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MARCH
Mar 23, 2006 4:34:01 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 23, 2006 4:34:01 GMT 10
March 22
On 22 March 1421, Scottish and French troops under the Earl of Buchan defeated English forces at Bauge in Anjou, France. The battle was a stunning victory for the Franco-Scottish forces who totally outmanouevred the English, under the Duke of Clarence. The English commander was killed by the Scottish knight, Sir Alexander Buchanan.
March 22 1727 Neil Gow, first of a famous family of Fiddle players and composers, born Strathearn, Ross & Cromarty.
March 22 1868 Last fully public hanging in Scotland - that of Joseph Bell at Perth.
On this day 1875, Alexander 'Greek' Thomson died in Glasgow. Thomson is considered one of Scotland's greatest architects, and his impact on the look of Victorian Glasgow was enormous. In fact, many buildings in the city cannot even be definitively identified as his, as his style was so routinely copied. Holmwood House in Cathcart is regarded as one of his greatest works and is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
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MARCH
Mar 26, 2006 4:51:10 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 26, 2006 4:51:10 GMT 10
March 23
On this day in 1848, the Free Church of Scotland settlement at New Edinburgh, New Zealand was founded under Rev Thomas Burns, a nephew of the poet Robert Burns. The settlement later became Dunedin, one of the largest towns in the country, and one which still retains a distinctive Scottish character.
On 23 March 1923, Roddy McMillan, the Scottish stage and TV actor, was born. His credits include the TV series, 'The View From Daniel Pike', and the play, 'The Revellers'. However, he will be most fondly remembered for his portrayal of Para Handy, the captain of the Vital Spark in the much loved television series of the 1960s.
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MARCH
Mar 26, 2006 4:53:09 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 26, 2006 4:53:09 GMT 10
March 24
On 24 March 1603, King James VI of Scotland was proclaimed King James I of England. James acceded to the English throne on the death of Queen Elizabeth I. His accession, and the union of the crowns, marked the start of the Stuart dynasty in England. However, although James liked to refer to himself as a beast with one head and two bodies, neither the Scots or the English showed much inclination for further union, each retaining a seperate parliament, legal code and church.
On this day in 1936, an estimated one million people watched the Queen Mary leave the Clyde for the first time. However, the sailing did not quite go to plan: despite extensive dredging having taken place, the liner ran aground twice on the way to Gourock where she was fitted with lifeboats.
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MARCH
Mar 26, 2006 4:57:04 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 26, 2006 4:57:04 GMT 10
March 25
On this day in 1306, Robert the Bruce, Earl of Annandale, was crowned King of Scots at Scone. Bruce was crowned in the presence of four bishops, five earls and the people of the land by the Countess of Buchan, performing the hereditary duties of her brother, the Earl of Fife, who was imprisoned at the time. Bruce was forced into hiding soon after his coronation, however, and the Countess of Buchan was imprisoned in a cage on the walls of Berwick castle.
March 25 1437 Coronation of King James II.
March 25 was celebrated as the traditional date of the Scottish New Year until 1599. In that year, Scotland converted to the modern Gregorian Calendar. England did not adopt the new calendar until the Calendar Act of 1751 was passed, a full 152 years after Scotland.
March 25 1810 The Commercial Bank of Scotland was founded in Edinburgh by John Pitcairn, Lord Cockburn and others.
March 25 1876 First Scotland v Wales football international. Scotland won 4-0.
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MARCH
Mar 26, 2006 4:59:39 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 26, 2006 4:59:39 GMT 10
March 26
On 26 March 1797, James Hutton, the Scottish chemist and geologist, died. Hutton is regarded as a pioneer of modern geology. At the time of his research people still widely accepted The Bible's account that the world was only about 6,000 years old. Geologists believed that rock layers had been laid down during the Biblical floods. Hutton refused to accept that one single event was responsible for the formation of the world as we know it. In his work, 'Theory of the Earth' (1795), he posited that the Earth's crust had been created through a continuous, gradual process called "uniformitarianism".
March 26 1934 Car driving tests introduced for the first time.
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MARCH
Mar 26, 2006 5:04:40 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 26, 2006 5:04:40 GMT 10
March 27
March 27 1306 King Robert I ("The Bruce") crowned at Scone.
On 27 March 1625, King James VI died. He was nearly 59 years old when he died and had been monarch for all but one of these years. After James acceded to the English throne, he relocated his court to London where he earned the reputation of being "the wisest fool in Christendom."
March 27 1871 First Scotland/England rugby international, 20 a side, played at Raeburn Place. (Scotland won).
