupils at Edinburgh Academy, he went on to predict the existence of radio waves in 1865, and is considered by many to be the father of the science of electronics.

The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it."

- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

:)

http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Maxwell_%28unit%29

[quote]
The maxwell, abbreviated as Mx, is the compound derived CGS unit of magnetic flux. The unit was previously called a line. The unit name honors James Clerk Maxwell, who presented the unified theory of electromagnetism, and was established by the IEC in 1930.

    1 maxwell = 1 gauss × cm2 = 10−8 weber

In a magnetic field of strength one gauss, one maxwell is the total flux across a surface of one square centimetre perpendicular to the field.

[This SI unit is named after James Clerk Maxwell. As with all SI units whose names are derived from the proper name of a person, the first letter of its symbol is uppercase (Mx). But when an SI unit is spelled out, it should always be written in lowercase (maxwell), unless it begins a sentence or is the name "degree Celsius".
— Based on The International System of Units, section 5.2.]
[unquote]

Which just goes to show that the answer was never a melon, a square melon, or even a millimelon!

8=)

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On this day in 1746 Colin MacLaurin, the Scottish mathematician, died.
MacLaurin was a child prodigy who attained the position of professor of mathematics by the age of 19, and a close friend and associate of Isaac Newton.
His masterwork is Organic Geometry, with the Description of the Universal Linear Curves.

       <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

CGS: centimetre-gram-system. I remember working with 10 to 8th power ergs. That expression of yours looks suspiciously like 10 to the minus eighth power. You've got me confused, Doon (easy enough to do, ofcourse).
Einstein had two portraits in his study. The individuals he most admired: Isaac Newton and James Clark Maxwell. Even he couldn't figure out how Maxwell deduced his equations.

:0

SI System,

Magnetic Flux, symbol the Greek letter phi, measured in weber (Wb)

Magnetic Flux Density, symbol B, measured in tesla (T)

Magnetic field strength, symbol H, measured in ampere-turn per metre (At/m), or ampere per metre (A/m)

Magnetomotive force, symbol F, measured in ampere-turns (At)

Mind you, it's published by Thomas Reed at 36 Cock Lane, London EC1A 9BY and the author is Edmund Kraal, head of electrical engineering and radio Dept at South Shields Marine College, all English. No reason why they would recognise a Scot, is there?

http://www.discoverbexhill.com/johnlogiebaird.php

Hi Billarney.
I only copied and pasted to show that Maxwell had an SI unit named after him.

8=)

h

8=)

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On the 15 June 1844 Thomas Campbell, the Scottish poet, died.
Author of The Pleasures of Hope, Campbell helped found the University of London for students who were excluded from Oxford and Cambridge for religious or financial reasons.

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

:)

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On 16 June 1948 Henry McLeish, Scottish Labour politician, was born.
McLeish began his working life as a footballer for East Fife, but soon entered the political arena, serving from 1987 as MP for Central Fife.
His career reached its zenith with his appointment as First Minister of the Scottish Executive, succeeding Donald Dewar.
He was forced to resign, however, after a financial scandal at his constituency.

.

On 16 June 1807 the Rev. John Skinner, poet, theologion and Episcopalian minister of Longside in Buchan, died.
His song, Tullochgorum, was complemented by Robert Burns in a letter sent to Skinner as, "the best Scotch song ever Scotland saw".

"Pure logic is the ruin of the human spirit."

--Old Chinese adage.

:)

Mary was imprisoned in the castle on the island in the middle of the loch after the defeat of her forces at the battle of Carberry Hill.

She was pregnant at the time and gave birth on the island, although what happened to the child is unknown.

Shortly after this Mary was forced into signing her abdication papers in the castle, which made her half-brother, Moray, Regent.

It was the spring of the following year before Mary made her escape from the castle, dressed as a servant girl.

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The 17 June 2001 witnessed the death of Cardinal Winning, leader of Scotland's Catholic community.

Winning had served as Archbishop of Glasgow from 1974.

He was only the third Scot to be appointed a Cardinal.

Staunchly conservative, he made headlines for his traditional views toward abortion and homosexuality.

:)

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On 18 June 1970 the Scottish National Party celebrated their first General Election success, with Donald Stewart winning the Western Isles constituency from Labour.
He was to hold on to the seat until his retiral in 1987.

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At Waterloo General Blucher with the Prussians ensured the defeat of Napoleon. Until their entry into the action the battle was going to the French.

:)

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On 19 June, 1861 Earl Haig was born in Edinburgh.
Haig spent a distinguished career in the military, rising through the ranks of the 7th Hussars until eventually becoming C-in-C of British forces in 1915.
Haig's tactics during the First World War have been called into question as being unimaginative and wasteful of soldiers' lives, and Haig himself cited his own despair at the casualties lost as the main reason for his work in founding the British Legion and instituting the Poppy Day appeal.

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On 19 June 1937 J M Barrie, the Scottish playwright and novelist, died.
Although a prolific writer, Barrie is principally remembered today for his classic children's story, Peter Pan.
Other notable Barrie works include the prose work A Window in Thrums and the play The Admirable Crichton.

Ultrasound is also used extensively in the search for distended bladders in male patients.

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Today in 1946, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Scottish Conservative politician, was born.
Rifkind was Foreign Secretary from 1995-97 in the John Major administration.
He also held the posts of Defence Minister and Secretary of State for Scotland.

