On 6 March 1923, Scotland's first radio broadcast took place.
The broadcast took place from Rex House, 202 Bath Street in Glasgow. The BBC's founder, Lord Reith of Stonehaven, opened the station. Orchestra, pipe band, choir, solo singers, actors and speech makers were all squeezed into a small attic for the first broadcast. By the summer of 1924, stations had opened in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and, by the eve of the Second World War, over 90% of the Scottish population were served by BBC transmitters. _________________ FOA BOB -
On 7 March 1744, the world's first golf club was founded in Edinburgh.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers held their first meeting on Leith Links and petitioned the Edinburgh Council to provide a silver club for competition. John Rattray was the first winner. He joined the Jacobites after the Battle of Prestonpans and became Bonnie Prince Charlie's personal surgeon. He escaped beheading after the uprising thanks to the intercession of his golfing friend, Lord President Forbes. _________________ FOA BOB -
On this day in 1824, John Elder, the Scottish marine engineer and shipbuilder, was born.
Elder invented the marine compound steam engine which enabled ships to cut fuel consumption and made longer voyages possible without the need to refuel. Elder was also a noted philanthropist who cared deeply for his workforce, establishing and contributing to an accident fund at the shipyard. At his death, he was working on a scheme to found a school for his workers' children. _________________ FOA BOB -
On 9 March 1649, James Hamilton, the 1st duke of Hamilton and Scottish Royalist soldier, died.
His weak and vacillating leadership of the Royalist cause in Scotland did great damage to Charles I in his northern kingdom. Captured by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Preston in 1648, he was executed after trying to escape captivity.
On 10 March 560, St Kessog, the Irish missionary in the Lennox area and southern Perthshire, was killed.
Kessog was Scotland's patron saint before Andrew, and his name was used as a battle cry by the Scots. Son of the king of Cashel in Ireland, St Kessog is said to have worked miracles, even as a child. He left Ireland and became a missionary bishop in Scotland. Using Monks' Island in Loch Lomond as his headquarters, he evangelized the surrounding area until he was martyred, supposedly at Bandry, where a heap of stones was known as St Kessog's Cairn. _________________ FOA BOB -
On 11 March 1911, Sir Fitzroy MacLean, the Scottish soldier, diplomat, politician and author was born.
A founder member of the SAS and reportedly the inspiration for Ian Fleming's character, James Bond, he is probably best known for his exploits during the Second World War. In 1943, Churchill chose MacLean to parachute into German-occupied Yugoslavia as his personal representative to the partisans of Tito, who became leader of Yugoslavia after the war. MacLean was instrumental in gaining Allied support for the Communist partisans instead of their rivals, the right-wing Chetniks. _________________ FOA BOB -
The morning of March 15 1941 saw the end of two nights of heavy German bombing of Clydebank.
The Clydebank Blitz, as it became known, destroyed a third of the buildings of Clydebank, leaving 35,000 people homeless. A thousand German bombers were used in the raid and the devastation of the town was so complete that only eight buildings remained entirely unscathed after the bombing. To further compound Clydebank's misery, only two enemy planes were shot down. _________________ FOA BOB -
On 16 March 1914, Sir John Murray, the noted Scottish oceanographer, died.
Murray pioneered the science of oceanography. He was one of the naturalists on the "HMS Challenger" expedition of 1872-76, and edited the expedition's reports.
He invented a device for sounding and registering the sea's temperature at great depths, and also completed the first biological survey of the lochs of Scotland. _________________ FOA BOB -
March 17 1780 saw the birth of Rev Thomas Chalmers in Anstruther.
Chalmers was the leader of the dissenting ministers in the Great Disruption of 1843. In all, 470 ministers walked out of the General Assembly over the matter of who had the right to pick a minister for a parish. Chalmers then became the first Moderator of the new Free Church of Scotland, expending much energy on ensuring the new church had a solid base on which to build. _________________ FOA BOB -
On 18 March 1286, Alexander III, King of Scots, set off on the journey that led to him being killed accidentally at Kinghorn, Fife.
The last of the MacAlpine dynasty and the Celtic line of Scottish Kings, his reign was known as "The Golden Age". His successor, Margaret, known as the 'Maid of Norway', died on her way home from Norway to claim the throne. Margaret's premature death precipitated the disastrous involvement of Edward I of England in Scotland's affairs. _________________ FOA BOB -
On this day in 1813, Dr.David Livingstone, the famous Scottish missionary and explorer, was born.
Livingstone, from Blantyre, became well-known for his exploration of central and southern Africa. He was the first European to see the Victoria Falls in present-day Zimbabwe. The whereabouts of Livingstone became the subject of the famous search by American journalist Henry Morton Stanley. _________________ FOA BOB -
On this day in 1813, Dr.David Livingstone, the famous Scottish missionary and explorer, was born.
Livingstone, from Blantyre, became well-known for his exploration of central and southern Africa. He was the first European to see the Victoria Falls in present-day Zimbabwe. The whereabouts of Livingstone became the subject of the famous search by American journalist Henry Morton Stanley.
Stan;ey' boss was a man called Gornon Bennett, who ran a newspaper and would publish any sensational story.. So now, when we hear something sensational or ridiculous, we say "Gordon Bennett!"
On 20 March 1936, Robert Cunninghame-Graham, the Scottish nationalist politician and author, died.
The first President of the National Party of Scotland, and first Chairman of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Party. George Bernard Shaw reputedly used Graham as a model for characters in his plays, Arms and the Man and Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Graham was also a noted traveller, particularly of Central and South America, and wrote extensively of his travels there. _________________ FOA BOB -
On this day in 1729, John Law, the Scottish economist, died.
In his best known work, Money and Trade Considered with a Proposal for Supplying the Nation With Money, he argued that increased money supply resulted in an expanding, healthy economy. Rejected in Britain, he moved to France where the government, deep in debt, adopted his plans to develop its vast territories in North America with disastrous results. The resulting financial disaster became known as the "Mississippi bubble" and had such an enormous impact on France that it would be 80 years before France would again introduce paper money into its economy. _________________ FOA BOB -
On this day 1875, Alexander "Greek" Thomson died in Glasgow.
Thomson is considered one of Scotland's greatest architects, and his impact on the look of Victorian Glasgow was enormous. In fact, many buildings in the city cannot even be definitively identified as his, as his style was so routinely copied. Holmwood House in Cathcart is regarded as one of his greatest works and is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. _________________ FOA BOB -
On 23 March 1923, Roddy McMillan, the Scottish stage and TV actor, was born.
His credits include the TV series, The View From Daniel Pike, and the play, The Revellers. However, he will be most fondly remembered for his portrayal of Para Handy, the captain of the Vital Spark in the much loved television series of the 1960s.
On this day in 1848, the Free Church of Scotland settlement at New Edinburgh, New Zealand was founded under Rev Thomas Burns, a nephew of the poet Robert Burns. The settlement later became Dunedin, one of the largest towns in the country, and one which still retains a distinctive Scottish character.
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