On this day in 1923, Sir James Dewar, the inventor of the vacuum flask, died. Dewar's discovery was a by-product of his lifetime's work on cryogenics. However, the flask was not manufactured for commercial or domestic use until 1904 when two German glass blowers formed Thermos GmbH. Dewar also discovered superconductivity and, with Sir Frederick Abel, invented the explosive, cordite.
March 27 1943 Aircraft carrier HMS Dasher blew up and sank off the island of Arran in the Firth of Clyde with the loss of 350 crew; there were 149 survivors.
March 27 1971 David Coulthard, Grand Prix racing driver born.
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MARCH
Mar 28, 2006 4:27:16 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 28, 2006 4:27:16 GMT 10
March 28
March 28 1318 King Robert the Bruce captured Berwick on Tweed.
On March 28 1642, the Scots Guards Regiment was formed. The regiment was formed when King Charles I issued a commission to the Marquess of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell, authorizing him to raise in Scotland a regiment of 1,500 men, forming what was to become the King’s 'Lyfe Guard of Foot' and ultimately the Scots Guards. The 2nd battalion of the Scots Guards fought the decisive action at Mount Tumbledown, during the Falklands War, which broke the resistance of the Argentinian forces. On this day in 1661, the first Scottish newspaper, Mercurius Caledonius, ceased publication after a run of only nine issues. It had started on a brighter note, promising extensive coverage of "the Affairs now in Agitation in Scotland, with a Survey of Foreign Intelligence."
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MARCH
Mar 28, 2006 4:31:25 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 28, 2006 4:31:25 GMT 10
March 29
March 29 1783 The Royal Society of Edinburgh incorporated by charter.
On 29 March 1822, Ewan MacLachlan, the noted Gaelic poet and scholar, died. Born in Lochaber in 1775, MacLachlan became the librarian at King's College, Aberdeen, and achieved renown as the translator of Homer into Gaelic.
March 29 1915 Jazz trombonist George Chisholm born into a musical family in Glasgow.
March 29 1960 Cheapside docks fire, Glasgow, 19 firemen killed.
On 29 March 2002, Longannet, Scotland's last deep coal mine, closed, ending centuries of mining tradition. The Fife mine was put into liquidation after being flooded on the 23rd, when a dam separating old workings from new seams under the river Forth collapsed. The water poured into the five-mile mineshafts, 600m (1,870ft) below ground, in less than ten minutes. After examination by engineers, it was decided that it would be too expensive to rescue the pit, even though there was an estimated 40 million tons of coal still to be extracted. 500 men were expected to lose their jobs as a result of the closure.
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MARCH
Mar 29, 2006 4:16:05 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 29, 2006 4:16:05 GMT 10
March 30
On this day in 1296, Edward I of England sacked the Scottish town of Berwick. The English army destroyed the town and decimated the population of around 15,000. This act was retaliation for the widespread carnage perpetrated in the north of England, and what Edward considered to be the treacherous stab in the back of the Scottish-French alliance. Berwick was rebuilt by Northumbrians, and the Scottish-English border forever after remained north of this town.
March 30 1406 King James I captured by English near Flamborough Head on his way to France. On 30 March 1783, William Hunter, the eminent physician and obstetrician, died. Hunter made several important studies of the pregnant human uterus. His work, 'The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus, Established in Figures,' is considered an anatomical classic. His collection of books and manuscripts form the Hunterian Collection at Glasgow University.
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MARCH
Mar 29, 2006 4:20:23 GMT 10
Post by LLady on Mar 29, 2006 4:20:23 GMT 10
March 31
On this day in 1635, General Patrick Gordon was born. Gordon led a remarkable life. Upon leaving Scotland, he entered the Russian army as a major and soon rose to become a close advisor to Russian Tsar, Peter the Great. Gordon rose to the rank of General-in-Chief and was made an admiral of the Russian navy. It is even said that Peter entrusted Gordon take charge of his empire while he visited Western Europe. The two became such close friends that Tsar Peter kept vigil at Gordon's deathbed.
March 31 1652 Scottish Regalia (crown, sceptre and sword) saved from invading army of Oliver Cromwell by James Granger, minister at Kinneff, Aberdeenshire, after they had been smuggled from Dunnottar Castle which was under siege.
On 31 March 1938, Sir David Steel, Scottish Liberal statesman, was born. Steel, a Borders MP, rose to become leader of the Liberal Party during the period of it's alliance with the SDP. As the pre-eminent elder statesman of Scottish politics, he was the ideal choice to become the first Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.
March 31 1950 The actor Robbie Coltrane was born (as Anthony Robert McMillan) in Rutherglen.
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