Now & Then The Scotsman Sessions
The Scotsman Sessions are short video performances, recorded by artists all around the country & introduced by our critics. To explore the first 400 in the series, visit
27 MARCH
1703: Russia’s Czar, Peter the Great, founded St Petersburg. 1713: Spain agreed to cede Gibraltar and Minorca to Britain. 1802: Peace of Amiens between Britain and France, which achieved complete pacification of Europe. 1871: The first rugby international was played, Scotland defeating England in Edinburgh.
1878: Britain, fearing further Russian aggression, called out reserves and sent Indian troops to Malta.
1914: The first citrated blood transfusion was given in a Brussels hospital. Citrate, introduced by a Belgian surgeon, A Hustin, enabled blood to be bottled without clotting.
1942: British commandos made a dawn raid on the French port of St Nazaire, in which an old destroyer, the Campbeltown, full of explosives, rammed the main dock gate and put it out of action for the rest of the war.
1943: Aircraft carrier HMS Dasher blew up and sank off Arran, with the loss of more than 350 crew members.
1945: The last of more than 1,000 V2 rockets that fell on Britain in the Second World War exploded at Orpington, Kent.
1961: Britain’s first women traffic wardens went on duty in Leicester. 1964: United Nations peace force under Indian General Gyani took over in Cyprus.
1964: Earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale struck Alaska, claiming 118 lives.
1966: World Cup football trophy, which had been stolen from Central Hall, Westminster, on 20 March, was found under a hedge in a south-east London garden by a man walking his dog.
1970: Severe earthquake struck western Turkey, killing at least 1,087 and leaving 90,000 homeless. 1977: Two aircraft collided and exploded in fog on an airstrip at Los Rodeos Airport at Tenerife, Canary Islands, with 582 deaths.
1991: Commandos stormed a Singapore Airlines jet, killing four Pakistani hijackers who had threatened to set fire to the aircraft and its 120 passengers.
1992: Rosemary Aberdour – selfstyled “Lady Aberdour” – was jailed for four years at the Old Bailey for stealing £2.7m from a hospital charity. 1994: The Eurofighter took its first flight in Manching, Germany. 1995: President Nelson Mandela dismissed his estranged wife Winnie from South Africa’s government.
1998: The Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence.
2008: The first day of operations at Heathrow Airport’s new £4.3 billion Terminal 5 descended into farce when flights were cancelled due to a series of problems including faulty lifts, broken escalators and the complete collapse of the baggage system. 2009: The rare 29-year-old whisky Port Ellen, which comes from an abandoned distillery in Islay that has been closed for 26 years, won the award for the world’s best single malt.
2009: A school near Aberdeen banned children from taking Easter eggs due to fears over allergies. 2020: Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock tested positive for coronavirus.
BIRTHDAYS
Tony Banks, British musician (Genesis), 74; Mariah Carey, American singer and actress, 55; David Coulthard MBE, Scottish Formula 1 driver and television presenter, 53; Julian Glover CBE, British actor, 89; Duncan Goodhew MBE, British gold medal-winning Olympic swimmer, 67; Patrick Mccabe, Irish novelist, 69; Admiral Sir Jock Slater, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff 1995-98, 86; Quentin Tarantino, film director, 61; Daphnetoddobe, painter,77.