The Scotsman Sessions
The Scotsman Sessions are short video performances, recorded by artists all around the country & introduced by our critics. To explore the first 400 in the series, visit
Now & Then 18 APRIL
1775: Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride from Charlestown to Lexington, accompanied by William Dawes, to warn Massachusetts patriots of the arrival of British troops at the outbreak of the War of American Independence.
1906: San Francisco earthquake shattered the city before dawn, killing between 500 and 700 people, destroying 28,000 buildings and causing $500million worth of damage, with more than 50 fires raging.
1932: Business reply-paid envelopes were introduced by the GPO.
1938: Superman made his debut in the first issue of Action Comics. 1946: International Court of Justice was opened at The Hague. 1946: League of Nations was dissolved and its assets passed to the United Nations.
1949: Bob-a-job Week was inaugurated by the Scout Movement in Britain.
1949: The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed, severing ties with Britain by leaving the Commonwealth.
1961: George Blake, diplomat and Soviet spy, was charged with espionage under Official Secrets Act.
1962: West Indies Federation was terminated.
1968: A United States oil company bought London Bridge, dismantled it and later re-erected it in Arizona. 1985: Postal workers went on strike, abandoning 20 million items of undelivered mail.
1986: Guinness won a takeover battle for Distillers.
1987: Journalist John Mccarthy was kidnapped in Beirut. He spent more than five years in captivity. 1990: Government announced plans for a privately funded toll road in Scotland linking the M74 with the M8.
1990: Eleven children and four others were killed when a school bus was set ablaze by streetfighting in Beirut.
1992: Traverse Theatre’s final performance in its Grassmarket premises in Edinburgh, took place 25 years after it was opened by Jenny Lee, Britain’s first minister of the arts.
1993: England won the World Rugby Sevens at Murrayfield. 1994: West Indian batsman Brian Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in Test cricket when he hit 375 off England’s bowlers in Antigua. 1996: More than 100 refugees died when Israel shelled a United Nations peace-keeping base in Lebanon.
2005: MG Rover, Britain’s last major car maker, collapsed with the loss of 6,200 jobs.
2011: It was announced that the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, the Palace of Holyroodhouse, was to be utilised to host corporate events.
2013: Britain’s most successful Olympian, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, announced his retirement from active competition.
2014: Thirteen sherpas were killed and three others reported missing when an avalanche struck their group on Mount Everest.
2017: British prime minister Theresa May called for a snap general election on 8 June as she sought to increase the Conservative majority in parliament and gain a mandate to negotiate a smooth British exit from the European Union.
BIRTHDAYS
Eamonn Bannon, Scottish footballer, 66; America Ferrera, actress (Superstore), 40; Melissa Joan Hart, actress, 48; Rosie Huntington-whiteley, British model, 37; Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor, 80; Jane Leeves, actress, 63; Hayley Mills, British actress, 78; Rick Moranis, Canadian/american actor and comedian, 71; Eric Mccormack, Canadian/american actor, 61; David Tennant, Scottish actor, 53; James Woods, American actor and producer, 77
ANNIVERSARIES
Births: 1922 Barbara Hale, American actress; 1929 Peter Jeffrey, actor; 1934 Mark Kingston, British actor; 1937 Sir Teddy Taylor, MP 1980-2005.
Deaths: 1949 Will Hay, comedy film actor; 1955 Albert Einstein, physicist who propounded theory of relativity; 1992 Benny Hill, comedian; 1993 Dame Elisabeth Frink, sculptor; 2002 Thor Heyerdahl, explorer; 2002 Cy Laurie, jazz clarinettist; 2013 Lieutenant-general Sir Steuart Pringle, Commandant General KCB, Royal Marines 1981-84; 2018 ; Dale Winton, broadcaster.