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Today in 1680, one year to the day after the disaster of Bothwell Bridge, the Rev. Richard Cameron, and his brother Michael, rode into the town of Sanquhar with 20 Covenanter horsemen, calling for an end to the reign of Charles II.
The so-called Sanquhar Declaration, naturally, was viewed as an act of treason and the heads of all involved were declared forfeit to the Crown.

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On this day in 1832 Sir James Hall, Scottish geologist, died.
Founder of geochemistry, Hall demonstrated that if igneous rocks are allowed to cool slowly, they form crystalline rather than glassy rock.
He also showed that limestone, when heated under pressure, does not decompose but becomes marble.

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24 June 1777 saw the birth of Admiral Sir John Ross, Scottish Polar explorer.
In 1818 he went in search of the Northwest Passage but turned back after exploring Baffin Bay.
Financed by Sir Felix Booth, he commanded a second search expedition (1829-33), when he located the north magnetic pole on Boothia Peninsula, now called Prince of Wales Island.

— Horace

:)

Born in East Lothian in 1828, Margaret spent most of her life living in Liverpool and Glasgow.

Her novels are often subversive, using sharp wit to expose the hypocrisy and injustices of Victorian society.

The mundane existence of women of the time, and the difficulties of relations within families, were themes she tackled with delicacy, humour and intelligence.

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25 June 1936 saw the birth of Roy Williamson, Scottish folk musician and songwriter.
A founder member of the folk group, "The Corries", for whom he wrote the song which has since become Scotland's unofficial National Anthem, "Flower of Scotland".

:)

The company came to ruin five years later through English obstruction, Spanish hostility and Scottish mismanagement.

The image is of Darien House in Bristo Street in Edinburgh.

Originally built as the headquarters for the ill-fated Company, it later became a lunatic asylum for paupers in the nearby workhouse.

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26 June 1824 saw the birth of William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, eminent Scottish physicist.

He devised the Kelvin, or Absolute, scale of temperature.

Thomson brought together disparate areas of physics - heat, thermodynamics, mechanics, hydrodynamics, magnetism, and electricity - and thus played a principal role in the final synthesis of 19th-century science.

His success as a synthesizer of theories about energy places him in the same position in 19th-century physics as Sir Isaac Newton has in 17th-century physics or Albert Einstein in 20th-century physics.

:)

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On this day in 1937, Robin Hall, Scottish folk singer and musician, was born.
Hall achieved national fame in partnership with fellow Scot, Jimmie MacGregor, on the BBC TV show, Tonight.
His hits included The Mingulay Boat Song and Ye Cannae Shove Yer Grannie Aff a Bus.

-Seneca, Moral Epistles

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Today in 1746, Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie set sail from Benbecula to Skye.
After Culloden, the Prince had a high price on his head.
He came to Benbecula, and Flora helped him escape to Skye by disguising him as her Irish maid, Betty Burke.
The crossing was short but perilous, as the small boat weathered both storms and the bullets of redcoats from the shore.
Yet they survived that, and the questioning of government men, thanks in no small part to the cool demeanour of Flora, and the Prince escaped to France, never to return.
She was arrested when her part in the escape became known, but the popular appeal of her courage and ingenuity meant she was well treated, and she was released after spending a few years in the Tower.
She emigrated to America, but later returned to Kingsburgh on Skye, where she died in 1790.

"Belief is when someone does the thinking for us, and we believe what they say."

--Buckminster Fuller

:)

:)

Subsequent research suggests that L'Angelier, a known arsenic eater, may have been a victim of his own vengeful plot to frame Madeleine for his attempted murder.
She moved to London, where she became a popular figure, marrying artist and publisher, George Wardle.
After this marriage failed, she moved to New York, married again in her seventies, and lived to the age of 93.

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On this day in 1931, James Loughran, Scottish conductor, was born in Glasgow.
Loughran first came to notice when he won the Philharmonia Orchestra's Conducting Competition in 1961, and soon became principal conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
In 1971, he was appointed successor to Barbirolli by the Hallé Orchestra, and in 1979-83 he was Principal Conductor of the Bamberger Symphoniker.
During those years he made outstanding recordings of the Beethoven and Brahms Symphonies, and his recording of Holst's "The Planets" won him a gold record.

James Loughran has regularly conducted European orchestras, from Stockholm to Barcelona, as well as in the USA and Australia.
In 1996 he comitted himself to Denmark's Aarhus Symphony Orchestra as Chief Conductor.

Edinburgh is a cross between Copenhagen and Barcelona, except in Copenhagen they speak more understandable English.

--John Malkovich (Actor).

Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then, so is a bycicle repair kit.

--Billy Connolly.

I go the way that providence dictates with the assurance of a sleep-walker.

--Adolf Hitler (bad Actor!)

:)

After a devolution referendum showed resounding support for the reconvening of the Scottish parliament, plans were put into motion for the creation of such a body.

The parliament would sit in the Church of Scotland Assembly Hall in Edinburgh.

Elections were held on May 1 1999 and the first sitting of the body took place on May 12 of that year.

The official opening on July 1 saw the Queen transfer full constitutional powers to Edinburgh.

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This date in July 1731 saw the birth of Admiral Adam Duncan, the Scottish sailor.

A native of Dundee, Duncan was born into a mercantile family but left home at fifteen to become a midshipman in the navy.

Duncan went on to command 'HMS Blenheim' at the relief of Gibraltar in October 1782, but his greatest moment was the victory over the Dutch at the battle of Camperdown in 1797.

Camperdown was a disaster for the Dutch, with their fleet being crushed and their commander, Admiral de Winther, being captured.

