clanforum
General Category => General Scottish => Topic started by: Stirling Thompson on April 01, 2009, 10:30:33 AM
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A 'joug' , or Scots pint, is officially about three Imperial pints, or 1.7 litres.
Daniel Boone was Scottish.
Gardyloo, was popular cry in 18th century Scotland. 'Gardyloo' was a warning to anyone walking beneath the crowded tenement flats of Edinburgh's Old Town. Literally it means 'beware of the water', but the slops they emptied out into the streets were not always so pleasant.
According to Scottish tradition, the sound of a dog barking or howling was a bad omen.
In Highland legend the mythical banshees were the spirits of women who had died in childbirth.
Old King Cole, of nursery rhyme fame, was killed when he went to Scotland, by Fergus, a Scottish chieftain.
Walter Scott's 'Bride of Lammermoor' was based on real events in Baldoon Castle, Dumfries, and to this day the bloodstained ghost of the bride, who was murdered or driven insane according to different versions of the tale, is said to haunt the castle.
Arnish Moor on the Isle of Lewis is believed to have been haunted by a figure dressed in 18th century clothing. Spookily, the body of a similar figure was dug from the moor in 1964, since when the appearances of the ghost have ceased.
The town of Ceres in Fife could claim to hold the oldest Highland Games in Scotland. Since 1314 the Ceres Games have been held each June to commemorate the safe return of Ceres men from the Battle of Bannockburn.
The term ceilidh, used now to mean an evening of traditional dance usually with live music, translates literally from Gaelic as 'visit' and was once used more generally to mean a social gathering.
One of Scotland's most famous literary figures, Macbeth, was a real historical figure who ruled the kingdom from 1040 to 1057. Contrary to Shakespeare's version of events, Macbeth did not die until three years after the battle of Dunsinane.
When Robert the Bruce's army attacked the English fort at Kelso it crept near to the fort's walls disguised as a herd of cows.
Munro' is a term for all Scottish mountains over 3,000 feet. The term was coined after the climber Sir Hugh Munro published a set of tables listing all such peaks. There are almost 300 Munros in Scotland, including 12 peaks over 4,000 feet above sea level.
The longest loch in Scotland is Loch Awe at 24 miles long, although Loch Lomond has the largest surface area and Loch Ness the largest volume. Ben Nevis, in the Grampians, is the highest mountain in Britain at over 4,400 feet.
The thistle first officially appeared as the Scottish emblem on coinage around 1470, during the reign of James III.
Carvings of cacti and Indian corn inside Roslin Chapel, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, present fairly convincing evidence that the founder's grandfather, Prince Henry of Orkney, set foot in the New World a full century before Columbus.
Pontius Pilate is said to have been a Scot. According to some he was born in Perthshire when his father was posted there on military service.
William Brodie is said to have inspired R.L.Stevenson's novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. An Edinburgh town councillor and cabinet maker by day, by night Brodie was the leader of a gang of thieves and a compulsive gambler. He was eventually executed for his crimes in 1788.
In 1457 James II tried to, unsuccessfully, to ban football, sometimes known as Soccer, in Scotland, a decision that would not be any more popular today.
Although she never sat on the English throne, Mary Queen of Scots is the ancestor of all the English monarchs who followed her.
Whilst it is currently considered fashionable to wear your family's tartan, this habit has little historical basis and it is better to let good taste be your guide. However, to fabricate a link to a family with whom you have no connection is considered a serious error in some circles.
The Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh boasts the world's largest collection of rhododendrons.
Edinburgh Castle is haunted by the ghost of a headless drummer who is said to appear only when the castle is about to be besieged. His first recorded appearance was in 1650 just before Cromwell attacked.
Dalry House in Edinburgh is reputedly haunted by a one armed ghost. The spirit is supposedly of John Chiesly, a man who had his arm chopped off as punishment for shooting Sir George Lockhart. Rumour has it, though, that the ghost is 'armless.
