From our archives 25 years ago
5 years ago
A proud couple have given birth to a set of twins believed to be the heaviest ever born in Scotland. Alanna Merrie, 33, and her husband Paul knew they were expecting twins but not that they would have a pair of recordbreakers. Troy and Kaius are now thought to be the heaviest twins born in Scotland after tipping the scales at a combined total of 16lb 13oz. The brothers were born by Caesarean section and astonished midwives with their size at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
10 years ago
Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton spoke of their happiness in their first TV interview together to mark their engagement. Just hours after the forthcoming marriage was announced, Ms Middleton told of her “total shock” when the prince proposed at a Kenyan beauty spot with his late mother’s famous sapphire and diamond ring. The programme said William, the “true romantic” carried the precious ring around in his backpack for weeks before popping the question.
Ken Loach (left), whose film Land and Freedom, about the Spanish civil war, won the Felix, the European Oscar, is set to start work in Glasgow on his next film, provisionally entitled Carla’s Song. Written by Paul Laverty, a
Glasgow lawyer, it is about a love affair between a bus driver, played by Robert Carlyle, who starred in Loach’s film, Riff-raff, and Carla, a Nicaraguan refugee. The film will be shot in Glasgow until Christmas and then the cast and crew move to Nicaragua in January.
50 years ago
R. M. Knox, chairman of Edinburgh Corporation education committee, condemned the strapping of children for being a few minutes late for school on dark mornings. He expressed “alarm and distress” after a colleague read a letter of complaint from a parent at a meeting of the committee and demanded that the practice be stopped. Mr Knox agreed something should be done as soon as possible, and called for an investigation by the Education Department.
100 years ago
Arrangements have been completed by a sub-committee of the Glasgow Corporation Kelvin Hall Committee to hold a carnival for the entertainments of the citizens in Kelvin Hall during the Christmas and New Year holiday period. The Carnival, which opens on December 22 and closes on January 8, will offer various attractions, including Sir Robert Fossett’s circus and hippodrome, a dancing floor, a continuous cinematograph display and vaudeville entertainment.