FACT OF THE DAY

On this day in 1747, Britain's last beheading took place on Tower Hill, London. Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, was executed for his role in the Jacobite rising. The Scots Magazine reported that as he mounted the steps to the scaffold, ushered by two warders, Fraser looked round and, seeing so many people, declared: "God save us, why should there be such a bustle about taking off an old grey head that can't get up three steps without two men to support it?" Read profiles on other great Scots at heritage.scotsman.com