FROM OUR ARCHIVES

5 YEARS AGO

Iain Banks, acclaimed Scottish writer of fiction and science fiction who died yesterday, wrote one last blast against modern Britain in his final book, The Quarry. While tributes were paid to the writer, 59, who passed away only two months after revealing he was dying of advanced gall bladder cancer, excerpts from his book, to be published on June 20, showed he had not lost any of his literary vitality. In the book, the character Guy rails against the state of British society, slating its pathetic, grovelling population and its superficiality. 10 YEARS AGO

Flights can finally take off from Oban’s controversial new airport – but only in daylight and good visibility. The Civil Aviation Authority has licensed the aerodrome, and two airstrips on the islands of Coll and Colonsay, The Herald can reveal, but only after years of delays, technical glitches, legal wrangles and cost overruns. The final bill for the three airports is now thought to have topped £9 million, twice the original budget set by Argyll and Bute Council - the body behind the project. A council spokesman said: “It’s been worth the effort,.” 25 YEARS AGO

A gunman shot dead former Vichy police chief Rene Bousquet, 84, in Paris yesterday and put paid to hopes of seeing the collaborationist criminals of the French wartime government finally brought to trial. He claimed responsibility for shooting Bousquet, accused of deporting 60,000 Jews to their deaths. Christian Didier, described as mentally ill by police, attempted to murder the former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie when he was standing trial in Lyons in 1987 and is said to have been receiving psychiatric treatment for several years.