July 30 in Scottish History

On this day in 1547 the Protestants responsible for the murder of Cardinal David Beaton surrendered St Andrews Castle to French forces. Beaton’s execution in 1546 of the popular preacher, George Wishart, sparked a rebellion of Protestant lairds who seized the castle and killed Beaton. They held the castle for a year but were forced to surrender to the French army. John Knox, who had joined the Castilians, as they were known, served 19 months on French galleys, but eventually he and the other prisoners, except for one who died in captivity, regained their freedom through escape or release.

Today in 1971 saw the beginning of the work-in at John Brown's Clydebank Shipbuilding Yard, organised by stalwart Socialist, Jimmy Reid. This was in response to the Ted Heath Tory government's plans to liquidate the yard - Reid exposed these as unethical. As a result, Heath was forced to admit defeat and closure was delayed for a number of years.

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