Duncan returned to great acclaim and was awarded the title of Viscount Duncan of Camperdown.

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On this day in 1884 Allan Pinkerton, the Scottish-born detective, died.

The son of a Glasgow policeman, Pinkerton trained as a cooper before emigrating to the USA in 1842.

Rumour has it that he fled for fear of imminent arrest.

After serving as a sheriff in Chicago, he set up the Pinkerton detective agency.

He was responsible for guarding Abraham Lincoln and saved him from assassination in 1861.

Pinkerton also served as chief of US Secret Service during the American Civil War.

The Pinkerton company logo was "We Never Sleep", and emblazoned above the logo on the company headquarters was a huge black and white eye, which gave rise to the expression private eye.

“We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all. ”

--François

:)

The aristocrat, who entered No.10 from the Lords and lasted less than a year, was the last Premier to "emerge" from a mysterious system of consultations dubbed the 'Magic Circle'.

His appointment, on the advice of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan from his hospital bed, caused a furore.

Two leading Tories refused to serve in his administration and he later scrapped the appointment process, introducing leadership election ballots.

He was the only man since the Marquess of Salisbury in 1895 to become Premier from the House of Lords.

He resigned his six peerages just four days later and, after a by-election, returned to the Commons as MP for Kinross and West Perthshire.

His short-lived period of office lasted less than a year from October 1963 to October 1964, spanning the period of the assassination of US President, John F.Kennedy.

Following his resignation, he took the title, Lord Home of the Hirsel.

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On this day in 1938 Sir John Burnett, the renowned Scottish architect, died.
His most famous commissions include the Royal Institute of Fine Arts; the Alhambra, and the Athenaeum, all in Glasgow, and the the North front of the British Museum, the Institute of Chemistry, and the extenstion to Selfridges, all in London.

“No human thing is of serious importance. ”

--Plato

Adam is regarded as a leading exponent of the neoclassical revival in the latter part of the 18th Century. As equally well-regarded for the interior designs of his buildings as the exteriors, the Old Quad of the University of Edinburgh is a good example of his work in Scotland.
Billy Liddell

On 3 July 2001 Billy Liddell, the Scottish international footballer, died.

During his career with Liverpool during the 1940-50s he scored 229 times in 537 games for the club. He also played for Scotland 28 times and was one of only two players who appeared in the Great Britain side that faced a team from the rest of Europe in both 1947 and 1955, the other being Stanley Matthews.

On 3 July 1883, the Clyde shipyards suffered their worst accident when the SS Daphne capsized at her launch.

The packet steamer had been built by the Linthouse yard of Alexander Stephen and Sons and immediately sank into the River Clyde, taking the lives of the 195 workmen on board. It was later discovered that the 460-ton ship had little stability when it was launched, and rolled over forty-five degrees, taking huge amounts of water through a large deck opening.

His father, William, built the old Town House in Dundee (The Pillars), which was demolished in 1932. See:-

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/183041/details/dundee+high+street+town+house/

William was also responsible for the Wade Bridge at Aberfeldy.

8=)

“ I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God’s business. —

-Michael J. Fox”

Gee Whizz: I always thought it was General Wade that was responsible for that bridge!

:)

"Lt. General Wade's bridge at Aberfeldy was first opened to traffic at the end of October 1733 - over 250 years ago. Wade regarded it the greatest of his considerable achievements in road-making.
[snip]
Wade visited the bridge briefly in 1734 but it was not until 8 August 1735 - nearly two years later - that he attended the formal opening celebrations. The total cost was £3,596 or, in today's terms, over £1m. No reasonable expense had been spared.
The best architect in Scotland, William Adam, was hired to design the structure and master masons were brought from the northern counties of England to spend all winter preparing the stone - a grey chlorite schist from a quarry at Farrochil about a mile to the south-west and the following summer constructing the bridge.

This completed the first stage of what Wade saw as an essential network of roads, initially linking Inverness and Fort William along the Great Glen with Dunkeld and Crieff. The network later grew to over 1,000 miles south of the Great Glen, establishing most major routes of the present day."

That's from,
http://www.scottish-towns.co.uk/perthshire/aberfeldy/wades-bridge.html

8=)

:(

.

4 July 1899 saw the birth of Roy Henderson, the Scottish operatic baritone.
Henderson sang the role of Count Almaviva in Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' at the inauguration of Glyndebourne Festival Opera on 28 May 1934.

.

Today in 1820, William Rankine, the engineer and physicist, was born.
Rankine is noted for his work in thermodynamics.
He devised the "Rankine Cycle", a theoretical ideal process for the operation of turbines and steam engines, in which a condensing vapour is the working fluid.
He served as the first President of the Institute of Engineers in Scotland.

“If you cannot convince them, confuse them. ”

--Harry S. Truman

:)

He was born John Paul in a small, white-washed cottage at Arbigland near Kirkbean, Kircudbrightshire.

Regarded as the founder of the American navy, Jones became an American national hero during the War of Independence.

As captain of the "Bonhomme Richard", on 23 September 1779, he scored one of America's greatest sea victories against Britain when he attacked a Baltic merchant fleet protected by the British warships, "HMS Serapis" and "HMS Countess of Scarborough".

When he was asked "Do you ask for quarter?", he made his famous reply, "I have not yet begun to fight!".

He was victorious but his ship sank two days later.

In later life he was appointed a Rear-Admiral in the Russian navy, although he was later relieved of his post after a quarrel with Catherine the Great's lover, Potemkin.

.