A recipe has survived from 18th century Edinburgh for 'Bride's Pie', an odd mixture of calf's feet, apples, raisins, cinnamon, brandy and champagne.
The 1986 film Highlander stars French actor Christopher Lambert as the eponymous highlander, and a native Scot, Sean Connery as a Spaniard.
In 1899 a Chicago judge ruled that the bagpipes were not a musical instrument.
R.L Stevenson's ancestors are almost as famous as he is, but for feats of engineering rather than the written word. In particular they designed and built a large number of Scotland's lighthouses, causing the famous author to write that he 'might write books till 1900 and not serve humanity so well'.
Scotland's longest single-word place name is Coignafeuinternich in Inverness-shire. The shortest is I, the Gaelic name for Iona.
Edinburgh is on the same line of latitude as Moscow.
It was a practice of Scottish midwives to sometimes place whisky in a new born baby's mouth to ward off the evil eye.
One of Scotland's most notorious witches was Isobel Gowdie, who claimed in her trial in 1662 that she had made a pact with the devil fifteen years earlier which had enabled her to fly and turn into a cat.
Prestwick Airport proudly lays claim to being the only place in Britain to have been visited by Elvis Presley, the visit taking place on 2 March 1960.
Scotland's last witch trial was in 1722, when Janet Horne was sentenced to death by burning in a tar barrel.
The first book on clan tartans did not appear until 1819 and listed 100 key patterns, but since then the number of officially recognised tartans has risen to over 2,000 - and is still growing.
The Duke of Atholl is officially the only person in the United Kingdom allowed to raise a private army.
The word dunce is thought to come from the term for the followers of Duns Scotus, a renowned philosopher born in Duns around 1265. The pedantry of their school of thought led to their name being equated with stupidity.
Contrary to popular belief haggis was enjoyed in England as well as Scotland up until the end of the 18th century, and only acquired its particular Scottish identity from the Robert Burns poem 'To a Haggis'.
Neeps' 'n' Tatties are the classic accompaniment to haggis, and are remarkably simple to make. Just peel, chop and boil roughly equal quantities of potato and turnip or swede, and then drain and mash them together with a little butter and seasoning. Make sure you don't forget the haggis.
Scotland has 790 islands, of which only 130 are inhabited. At the other end of the scale, roughly 65% of the Scottish land mass sits at over 400 feet above sea level.
The area of North America now known as Nova Scotia was colonised by the Scots in 1625, but they were forced out in 1632 by the French, who had a prior claim to the region and named it 'Acadia'. It only reverted to Nova Scotia in the 18th century, following the British conquest of French Canada.
Beneath the City Chambers in Edinburgh lies Mary King's Close, a street that was closed off and sealed up following the plague of 1645 and has since been built over. Today , tours of the close are conducted for tourists, and a number of ghostly sightings have been recorded.
Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park is all that remains of the Edinburgh volcano, which erupted around 325,000,000 years ago. The volcano also included the Castle Rock and Calton Hill.
The Forth Railway Bridge took seven years to construct, and consists of 54,000 tons of steel held together by over 8,000,000 rivets.
Not only does Scotland have its own Washington, near Coupar Angus, but it also has a village called Moscow just north-east of Kilmarnock.
Originally Castle Rock in Edinburgh marked Scotland's border with England. Following Malcolm I's victory over the Northumbrians in 1018 the border was moved south to the River Tweed.
Herring fishing was once one of Scotland's strongest industries, 2,000,000 barrels of herring having been sold at its peak around 1910-12. Herring also featured prominently in Scottish poems and folk songs and they even inspired the novel The Silver Darlings by Neil Gunn.
Scotland boasts the oldest ecclesiastical building in Britain, a 6th century cell Eilach an Naoimh, one of the Garvellach Islands, off the coast of Argyll.
Cairngorm quartz is a crystal of smoky brown or yellow colour, named after the range of Scottish mountains in which it is found.
