Now & Then
◆ 19 MARCH
1641: Foundation stone of Hutchesons’ Grammar School, Glasgow, laid by the philanthropist Thomas Hutcheson. It was established as a residential school for the poor of the city.
1707: Official copy of the Act of Union signed by the Scottish Chancellor.
1799: Napoleon Bonaparte began the siege of Acre (Israel) which was defended by the British and Turks. 1861: Maori War in New Zealand ended.
1882: The City Temple, Holborn, London, became the first church to be lit by electricity.
1932: The opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge, the widest ever built with single-arch span.
1933: Italy’s dictator Benito Mussolini proposed a pact with Britain, France and Germany. 1938: Rugby was first seen on British television – the England versus Scotland Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham.
1970: Willy Brandt and Willi Stoph, heads of West and East Germany, met for the first time.
1976: Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon announced their separation.
1982: An Argentine scrap-metal dealer landed in South Georgia and planted his country’s flag. The event was later seen as an attempt by Argentina to test British resolve to defend the Falkland Islands. 1986: Buckingham Palace announced the engagement of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
1988: Iraq claimed its forces had overrun the headquarters of Iranian-backed Kurdish guerrilla leader Jala Talabani amid heavy mountain fighting.
1990: Kremlin warned Lithuania against taking over factories, putting up border posts.
1990: President Mikhail Gorbachev ordered economic measures to be taken against Lithuania in response to the republic’s decision to seek independence from the USSR. 1991: Kurdish guerrillas claimed to have captured Kirkuk, Iraq’s main northern oil city.
1992: Buckingham Palace announced that the Duke and Duchess of York were to separate after five and a half years of marriage.
1995: Twelve people died and thousands were injured in a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo underground system.
2002: Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election. 2003: President George W Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq.
2008: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye was briefly observed.
2010: The government gave the go-ahead for the development of a £2.5 billion gasfield in the waters 90 miles off the west coast of Shetland.
2011: Comic Relief raised £74.3 million, the highest figure reached on the night of the show in its 23-year history.
2018: The world’s last remaining male northern white rhino, a 45-year-old named Sudan, died in Kenya, leaving only two females – his daughter and granddaughter. Researchers were able to retain some of his genetic material in the hope of inseminating one of them – the only hope of saving the species.
◆ BIRTHDAYS
Ursula Andress, actress, 88; Ian Blair, Baron Blair of Boughton, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police 2005-08, 71; Derek Longmuir, Edinburgh-born drummer (Bay City Rollers), 73; Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress, 48; Kolo Toure, Ivorian footballer, 43; Glenn Close, American actress, 77; Maddy Hill, actress, 34; Bruce Willis, American actor, 69; Ruth Pointer, R&b/soul singer (Pointer Sisters), 78; Gary Jules, singer, 55.
◆ ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1721 Tobias Smollett, Dunbartonshire-born novelist; 1813 David Livingstone, Blantyreborn explorer and missionary; 1922 Tommy Cooper, comedian and magician; 1928 Patrick Mcgoohan, actor.
Deaths: 1286 Alexander III, King of Scots (accident on the cliffs at Kinghorn, Fife); 1930 Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl, Conservative Prime Minister 1902-1905; 1950 Edgar Rice Burroughs, novelist; 2001 Gordon Brown, Scotland and British Lions rugby player; 2010 William Wolfe, chairman, SNP 1969-79.