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.
Surviving members reunited in 1987 for a concert tour. Jim Croce, Sept. 20, 1973--The singer-songwriter of No. 1 hits Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and Time in a Bottle died in a crash near Natchitoches, La., at age 30. Otis Redding, Dec. 10, 1967--Redding, 26, and members of his Memphis-based band, the Bar-Kays, died in a Wisconsin crash.