At around ten o'clock in the evening of July 6th 1988 the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea was rocked by a huge explosion.

Blasts continued on the platform throughout that night, and by morning 167 men had died.

Only 61 men were taken from the platform alive, and two seamen on the rescue vessel, Sandhaven, also died.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

— Theodore Roosevelt”

:)

Waverley was Scott's first novel, and written mainly as a way of proving himself a superior literary talent to Byron.

Although it was published anonymously as a safety net against its failure, it was an open secret who the author was.

Scott needn't have worried: the book was a runaway success and Scott became regarded as the leading author in Europe.

.

On 7 July 1307 King Edward I of England died on his last punitive expedition to Scotland at Burgh-on-Sands, near Carlisle.

The epitaph to him in Westminster Abbey, London, reads "Edwardus Primus Scotorum Malleus hic est." - "Edward the First, hammer of the Scots".

His successor, Edward II, was to prove less successful in dealing with Scotland.

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. ”

==Soren Kierkegaard

:)

.

On this day in 1823, the renowned artist, Sir Henry Raeburn, died.
Raeburn was known as the "Scottish Reynolds", and became famous for his portraits of Scottish notables.
Aside from his portrait of Rev Robert Walker skating, his other well-known works include Colonel Alasdair Mcdonnell of Glengarry and Portrait of Neil Gow.

“The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others."

— Friedrich Nietzsche


:)

.

On 9 July 1845 Gilbert, Lord Minto, the Scottish colonial politician, was born.
Minto served as Governor-General of Canada between 1898 and 1905, and as Viceroy of India, 1905-1910.
His reform of the electoral laws in India, by providing for separate Hindu and Muslim electorates, was seen as enlightened policy at the time, but has since been criticised for hastening the partition of the sub-continent into two states.

.

Today in 1911 saw the birth of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the Chief of Clan Fraser, Scottish aristocrat and soldier.
Fraser, a Second World War hero, played a key role in the development of the commandos and was actively involved in both the Dieppe Raid, 1942, and D-Day landings, 1944.

“Winners never quit and quitters never win. ”

--Vince Lombardi

.

On 10 July 1802 Robert Chambers, the Scottish naturalist and publisher, was born.
Author of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, a pioneering work on the theory of evolution, he was also co-founder, with his brother William, of Chambers Encyclopaedia.

“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other."

— Eric Hoffer

:)

.

On the 11 July 1370 Marjory Stewart, the daughter of King Robert II, married John Dunbar, the first Earl of Moray, against her father's consent.
Dunbar died after injuring himself at a tournament in London in 1391, but their son Thomas succeeded the title.

“You create your opportunities by asking for them. ”

--Shakti Gawain

:)

.

On July 12th 1698 a small fleet of five ships set out for the Isthmus of Darien in Panama carrying Scotland's hopes of founding a new empire on board.
The driving force behind the expedition was William Paterson, the founder of the Bank of England.
The expedition arrived on 30th October 1698 and the first act of the pioneers was to bury those among them who had died en route.
Within seven months of their arrival a third of the 1200 who had travelled were dead and the consensus among those left was to abandon the venture.

“An optimist in Canada is someone who thinks things could be worse. ”

--Preston Manning

.

Today in July 1820 saw the commencement of the trial, in Stirling, of the Radicals captured at the Battle of Bonnymuir.
All those accused faced the charge of High Treason and two of the accused, John Baird and Andrew Hardie, were subsequently executed on 8 September 1820.

"Lord, Thy sea is so vast and my ship is so small."

--Attributed

:)

.

On 14th July 1648 Cavalry units from the Scottish Engager army clashed with Lambert's Parliamentarian cavalry at Penrith.
The Engager forces were commanded by the Duke of Hamilton, who made several mistakes in planning and executing his advance south, and quickly made themselves unpopular with the local population for their plundering and excesses.

I don't suppose anything took place around the Bastille on this day in 1789?

8=)

“Happiness is like a cloud, if you stare at it long enough, it evaporates.

— Sarah McLachlan”

:)

Is he in heaven, is he in hell,
That damned elusive, Pimpernel. lol

So here is a wee History lesson. ;o)

http://bastille-day.com/

Wee John. ;o)

.

On this day in 1909 William Gemmell Cochran, Scottish mathematician, was born in Rutherglen.
Cochran is highly regarded in the field of statistics, having carried out fundamental work on the design of agricultural experiments, forecasting the effects of weather on crop yields and sample survey design.
During the Second World War he worked in America, examining probabilities of hits in naval warfare, and by 1945 he was working on bombing raid strategies.

“ It is in human nature to relax, when not compelled by personal advantage or disadvantage

— Johann von Goethe”

:)

The event is still remembered as "The Bad Day".

A London Distress Fund was set up and raised the sum of £3000.

The money was raised for the dependants of the crofter-fishermen lost.

The crew of one boat did manage a lucky escape from the storm as they were picked up by a passing American sloop.

However, the Captain of the American vessel refused to alter his course to Philadelphia and so, despite passing close to Orkney, the survivors had to cross the Atlantic and endure a further six months away from home before returning.

"Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding."

--Mohandas Gandhi

:)

born July 17, 1487, Ardabîl?, Azerbaijan
died May 23, 1524, Ardabîl, Ṣafavid Iran

shah of Iran (1501–24) and religious leader who founded the Ṣafavid dynasty (first native dynasty to rule the kingdom in 800 years) and converted Iran from the Sunnî to the Shîʿî sect of Islâm.

