New era as SNP takes control of Glasgow

From our archives 5 years ago

HISTORY has been made in Scotland’s biggest city with the

SNP formally taking the reins of power for the first time in the party’s 80-year existence. In another landmark, the appointment of the party’s Eva Bolander as Glasgow Lord Provost marks the first time someone from overseas has been the city’s first citizen. The Swedish native said: “This post carries great responsibility. I am thrilled by the honour of taking this post, the first EU national to do so. Glasgow is a friendly and warm city and has always welcomed people from around the world. I will do my best to do as our motto says, ‘Let Glasgow flourish’.”

10 years ago

THE world-famous statue of Greyfriars Bobby may soon be the only reminder of the Skye Terrier as the breed faces total extinction, it was revealed yesterday. New figures show that lookalikes of the little dog who turned the breed into a national icon have become as rare as the tiger and panda, with only around 3,000 left in the world. The terrier sits at number four on the Kennel Club’s list of under-threat breeds and, with only 44 UK registrations last year, experts fear it could die out within a few generations. Breeders have blamed the drop in numbers on decreasing public demand and are meeting to discuss how to save one of the country’s most enduring symbols.

25 years ago

A millionaire Sikh property dealer who lives in a Scottish castle believes he is the new champion of poet Robert Burns. Mr Sidar Iqbal Singh, 64, has hired a poet to translate the bard’s work into Urdu. Mr Singh said: “Since moving to Scotland over 10 years ago, I have been struck by the similarity of Robert Burns to some of the Jowly farmers in my native Punjab. So I have asked a poet from my native village to translate into Urdu some of Burns’s works. The only problem was that we had to translate out of old Scots into English before moving over to Urdu.

50 years ago

CELTIC FC last night launched a “Save Hampden Park” appeal to the leading authorities in Scottish football. The club have listed fresh proposals to have the ground turned into a national stadium and suggest an immediate injection of £120,000 to be contributed by the Scottish Football Association, the Scottish League, Rangers, and themselves. They suggest that if this sum, and possibly more from a specially arranged match, could be attained, an approach might be made to the Government for aid at least equal to the contribution from Scotland. It is hoped that if this is forthcoming, about £300,000 could be raised, which would permit restoration of the stadium.

100 years ago

IN the Divorce Court, London, yesterday Mr Justice Hill heard the petition of Captain Archibald Dickson Winterbottom, staying at the Cavalry Club, for a decree of nullity of marriage with Gladys Hughes Winterbottom, otherwise Appleton, living at Bearwardcote, Derby, on the ground that when they went through the marriage ceremony on May 21, 1910, at Wellington Street, Glasgow, neither of them had lived in Scotland for 21 days previously. The respondents pleaded that on the same day that they were married by the assistant registrar she and her husband presented a joint application to the Sheriff substitute of Lanarkshire.

On this day

1536: Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, was executed on Tower Green for alleged adultery.

1588: The Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon.

1802: The French Legion d’honneur was created by Napoleon.

1898: William Ewart Gladstone, four times Liberal prime minister, died at Hawarden Castle in North Wales aged 88.

1900: Britain annexed Tonga, the Friendly Islands. 1906: The 20km Simplon rail tunnel, between

Switzerland and Italy, was officially opened.

1935: T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) died six days after a motorcycle accident in Dorset. 1982: Italian actress Sophia Loren was jailed for a month for tax evasion.

1984: Sir John Betjeman, Poet Laureate from 1972, died aged 77. ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, celebrated their third wedding anniversary.