In April 2006, Scottish & Newcastle plc announced that it had agreed to acquire the Foster ’ s brand in Europe ( including Turkey ), the Russian Federation and other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States from Foster ’ s Group Limited for approximately £ 309 million.

Scottish & Newcastle launched Foster's Twist, a beer with a hint of citrus that is marketed as a refreshing alternative to other heavier beers and Premium Packaged Spirits such as Smirnoff Ice.

The merger of Newcastle Breweries with Scottish Brewers afforded the beer national distribution, and United Kingdom sales peaked by the early 1970s.

Newcastle Brown Ale became a brand of Scottish & Newcastle after the merger of Scottish Brewers with Newcastle Breweries in 1960 where it became a flagship brand alongside McEwan's Export and Younger's Tartan Special.

By 1997 Scottish and Newcastle claimed that it was the most widely distributed alcoholic product in both pubs and off licences in the country.

Heineken bought Scottish & Newcastle in a joint deal with Carlsberg in 2008.

On 13 October 2009 it was announced by Scottish & Newcastle that it planned to close the Dunston brewery in 2010, moving production of Brown Ale to the John Smiths Brewery in Tadcaster also.

* Good Company: The Story of Scottish and Newcastle, Berry Ritchie and Susannah May, James & James ( Publishers ) Ltd ( Sep 1999 ), ISBN 0-907383-08-4

The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters under the Earl of Leven defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquess of Newcastle.

Alnwick town lies adjacent to the A1, the main national north / south trunk road, providing easy access to Newcastle upon Tyne ( south ) and to the Scottish capital Edinburgh ( north ).

The ferry to Gothenburg, Sweden, from " Newcastle " ( actually North Shields ) in northern England ( currently run by the Danish company DFDS Seaways ), ceased at the end of October 2006 " DFDS scraps Newcastle-Gothenburg line ", The Local, 7 September 2006: " Danish shipping company DFDS Seaways is to scrap the only passenger ferry route between Sweden and Britain, with the axing of the Gothenburg-Newcastle route at thekey route for Scottish tourist traffic from Sweden and Norway.

Courage were taken over by Scottish & Newcastle in 1995, by which time John Smith's was the highest selling ale brand in the country.

By 1967, after a series of acquisitions, John Smith's was the largest regional brewer in the country after Scottish & Newcastle, and had a market capitalization of £ 29. 4 million, or £ 415 million in 2010 prices, with family interests still holding around 10 per cent of the company at this time.

In mid 2007, Scottish & Newcastle moved production of John Smith's Cask from Tadcaster to Burtonwood near Warrington, and production of John Smith's Magnet ( 4 per cent ABV ) to Camerons Brewery of Hartlepool.

Scottish & Newcastle used the John Smith's Brewery to brew many of its ale brands, including Courage Best Bitter, Director's and Russian Imperial Stout, Webster's Yorkshire Bitter and Green Label, Theakston Best Bitter and McEwan's Export.

Scottish & Newcastle replied that " To suggest we all live in a stereotyped world where everyone is tanned, has white teeth and is healthy is simply misleading.

In the first Scottish war Fairfax had commanded a regiment in the king's army ; then on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 he became commander of the parliamentary forces in Yorkshire, with Newcastle as his opponent.

From there he took Newcastle with ease putting pressure on the King to come to a treaty with the Scottish Covenanters.

* De Keersmaeker owned by Scottish & Newcastle, better known by its brand name Mort Subite ( Sweetened – except Gueuze Fond ), Kobbegem

In 2012, it was announced that HarperCollins had hired Scottish crime writer Val McDermid to adapt Northanger Abbey for a modern audience, as a suspenseful teen thriller.

On 3 July 1996 it was announced in the House of Commons that the Stone would be returned to Scotland, and on 15 November 1996, after a handover ceremony at the border between representatives of the Home Office and of the Scottish Office, it was transported to Edinburgh Castle, arriving on 30 November 1996, where it remains along with the crown jewels of Scotland ( the Honours of Scotland ) in the Crown Room.

In June 2005, the Scottish Executive announced their intention to create Scotland ’ s first coastal and marine national park.

In 1761 James Macpherson announced the discovery of an epic written by Ossian ( Oisín ) in the Scottish Gaelic language on the subject of " Fingal " ( Fionnghall meaning " white stranger ": it is suggested that Macpherson rendered the name as Fingal through a misapprehension of the name which in old Gaelic would appear as Finn ).

The British government announced on 22 November 2006 that the two separate ballot papers used in the previous Scottish Parliament elections would be replaced for the elections in May 2007 by a single paper — with the left side listing the parties standing for election as regional MSPs and the right side the candidates standing as constituency MSPs.