Ben MacDhui, the highest peak of the Cairngorms, lays claim to its own Yeti known, rather unimaginatively, as the 'Big Grey Man'.
When the Pictish king Nechtan admired the beauty of her eyes, St Triduana plucked them out and sent them to him, speared on a thorn. During the Middle Ages people would visit St Triduana's Well in Restalrig (now part of Edinburgh) seeking a cure for their eye complaints.
The Book of Kells, one of the finest illuminated manuscripts to have survived from the Celtic period, is thought to have been started and possibly completed at Iona Abbey, even though it now rests in Trinity College, Dublin.
Fettes School in Edinburgh includes British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the author Ian Fleming and Fleming's most famous creation, 007 James Bond, amongst its illustrious alumni.
The 'Lost Clan' is the name given to the descendants of the elite Scottish guard which once served the French monarchy. In 1525 members of this guard were caught in blizzards while crossing the Alps and decided to settle there. It is believed that members of the 'Lost Clan' still inhabit the area.
Whilst Scotland may be more famous for its whisky than for its beer, the first recorded alcoholic drink to have been produced in the country was heather ale, believed to have been made by the Picts.
Shortbread is remarkably simple to make. Measure equal weights of plain, self-raising flour and butter. and half the amount of caster sugar. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the sifted flours to produce a dough. Press into a baking tray and cook on a low heat for an hour.
In 1950 the Stone of Destiny was stolen from Westminster Abbey and hidden in Arbroath. Opinion is divided upon whether this was the action of Scottish Nationalists or a daring band of students.
Tiree, the name given to the island in the Inner Hebrides, translates from Gaelic as 'the kingdom under the waves'.
One of the more unusual theories on the origin of the term 'Scot' is that it is derived from the name of Scota, an Egyptian princess who brought the Stone of Destiny across to Scotland.An alternative claim states that the word Scot originates from the Latin word for pirates.
There are now about 25,000,000 million people of Scottish lineage living abroad, compared with only 5,000,000 in Scotland itself.
It is considered lucky in Scotland if your first visitor on New Year's Day is a tall, dark man bearing a gift of shortbread, a black bun - or a lump of coal.
The buttons on the sleeves of traditional Highland dress have their origins in the British army - they were introduced to stop soldiers wiping their noses on their sleeves.
Porridge - Here is one of the many ways to prepare this classic Scottish dish. Boil half a pint of water then slowly stir in 1oz of oatmeal. Simmer gently for about 25 minutes, adding a little salt halfway through, then leave to stand for 2 minutes before eating. Traditionally porridge is served in one bowl, with cold milk in another. Each spoonful of porridge is dipped into the milk before it is eaten - but on no account should any sugar be added.
In 1941 an Italian newspaper reported that the wartime bombing of Scotland had succeeded in killing the Loch Ness Monster.
The oldest known recorded sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was made by the 7th century monk Adamnan in his biography off the Christian missionary St Columba. Adamnan wrote that Columba subdued the beast when it attacked his followers.
Haggis is traditionally made from minced sheep's intestines, beef suet, oatmeal, onion, cayenne pepper and nutmeg, stuffed into a sheep's stomach and boiled for three hours.
The word tartan originally referred to a type of material rather than a pattern, and was not unique to Scotland Over the past two centuries, however, the Scots have undoubtedly made it their own. The common American usage of the word plaid to mean a tartan pattern seems to have developed from a misunderstanding - in Gaelic plaid simply means blanket.
Many locations in America were nostalgically named after the places the Scottish immigrants had left behind. There are eight Aberdeens, eight Edinburghs, seven Glasgows and eight places, simply known as Scotland, in the United States today.
Before the Declaration of Arbroath, Scotland was organised under a clan system. Many members of the great clans travelled to the New World and named the places in which they settled in honour of their clan names. Today there are areas named Campbell, Cameron, Crawford and Douglas, throughout the US.
The common Scottish surname suffix Mac or Mc can be seen at the start of many area names; in North Carolina alone there are 130 such places.