According to tradition, Ismâʿîl was descended from an îmâm. His father, leader of a Shîʿî group known as the Kizilbash (Red Heads), died in battle against the Sunnîs when Ismâʿîl was only a year old. Fearful that the Sunnîs, the majority sect, would wipe out the entire family, Shîʿî supporters kept family members hidden for a number of years.

Ismâʿîl emerged at the age of 14 to take his father’s position as head of the Kizilbash. He quickly established a base of power in northwestern Iran, and in 1501 he took the city of Tabriz and proclaimed himself shah of Iran. In a succession of swift conquests he brought all of modern Iran and portions of present-day Iraq under his rule.

POINT TO PONDER

“The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously. — Nicholas Butler”

:)

Burns was aged only 37 at his death. The cause of death appears to have been heart failure, probably brought on by the hard physical work done in his youth. His widow, Jean Armour, gave birth to a son on the day of her husband's funeral. However, Maxwell, named after Burns's doctor, died in infancy.

On 21 July 1827 Archibald Constable, the Scottish publisher, died. Responsible for printing many of Sir Walter Scott's works, Constable was the owner of the Encyclopaedia Britannica for a decade and was responsible for the commissioning of the 6th edition.

“You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person. ”

--Scott Sorrell

:)

Laid-up last week wi arthritis!

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.

— Zig Ziglar”


:)

.

On 28th July 1645 at Dunkeld, Perthshire, the Royalist Marquess of Montrose beat General Baillie in a skirmish which was part of the English Civil War.
For a war of positions the Highlanders had neither aptitude nor inclination, and at Dunkeld the greater part of them went home.

“The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way. ”

--Samuel Butler

:)

.

On this day in 1567 King James VI was crowned at Stirling.
Regarded as "The Wisest Fool in Christendom", he succeeded to the English throne in 1603.
He subsequently only revisited his northern kingdom once.
One-year-old Charles James was crowned King James VI of Scotland in a Protestant ceremony in the Church of the Holy Rude, close to Stirling Castle; John Knox preached a sermon.
It was exactly two years since Mary married Darnley.

“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.

— Ray Bradbury ”

:)

“Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."

— Friedrich Nietzsche


:)

.

Today in 1780 the first edition of Robert Burns' poems, The Kilmarnock Edition, was published by John Wilson of Kilmarnock, under the title of "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect".
It cost three shillings and the entire print run of 612 copies sold out within a month, justifying Burns's belief in his own abilities and in the merit of his poems.

"There are two things in this world that are infinite, human stupidity and the universe...
and I'm not too sure about the latter."
-- Albert Einstein

"The most abundant element in the universe is stupidity...so why shouldn't we talk about it?"
-- Frank Zappa

8=)

“They certainly give very strange names to diseases. ”

--Plato

:)

Imprisoned for his opposition to James II's policies against Scottish Presbyterians, he later escaped to Europe where he became one of William of Orange's chief lieutenants.

Following the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, he was appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and played a vital role in securing William's rule in Scotland.

.

On 1 August 1545 Andrew Melville, the Church reformer, founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, Principal of Glasgow University and St Mary 's College, St Andrews, was born.

Melville is viewed as the successor to John Knox as the leader of Scottish Protestanism.

His work, the Second Book of Discipline, advocated Presbyterian, rather than Episcopal government, which brought him into conflict with his monarch, James VI, who sought to control the Scottish Church through his bishops.

Melville was also a keen advocate of education in Scotland, and is credited with helping to reform Scottish universities through the introduction of European teaching methods.

.

On 3 August 1855 inventor George Johnstone was born at West Linton near Edinburgh.
A son of the manse, he trained as an engineer and, in 1894, became the first Scottish motorist driving an imported Daimler.
By the following year he had invented his own car, "the Ghost Tram".
In 1896, he became the first person in Britain to be convicted of a motoring offence when police in Glasgow stopped him in St. Enoch's Square and he failed to convince the court that his car did not constitute a locomotive, and he incurred a fine.

.

Today in 1588 saw the death of Archibald Douglas, the 8th Earl of Angus, the Scottish aristocrat and soldier.
Douglas became a formidable power in Scotland under the patronage of his uncle, the earl of Morton, the regent for young King James VI.
However, after Morton's death his fall from grace was just as rapid.
In 1581, the vengeful king charged him with treason and he was forced to flee to England.
Douglas was a fierce Presbyterian and came to lead (with covert assistance from the English Queen Elizabeth) the other Protestant Scottish exiles in England.
He was reconciled with the king in 1584 and returned home, but his strong religious views excluded him any position of power and influence under James.

.

On this day in 1792 Edward Irving, the noted cleric, was born.
Irving was expelled from the Church of Scotland for preaching the sinful side of Christ's humanity, and His imminent Second Coming.
He founded the "Holy Catholic Apostolic Church", popularly known as the "Irvingites".
His friends and supporters included Charles Lamb, Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Mitchell was the woman whose voice was known to millions through the phrase, "Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin".

She presented BBC Radio's daily children's series Listen with Mother

, and also sang many of the nursery rhymes in the programme on which she appeared for about 15 years.

When the programme spawned BBC TV's Watch With Mother

, she supplied one of the voices in The Woodentops.

.

On 5 August 1704, the Act of Security was passed by the Scottish Parliament.

The Act of Security, which allowed the Three Estates to choose another successor to Queen Anne than the choice made by the English Parliament, if Scottish conditions were not met, was approved by the Scottish Parliament.

