FROM OUR ARCHIVES
5 YEARS AGO
David Longmuir, pictured, chief executive of the Scottish Football League, paid tribute to the “reluctant heroes” among his clubs after they gave their backing to league reconstruction proposals by 23 votes to six. With the 12 Scottish Premier League clubs having already unanimously voted in favour of the plans, the results of yesterday’s ballot at the SFL’S special general meeting at
Hampden mean a new Scottish Professional Football League will be created in time for next season. Due diligence and legal formalities are expected to be completed by June 27.
10 YEARS AGO
David Davis took Westminster’s breath away yesterday by announcing he was to quit as an MP and use a by-election to campaign against the “slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms”, following Gordon Brown’s slender victory on 42 days’ detention. All agreed, including the now former Shadow Home Secretary, that this was a “high risk strategy” with an uncertain outcome. The more charitable of Mr Davis’s colleagues said it was a “brave decision”, while others thought it madness. One described it as “quixotic”, another as “a Reggie Perrin moment”. Labour’s former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, dismissed it as a “childish and immature” publicity stunt.
25 YEARS AGO
Serb forces have fought their way into the Muslim enclave of Gorazde and were “carrying out horrific crimes against civilians there” according to the Bosnian Government. There were also reports Serb rockets destroyed a temporary hospital in the town, killing more than 50 patients and medical staff. Sarajevo radio said 600 people had been killed in a 17-day onslaught on Gorazde by Serbs in defiance of the UN which has declared it a “safe haven”. About 60,000 people are believed to be trapped. The Muslim-led
Government demanded action by the UN and appealed to President Bill Clinton to stop the genocide in Gorazde.
50 YEARS AGO
Sister Monica Taylor, a zoologist of international status and a former principal lecturer in science at Notre Dame College, Glasgow, died yesterday. She was 90. Her scientific achievements and influence on education in the West of Scotland were acknowledged by Glasgow University in 1953 when she was made an honorary Doctor of Laws. She was an honours graduate of London University. She had no degree when she joined the staff of Notre Dame in 1901, but was allowed to do practical work in the laboratory at Glasgow University with a view to taking the external London degree. She was the first nun to sit among students, always with her chaperone.