On this day in 1805
Whisky icon John “Jonnie” Walker is born
John Walker is today better known as Johnnie Walker, whose name appears on the labels of one of the most famous whisky brands in the world.
Born near Kilmarnock, he ran a grocery store in the town, where he sold an own-brand whisky, called Walker’s Kilmarnock Whisky. But this was not what would become Johnnie Walker. The more famous blend was created by his son, Alexander, and had originally been called simply Old Highland Whisky.
Blended whiskies
Alexander Walker blended malt and grain whiskies and, in 1893, bought Cardhu distillery. His own sons later expanded the range of whiskies to three, of different ages, distinguished by different coloured labels. Over subsequent years, the range continued to grow, and the company acquired further distilleries.
The brand was acquired by Guinness in 1986, and 11 years later became part of drinks giant Diageo, which closed the original Kilmarnock distillery in spring 2012.
...and on this day in 1985
Queen Elizabeth II opens Waverley Mall
Edinburgh’s Waverley Mall was originally called Waverley Market, which had been the name of the real market on whose site it now stands. Sitting almost entirely below ground level, it was designed in such a way that it should not spoil the view of Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street.
It was renamed Waverley Shopping Centre in the early 1990s and, ten years later, Princes Mall. It was retitled once again in 2016, following another renovation, to Waverley Mall, at which point its name nodded at both its oldest and most recent incarnations, taking ‘Waverley’ from the market, and ‘Mall’ from Princes Mall.
A royal first?
Although officially opened on 25 July 1985, the mall had been welcoming customers since November the previous year. A post on an early incarnation of the mall’s website stated that “It is rumored (sic) that during the opening of the Mall the Queen travelled on an escalator for the first time.”
The first escalators in Britain had beeninstalled in Harrods department store, in London, in 1898.
Yesterday…
Queen Mary is forced to abdicate
Mary, then aged 24, was forced to abdicate in favour of her 13-month-old son, James VI, after marrying James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell.
Doomed paddle steamer PS Comet is launched
The Comet, which carried passengers between Glasgow and Greenock, was Europe’s first commercially successful steamboat.
Tomorrow…
The Union Bridge joins Scotland and England
The Union Bridge, which crosses the River Tweed at Horncliffe, was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world.