The English responded with the Alien Act (1705) which demanded that if the Scots did not accept the Hanoverian succession, or begin proceedings on a union of parliaments, then Scottish imports to England would be banned and Scots living in England would be treated as aliens .

.

In 6 August 1796 Scottish artist, David Allan, died.
Allan was noted for his historical subjects and portraits and was nicknamed the "Scottish Hogarth".

In addition to his portraits, Allan provided illustrations for Allan Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd and for some of the poems of Robert Burns, including engravings of Tam o'Shanter and The Cotter's Saturday Night.

.

On 10 August 1937, John Hodge, the Scottish Labour politician, died.
Hodge became the first Labour minister serving as Minister of Labour in the second coalition government during the First World War.
Hodge faced criticism from the left wing of the Labour Party for supporting the war, and for his harsh policies when dealing with striking workers during the war years.

He who praises you for what you lack wishes to take from you what you have. ”

-Don Juan Manuel

— Lily Tomlin

:)

Will be away for a few weeks. Hoping to be in to see "doon the toon" on my journeys. Glenda is not in the best of health tho. May restrict activities severely. Hooanever, we'll make the best of it?
Au revoir the noo, frae Barney.

If you mean me, my phone number is still the same.
Have a good holiday!

8=)

.

On 21 August 1937 Donald Dewar, the Scottish Labour statesman, was born.
Dewar served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1997-1999 and became the first leader of Scotland's devolved Parliament in 1999, although he was to tragically die in office from a brain haemorhage.

.

On 22 August 2001 Bobby Johnstone, Scottish footballer, died.
Johnstone was one of the "famous five", the Hibernian forward line of the early 1950s regarded as the finest ever seen in Scottish football.
At the time Hibernian was among the foremost clubs in Britain, winning three Scottish titles between 1948-1952.
Later, after moving to England he scored in two successive FA Cup finals for Manchester City

.

He played for Scotland 17 times and scored six goals.

EDISON did not repeat NOT invent electric light.

PERIOD

it was invented in DUNDEE and the reason being Murdochs gas light was too risky for use in the mills.

The first place in the world to be illuminated by electric light was the THISTLE HALL in a demo. and the first allbeit primitive light bulb was in a screw cap jam jar.

Edison was not the "inventor " the USA would have one believe.
he was an experimentor and had the deep pockets to persist until he found a combination of filament and gas that would make the bulb last a long time and be disposable.

Here is whar eh got it.
http://tinyurl.com/2cq2nx5

Tah tho, some mibe didnih ken.

Wee John. ;o)

Certainly hid a puckle years on the ither ain.

Wee John. ;o)

http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/jbl/

Here's a snippet...
[quote]
In 19th century Dundee, later to be dubbed the "City of Discovery", Lindsay’s talents flourished. In 1835 he demonstrated constant electric light, whereby he could "read a book at a distance of one and a half foot". Regrettably, he seems to have done little to establish his claim or to develop the device, which Thomas Edison finally claimed as his own over 40 years later.
[unquote]

8=)

On this day in 1305 Sir William Wallace was executed in London.

Wallace was captured after being betrayed by Sir John de Menteith and was transported to London.

King Edward I had devised a new method of execution for one of his arch-enemies, and Wallace became the first person to endure the agonies of being hanged, drawn and quartered.

.

On 23 August 1813 Alexander Wilson, the Scottish poet and ornithologist, died.
Born in Paisley, Wilson worked as a weaver in the town, but inspired by Burns, he quickly turned his attentions to poetry.

However his attempts here were not overly successful and at the age of 27 he emigrated to the United States. In America, he became interested in ornithology and it was through this that he was to achieve immortality, his American Ornithology being regarded as the founding work of the science in the new continent.

The festival was inspired by the arts festivals organised in Salzburg before the Second World War, but has grown to become the largest event of it's kind in the world.

It has also spawned a book festival, film festival and the festival fringe.

The festival was also responsible for the creation of Scottish Opera and forced a greater amount of funding from the Arts Council to be given to Scotland.

.

On 24 August 1953 Scottish golfer Sam Torrance was born.

After turning professional in 1970, Torrance became a regular member of the European Ryder Cup team , and gained golfing immortality when he hit the winning putt in 1985 Ryder Cup to win the trophy back for Europe after a break of 28 years.

.

On 25 August, 1930 the actor, Sean Connery, was born in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh.
Connery achieved international success appearing in films as Ian Fleming's suave secret agent, James Bond.
Connery has also become well known in his homeland as a prominent supporter of Scottish Independence and the Scottish National Party.

.

On this day in 1330, Sir James Douglas, known as "The Black Douglas", died.
The champion of King Robert I, "The Bruce", Douglas died in Spain fighting the Moors, whilst on a pilgrimage carrying the dead king's heart to the Holy Land.
This final act of loyalty to Bruce led to the appearance of a heart in the Douglas coat of arms.

.

On 25 August, 1923 Scottish novelist Dorothy Dunnett, was born.
As the writer of intricate and meticulously researched historical novels she attracted a devoted following with her multi-volume sagas.
Her novels included the million-word Lymond Chronicles, in six volumes, which covered 15-years in the life of a 16th Century Scottish aristocrat, Francis Crawford of Lymond.
The first book, The Game of Kings, was published in 1960; the last, Checkmate, came 15 years later.
Between her two epic series, Dunnett wrote King Hereafter, the single-volume novel that some considered her finest work.
Disentangling the historical Scottish king Macbeth from Shakespeare's play, the work was the product of years of research

Jings goofed up their an that's withoot a drink. :o(

Wee John. ;o)

Brehanthiinnocent

.

