NOW & THEN
14 APRIL
1752: Colin Campbell of Glenure, the “Red Fox”, was shot in Appin. Campbell had been a notorious persecutor of Jacobites after Culloden.
1865: Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president, was shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, dying the next day. Andrew Johnson became president for the remainder of the term of office.
1914: Driver and fireman of Edinburgh to Aberdeen express were killed in collision with the engine of a goods train at Burntisland station. Twelve passengers were injured.
1929: Monaco Grand Prix was first staged, 78 laps round the narrow streets of Monte Carlo, at an average 49.83mph.
1931: The Highway Code was first issued, as safety guide for pedestrians.
1931: King Alfonso XIII of Spain abdicated as anti-monarchists won local elections and set up Second Republic, whose instability contributed to Spanish Civil War.
1970: US Apollo 13 spacecraft headed back to Earth after Moon mission that was aborted because of mechanical problems.
1972: First quintuplets in Scotland, born to Mrs Linda Bostock, of Armadale, West Lothian.
1983: Cordless telephones went on sale in Britain.
1985: Robin Knox-johnston and four crew arrived at Plymouth after a record crossing of the Atlantic in catamaran British Airways I, in ten days, 18 minutes and 40 seconds.
1991: United States, British and French aircraft dropped tons of supplies to Kurdish refugees stranded on the Turkish and Iranian borders.
1991: Ian Woosnam won US Masters golf tournament at Augusta, giving Britain a fourth successive win.
1994: United States fighter jets shot down two of their own helicopters by mistake over northern Iraq, killing 26 people, including two British officers.
1996: Nick Faldo staged one of golf ’s great comebacks to win his third US Masters title at Augusta, making up a six-shot deficit against Greg Norman.
1999: Nato mistakenly bombed a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees – Yugoslav officials said 75 people were killed.
1999: A severe hailstorm struck Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages – the most costly natural disaster in
Australian history.
2003: The Human Genome Project was completed with 99 per cent of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99 per cent.
2005: The Oregon Supreme Court nullified marriage licences issued to gay couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
2007: At least 200,000 demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey protested against the possible candidacy of incumbent prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
2010: More than 2,500 people were killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, China.
2014: Almost 300 schoolgirls were abducted by the militant group Boko Haram (translation: “western education is sinful”) in the village of Chibok in Nigeria. The group later threatened to sell the girls as slaves.
BIRTHDAYS
PETER CAPALDI Glasgow-born actor and film director, 62
Ian “Mighty Mouse” Mclaughlan OBE, Scottish rugby player, 78; Ritchie Blackmore, British rock guitarist (Deep Purple), 75; Barbara Bonney, American soprano, 64; Abigail Breslin, actress, 24; Adrien Brody, American actor, 47; Robert Carlyle OBE, Glasgowborn actor, 59; Julie Christie, British actress, 80; Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress, 43; Anthony Michael Hall, actor, 52; Paddy Hopkirk MBE, British rally driver, 87; Julian Lloyd Webber, British cellist, 69; Loretta Lynn, American country singer, 88; Georgina Chapman, fashion designer and actress, 44.
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1527 Ortelius, cartographer; 1629 Christian Huygens, Dutch astronomer who invented the pendulum; 1904 Sir John Gielgud, actor and director; 1924 Baroness Warnock DBE, British philosopher and writer.
Deaths: 1471 Earl of Warwick, “The Kingmaker” (battle of Barnet); 1575 James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots; 1752: Colin Campbell of Glenure, the “Red Fox” (shot in Appin); 1759 George Frederick Handel, composer; 1986 Simone de Beauvoir, existentialist writer; 2001 Jim Baxter, footballer.