FROM OUR ARCHIVES

5 YEARS AGO

He was well known among the acting community for his refusal to go on stage without his lucky Doc Martens. Now a fitting memorial to panto legend Gerard Kelly, pictured, who died in 2010, has been unveiled at one of his old haunts, the King’s Theatre in Glasgow. The pair of bronze cast DMS have been placed on a marble plinth and will remain permanently in sight of theatregoers. It was unveiled yesterday on what would have been Kelly’s 54th birthday by fellow actors Tony Roper, Andy Gray and Elaine C Smith. The bronze was produced from a cast of Kelly’s own boots and the tribute is intended to be similar to Billy Connolly’s Big Banana Boots at the People’s Palace.

10 YEARS AGO

Almost 80 post offices in the north-east, Tayside and Fife are to be affected by the proposed closure programme to be announced by Royal Mail today. The Herald understands 42 post offices are scheduled for closure and a further 37 will be replaced by one of the four types of outreach service. The plan is part of the UK wide network change programme which aims to implement the government’s measures to modernise and reshape the Post Office by closing up to

2500 post offices and turning a further 500 into outreach service points. The closures have been announced through a phased programme area by area.

25 YEARS AGO

Nine crew members were killed yesterday when their RAF Hercules plane crashed into a remote hillside in Perthshire and burst into flames. Wreckage from the plane was scattered over a 150-yard wide area in Glen Tilt, about 10 miles northeast of Blair Atholl, on the Atholl estate. The front section of the Hercules, lying at the bottom of a valley, was damaged beyond recognition. Firefighters were tackling a large number of patches of burning heather. The Hercules, was one of three on a low-flying training exercise, heading to RAF Lossiemouth. Weather conditions were good when it crashed at 3.55pm.

50 YEARS AGO

Another shot in the Scottish airports battle was fired yesterday when

Air Commodore Colin Cadell, of the Prestwick Airport Consultative Committee, announced his organisation was making representations to Mr William

Ross and Mr Anthony Crosland to ensure neither planning approval nor financial assistance were being given to aid Glasgow Airport in its plans to extend its runway to more than 9000ft. He pointed out that such extensions could lead to Prestwick’s present traffic being diverted to Abbotsinch-traffic which consists primarily of large, noisy jet aircraft. This controversy has now dragged on for too long.