Under a plan devised by Alistair Irwin and approved by General Sir Mike Jackson, on 16 December 2004 it was announced that the Black Watch was to join with five other Scottish regiments-the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Highlanders and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders-to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland, a single regiment consisting of 5 regular and 2 territorial battalions.

In March 2007, the Scottish Government announced the setting up of an arts group modelled on Aosdána.

In February 2009, NuGeneration ( NuGen ), a consortium of GDF Suez, Iberdrola and Scottish and Southern Energy ( SSE ), announced plans to build a new nuclear power station of up to 3. 6GW capacity at Sellafield.

On 29 August 2006, Tommy Sheridan announced his intention to leave the Scottish Socialist Party and found a new socialist political party called Solidarity.

In response to the bill and the publicity that it generated, the Scottish Executive announced a review of the impact that the charges had on the chronically sick and full time students just three hours prior to the bill being debated.

Under pressure from the SSP and the wider campaign, the Scottish National Party ( SNP ) introduced free school meals as a pilot scheme for a small number of primary school pupils in selected local authorities and have announced that there will be free school meals for Primary 1-3 children from 2010, however have not backed the wholesale change that the SSP proposed.

In early January 2007, it was announced that the Scottish Executive had overruled the initial objection by East Dunbartonshire Council for the prison to be extensively modernised and extended, and after completion will be three times its present size, capable of containing 700 inmates in a medium-security facility.

In September 2010, the Scottish Government announced that no referendum would occur before the 2011 elections.

In October 2006, the SRSM announced that it was disaffiliating with the Scottish Socialist Party and becoming a cross party organisation.

On 15 July 2005 she announced she would be stepping down as President of the Scottish National Party at its September Conference, bringing to an end her 38 year career in representative politics.

However, in 2006, the Scottish Government announced its intention to unify the management of the sheriff and district courts in Scotland, but retaining lay justices, as part of its initiative to create a unified judiciary under the Lord President ; the Justice of the Peace Courts were implemented on a Sheriffdom by Sheriffdom basis.

On 14 October 2010, Cabinet Secretary for Education, announced that HMIe would be subsumed, along with Learning and Teaching Scotland, into a new body named the Scottish Education Quality and Improvement Agency.

The Scottish Executive announced in 2002 that a rail line-known as the Glasgow Airport Rail Link ( GARL )-would be built from Glasgow Central station to Glasgow International Airport.

In 2009, however, it was announced by the Scottish Government that the plan had been cancelled.

In March 2008, it was announced that G4S were taking over Scottish Rock Steady Group – who steward at major sporting and music events mostly in the UK.

In August 2010 it was announced that a new branch would be opened after a cash injection of £ 10 million, from a group of Scottish entrepreneurs who support the bank's mutual model.

Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and many of the other British opera companies have mounted productions, as did the reconstituted D ' Oyly Carte Opera Company between 1990 and its closure in 2003.

* Lines through the Scottish Highlands such as the Far North Line and the West Highland Line, although listed for closure, were kept open, in part because of pressure from the powerful Highland lobby.

The closure of the line in 1969 left the Scottish Borders area without any rail links.

Accommodation is available at Borodale House, the Raasay Outdoor Centre ( located in Borodale House due to the longtime closure of Raasay House ), at various B & Bs, and the Scottish Youth Hostels Association hostel, Creachan Cottage.

Despite his closure of the station, Scottish whalers for some time tried their luck to hunt marine mammals in the Wager area.

OWL was founded in 1984 by five former employees of ICL ( Ian Ritchie, Stuart Harper, Gordon Dougan, Richard Stonehouse and Dave MacLaren ) who had previously worked at ICL's Scottish Development Centre at Dalkeith Palace until its closure the previous year.

Adjacent to the Cathedral, Scottish Churches House was ( from the 1960s until its closure in 2011 ) a centre for ecumenical study and the former headquarters for Action of Churches Together in Scotland.

Scottish & Newcastle gradually moved production to its Mansfield brewery site, resulting in the eventual closure of the Daybrook building in 1996.

In December 1975 the Referee's Committee of the Scottish Football Association ordered the closure of Christie Park for two months following an incident in which a referee was knocked to the ground by supporters making their way home across the pitch after a match.

He resigned from this role in September 2002 when he voted against the Labour-Liberal Democrat Coalition Scottish Executive over the closure of the A & E department at the Glasgow Victoria Infirmary.

In February 2004 Scottish & Newcastle announced the closure of the Fountain Brewery.

The effects of the Viasystems closure are still felt in the Scottish Borders today.

The 19th century Scottish censuses were all released after 50 – 80 years of closure.

The company was renamed several years later and adopted the name Scottish Dance Theatre, after the closure of Peter Royston ’ s original company of the same name.