Youngsters learn legacy of Glasgow artist Wyllie
From our archives
5 years ago
AS a child George Wyllie, one of Scotland’s most popular and prolific artists, attended Craigton Public School, near Govan, Glasgow, and yesterday, youngsters from the modern Craigton Primary found out about the inspirational and colourful character from his daughter, Louise, and arts journalist Jan Patience. They have written a book about the artist, who died in 2012, and they shared some of his life and work with the children. Pupils also got the chance to make paper boats, in keeping with one of his most famous works, the Paper Boat, which he launched in the city in 1989 and sailed to New York in homage to Glasgow’s shipbuilding industry.
10 years ago
THE future stars of Scottish screen and television have been recognised with the release of shortlists for Bafta’s awards for young talent. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts in Scotland has announced the young actors, directors, games designers and writers in the running for its annual New Talent Awards. The awards ceremony will take place at Oran Mor in Glasgow on March
22. This year’s shortlist of 30 nominees includes the youngest in the history of the awards – 14-yearold Lauren Wilson from Johnstone. She has been nominated as best actress for her starring role in Bird, a short film about adolescence and growing up in Scotland.
25 years ago
GLENDA Jackson pulled off a political coup in the heart of Scotland yesterday as members of the public queued to meet a politician. Voters lined up to shake hands with the veteran actress – now shadow spokeswoman for Transport – as she toured Stirling. Miss Jackson, accompanied by Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Stirling, Anne Mcguire, walked through the town’s main shopping centre in Port Street and was soon mobbed by fans. However, rather than talk politics they were more interested in discussing her film and stage career. Miss Jackson spoke of the threat of a food tax under another Tory Government, saying it was part of the Conservative plan.
50 years ago
NEIL Armstrong, the first man on the moon, will set foot on friendlier ground today. He is to become the first freeman of the Border town of Langholm, stronghold of his warring ancestors. Several years ago the town council resolved to commemorate the skill and daring of the three American astronauts by honouring their leader, now Professor Armstrong of the College of Engineering, Cincinnati University, a descendant of the Armstrongs, the most powerful of all the Border clans during the restless years of the early sixteenth century.
100 years ago
BY the collapse yesterday afternoon of “Tennant’s stalk,” a conspicuous landmark in Glasgow, four workmen lost their lives and a number of others were seriously injured. The stalk, situated in the St Rollox Chemical Works, was 80 years old, and at the time of its erection was the highest chimney in the world. The structure had become dangerous, and its demolition had begun. A party of eight men were engaged upon the work, when the edifice suddenly gave way, carrying with it the wooden sheds in the immediate vicinity.
On this day
1682: The Chelsea Hospital for old soldiers (Chelsea Pensioners) was founded.
1702: The first successful English daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was published.
1819: Sir Henry Tate, sugar refiner who left his art collection to the nation which formed the basis for the Tate Gallery, was born in Chorley, Lancashire.
1845: In New Zealand, a Maori uprising against the British began. 1864: The Bradfield Reservoir, near Sheffield, burst its banks, killing
270 people.
1925: No, No, Nanette premiered at the Palace Theatre, London.
1941: The US Congress passed the Lend-lease Bill enabling Britain to borrow millions of dollars to buy food and arms needed for the Second World War.
1945: The huge Krupps factory in Germany was destroyed when 1,000 Allied bombers took part in the biggest ever daylight raid.
1960: Riot police stood by in the Belgian Congo as Patrice Lumumba, the future controversial independence premier, was allowed to speak in public for the first time. He was found massacred in the bush less than a year later.
1974: Kenneth and Keith Littlejohn, allegedly MI6 spies inside the IRA, escaped from jail. 1981: Sir Maurice Oldfield, British intelligence chief considered to be the model for Ian Fleming’s M in the Bond novels, died
1985: The Al-fayed brothers won control of House of Fraser Group to become owners of Harrods.
1988: The Bank of England pound note ceased to be legal tender and was replaced by the pound coin. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Japan marked the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that hit its northeastern region.