On 26 August 1901 the Donibristle Mining Disaster occurred in the Fife coalfield.
The disaster occurred when part of Mossmorran peat bog near Cowdenbeath collapsed on sixteen miners 360 feet underground.
Four miners were lost, as was a four-strong rescue party.
All the bodies were eventually recovered but some remained underground until the December of that year.

.

On 26 August 1745 Henry Mackenzie, the Scottish novelist and playright, was born. Mackenzie was known by the epithet The Man of Feeling after the title of his first novel, published anonymously in 1771.
Although many of his novels achieved great sucess he was less well renowned for his theatrical works with his The Prince of Tunis being his only work of note.

Ach Jock eh kent yih meant a beer an no a cald peh, but eh do like a cald sausage roll tho.
We often sneak ower the boarder tih that foreign land and beh 4 cald ains an go and sit beh the water and enjoy them, braw so it is.    :o)

Wee John. ;o)

.

On 27 August 1748 James Thomson, the Scottish poet, died.
Thomson's most famous works include the anthem, Rule Britannia, written as part of the masque, Alfred, composed by Thomas Arne, and The Seasons, the first British anthology on nature.
Thomson has been cited as an influence on the Romantic poets who followed him, through his interest in the elements, Classical themes and his notions of mankind's place within the natural world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule,_Britannia!

[quotes]
"Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740.[1] It is also used by the British Army.[2]
------------------------------------
The part of the tune's refrain that defiantly repeats "never, never, never", is said to have provided the theme on which Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations are based. Elgar also quotes the opening phrase of Rule, Britannia! in his choral work The Music Makers, based on Arthur O'Shaughnessy's Ode at the line "We fashion an empire's glory", where he also quotes La Marseillaise.
[unquotes]

8=)

The battle was fought between Leslie's veteran Scottish army and a hastily assembled English force.

The Scots had invaded northern England in response to the attempts of Charles I to impose an Anglican prayer book upon Scotland.

The Scots bypassed the garrisoned towns of Newcastle and Berwick, instead intending to cross the Tyne at Newburn.

The English chose not to defend from high ground and were decimated by Scottish gunfire until they fled the battlefield, leaving the Scots free to advance as far south as York.

.

On 28 August 1902 George Douglas, the Scottish novelist, died.

Douglas wrote mostly under the penname of George Dougles Brown

.

His most successful work was The House with the Green Shutters

, a tale of the pettiness of rural life in Victorian Scotland.

Douglas is noted for his move away from the Kailyard style which was dominant in the Scottish literary scene at that time.

Land of unemployment and Social Security
You voted for Maggie, now you go her way
Longer still and longer,
the dole queues stretch for miles
But Maggie and her tories
Have cynical wee smiles
Land of unemployment
You fell for tory wiles.

.

The 29 August 1999 saw the death of Lew Schwarz, the Scottish TV scriptwriter.
Schwarz wrote for several of British TV's smash comedy shows during the 1950-60s, including The Army Game, Bootsie and Smudge, Great Scott - It's Maynard!, The Charlie Drake Show, and The Worker.

Three years later Alan MacNaughtan, the Scottish stage, TV and film actor, died.
MacNaughtan spent most of his life working on the English stage and appeared in numerous productions, including the world premiere of Equus at the National Theatre, London.

This was perhaps the crowning moment of a glittering athletics career for McColgan, which also brought her two Olympic silver medals.

A former jute mill worker from a deprived housing estate in the city,

McColgan rose from obscurity to become the leading Scottish athlete of her day, triumphing on home soil by winning gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

.

On 30 August 1856 Admiral Sir John Ross, the Scottish Polar explorer, died.

Ross is known as the man who discovered the North Magnetic Pole.

Born in Wigtownshire, Ross served in the Royal Navy from the age of nine and fought during the Napoleonic wars.

Ross led three expeditions in search of the North-West passage.

.

Today in 1820 James Wilson, the Strathaven Radical, was hanged and beheaded on Glasgow Green for his part in the 1820 Radical War.

A crowd of 20,000 witnessed the execution, most sympathetic to Wilson. Wilson remarked on the crowd to the hangman Thomas Moore, "Did ye evir see sic a crowd, Tammas?"

.

On 31 Aug 1721 Scottish mathematician, John Keill, died.
Keill was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1700 and Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford in 1712.
He acted as a propagator of Newton's philosophy and argued against Whiston and others.
He claimed that Leibniz had plagiarised Newton's invention of the calculus and he served as Newton's avowed champion.
He also wrote on forces between particles and on theories of the origin of the universe.

.

This day in 1720 saw the official marriage ceremony of Prince James Francis Edward Stewart and the Polish Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska.
The marriage took place at the Italian Cathedral of Monte Fiascone, and the union led to the birth of Charles Stewart in Rome in 1720.
Maria Clementina Sobieska was one of Europe's richest heiresses and brought the Stuarts a cash injection.
The Polish Princess had been kidnapped on her way to the original wedding the preceding year to "The Old Pretender".
She escaped, and had married James by proxy when he was away trying to raise support for the 1719 Rising.
After the Rising was quashed, Jacobite hopes were raised in the form of the infant prince Charles.

His early career saw him winning seven caps for Scotland as a professional footballer.

At the age of 33, Shankly was approaching the end of his playing days, so when the 1946-47 season brought professional football back post-war, Shankly embarked on a new career as a manager.

