February 29 in Scottish History

On 29 February 1528, Patrick Hamilton was burned at St Andrews for the crime of heresy. Hamilton is regarded as the first Protestant martyr in Scotland. After studying in Europe, where he came into contact with the ideas of Martin Luther, Hamilton began to preach Protestant ideas in Scotland, leading to his arrest. Hamilton was sentenced to be burned at the stake but, horrifically, his inexperienced executioners underestimated how much kindling would be needed, and the fire petered out with Hamilton badly burned but alive. In all it took six hours for the flames to consume Hamilton.

Today in 1904, the famous Glasgow theatre, the Pavilion, celebrated its opening performance. The theatre played host to many of the greatest stars of the music hall era and remains a pantomime and variety favourite today. Glasgow comic Tommy Morgan asked for his ashes to be scattered on the Pavilion's roof, and the theatre is said to be haunted by his ghost.

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