In the case of Scotland, use of a blue background for the Saint Andrew's Cross is said to date from at least the 15th century, with the first certain illustration of a flag depicting such appearing in Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount 's Register of Scottish Arms, circa 1542.
Dennis Johnson, a brilliant defensive player who helped propel the Seattle SuperSonics and the to N.B.A. championships, died yesterday in Austin, Tex. He was 52. The cause was a heart attack, the National Basketball Association said.
We all knew him as simply the Professor. Russell Johnson, the actor known as the quirky, smart Gilligan's Island character, Professor Roy Hinkley, has died at age 89. ABC News confirmed with the actor's wife, Constance, that Johnson died Thursday morning of kidney failure. He died at home, peaceful, in his sleep at 5:21 am today, she said.