After spells at the helms of northern clubs such as Grimsby and Huddersfield, he was appointed chairman of Liverpool

in 1959.

At this time Liverpool was languishing in the Second Division, with a crumbling stadium, and disorder in the committee ranks.

Shankly turned this situation around and elevated Liverpool to the top of the league, the envy of all other clubs.

Liverpool became synonymous with football, as well as music, in the sixties, when Liverpool F.C. won the F.A. cup in the 1965 season.

A European trophy followed in the form of the UEFA cup.

Bill Shankly, who died of a heart attack in 1981, will always be remembered as a charismatic legend of British football.

,

This day in 1834 saw the death of Sir Thomas Telford, the pioneering engineer, road, bridge and canal builder.

From humble beginnings in Westerkirk, Dumfrieshire, an encouraging patron supported Telford 's appointment to supervise the construction of the Ellesmere Canal in 1793.

Nicknamed "The Colossus of Roads", he became chief civil engineer of an innovative scheme to improve communications in the Highlands, following a survey of the military roads created by General Wade during the Jacobite Rebellion.

Telford also oversaw the construction of the Caledonian Canal, linking 60 miles of freshwater inlets, as well as building nearly 1,000 miles of roads and 120 bridges over a 20 year period.

He gained a reputation as the finest civil engineer of his day.

Work outside Scotland included the construction of the Menai suspension bridge, the Gotha canal in Sweden, and the aqueduct at Pont Cysylite, on Ellesmere Port, proclaimed by Sir Walter Scott

as, "the most impressive work of art I have ever seen".

Telford was buried in Westminster Cathedral, having died penniless, the result of a prodigious talent who often undertook projects without being paid.

.

This day in 1797 saw rioting on the streets of Glasgow, as weavers expressed their anger at wage cuts.
Workers burned their looms in the streets, and bricks were thrown at magistrates and soldiers, in protest at the city manufacturers' proposal to reduce the scale of wages.
The disorder resulted in soldiers opening fire on the insurgents and six people were killed.

.

On a rainy night on the 4th September 1962, the last of the famous green and yellow tramcars ran in Glasgow.
The final scheduled tram ran from Dalmuir to Auchenshuggle in the city's East End, and marked the demise of a transportation system dating from August 1872.
More than 200,000 Glaswegians turned out to bid a poignant farewell to the trams.

Wee John. ;o)

We knew nothing about the medical stuff until we were sitting with Dad after Mum's funeral and he told us.
We had always joked that we were Dad's holiday fortnight treat, as we were all born in April! Turns out our births were all planned to a timetable...

Wee John. ;o)

.

On this day in 1808 John Home, the Scottish playwright, historian and minister, died.
Home outraged the Church when his verse tragedy, Douglas, enjoyed a successful run in Edinburgh after its first performance in 1757.
The kirk authorities were outraged by Presbyterian minister excelling in the world of theatre, which they strongly disapproved of.
The play transferred to Covent Garden to huge acclaim a year later, and Home resigned from the ministry.

.

On this day in 1876, the Scottish physician and physiologist John James Macleod was born near Dunkeld.
After studying medicine at Aberdeen and Leipzig, Macleod became head of the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto.
An expert in sugar metabolism and diabetes, he was approached by Canadian surgeon Frederick Banting, who had realised that if he could isolate the hitherto elusive pancreatic hormone, this may provide a treatment for diabetes.
Though Macleod initially scorned his idea, Banting's persistent badgering paid off and he was allowed to join the department to work on his idea.
Banting and his co-workers did indeed manage to isolate the hormone, and after diabetic dogs were successfully treated, eventually the ever-sceptical Macleod was convinced, and named it insulin.
Macleod and Banting shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1926 and Macleod returned to Aberdeen as Professor of Physiology in 1928, dying there in 1935.

The "Porteous Riots" had erupted in April 1736, when Andrew Wilson, a smuggler, was hanged in the Grassmarket for robbing a customs officer.

The public rioting that followed Wilson's death was quashed by the locally born John Porteous, when he ordered his troops to open fire on the angry crowd, killing and wounding up to 30 people.

Porteous was sentenced to death but later reprieved, leading to the lynch mob descending in fury on the prison, enraged that Porteous's appeal had been successful, and that he'd escaped the fate that had been meted out to a common man.

The angry growd stormed the Tolbooth, escorted Porteous to the Grassmarket, and hanged him from a dyer's pole. Incidents of the Porteous Riots are used by Walter Scott

in "The Heart of Midlothian

".

.

This day in 1836 saw the birth of Henry Campbell Bannerman, the British Prime Minister.

Born in Glasgow and educated at Glasgow and Cambridge, Bannerman became the Liberal MP for Stirling in 1868, a position he held until his death.

He climbed the parliamentary ranks, serving as Secretary for Ireland during Gladstone's administration in 1884 and entering the cabinet as Secretary for War in 1886, before becoming leader of the Liberal Party in 1899.

Bannerman became Prime Minister in 1905 following Balfour's resignation, and led his party to a landslide victory in the 1906 general election.

His brilliant cabinet included Asquith, Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill.

Ill health forced Bannerman to hand over the leadership to Asquith, and he died two weeks later in 1908.

Re Campbell-Bannerman.

See details of his connection to Dundee at:-

http://slbplone.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19080430.2.57&srpos=15&e=--1908-----100--1----0statesman+%22CampbellZz-Bannerman%22--

http://slbplone.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZTR19180629.2.22&srpos=1&e=--1908-----100--1----0belmont+marryat+caird--

(No time to tinyurl...)

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