Central to life at the time of mass immigration to the United States was the Kirk (Scottish word for the church). When the Scots moved to America, they brought their religion of Presbyterianism with them. Today the Presbyterian Church has over 3million members and, is one of the largest mainstream Protestant churches in the US.
Education has always played an important part in Scottish society, and these Scots played a crucial role in the early development of the New World. Most headmasters of the schools in the new colonies south of New York were Scottish or of Scottish ancestry. These establishments were fundamental in the education of America's future leaders; both Thomas Jefferson's and John Rutledge's tutors were Scottish immigrants.
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WOW! Thanks so much for that trivia. I have heard of some of them, but most was new info.
Never too old to learn a new thing.
Paula
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Hahahah...I'm attempting to not scream "gardyloo!" right now.
And the bagpipes? Chicago (yes, the entire city of Chicago) was just jealous that they didn't have such an awesome musical instrument.
And the bombing of Nessie?
I shall say only this: Ain't that just like an Italian?
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Thanks for all the trivia, Stirling! You know I love all the ghost stories. We have a Glasgow and Aberdeen here in Kentucky,also. Keep em' coming!
Bev
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The 1986 film Highlander stars French actor Christopher Lambert as the eponymous highlander, and a native Scot, Sean Connery as a Spaniard.
That always amused me, especially as Connery's character carries an ancient Japanese sword.
The area of North America now known as Nova Scotia was colonised by the Scots in 1625, but they were forced out in 1632 by the French, who had a prior claim to the region and named it 'Acadia'. It only reverted to Nova Scotia in the 18th century, following the British conquest of French Canada.
After which, the French-speaking Acadians fled to the swamps of Louisiana, where their descendants remain to this day. The name became corrupted to Cajuns. "Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
The Book of Kells, one of the finest illuminated manuscripts to have survived from the Celtic period, is thought to have been started and possibly completed at Iona Abbey, even though it now rests in Trinity College, Dublin.
That's because it was spirited away from Iona to protect it from raiders, who were busy sacking, looting and destroying things at the time. It was apparently carried to the Abbey at Kells, County Meath, in Ireland. In 1007, it was stolen by Vikings and found, some months later minus its gold and jewel bedecked covers, in a peat bog. Scientists and artisans of modern times still have not managed to recreate the techniques used to draw the illuminations, the details of which sometimes require a microscope to fully appreciate.
It's often attributed to St. Columba (Columbcille in the Irish) who was in exile from Ireland after a dispute with St. Finnian over a manuscript. He founded the Abbey at Iona, but he died about two hundred years before the date most scholars hold as its origin. His followers were certainly heavily involved in its creation and some think it was started to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his death. Columbcille was known as one of the twelve apostles from Ireland and is said to have evangelized the Picts and other native people in western Scotland.
Porridge - Here is one of the many ways to prepare this classic Scottish dish. Boil half a pint of water then slowly stir in 1oz of oatmeal. Simmer gently for about 25 minutes, adding a little salt halfway through, then leave to stand for 2 minutes before eating. Traditionally porridge is served in one bowl, with cold milk in another. Each spoonful of porridge is dipped into the milk before it is eaten - but on no account should any sugar be added.
However, for an authentic experience, be sure to get steel-cut oats, not the rolled oats common in America. The texture and flavor is entirely different. I've found it in health food stores and some grocery stores, sometimes labeled as Scottish Oats.
At a B&B in Ireland we enjoyed the most heavenly version of porridge. Atop the oatmeal was placed a quantity of brown sugar, followed by heavy cream, and then Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur. Certainly violates Stu's proscription of added sugar, but it's a marvelous way to jump-start your day!
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Michael,
I bow to your superior knowledge! Mostly, I cut and paste from interesting sites I find on the web.
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Michael,
I bow to your superior knowledge! Mostly, I cut and paste from interesting sites I find on the web.
I don't know about superior Stu (blushes slightly and nods). I just pick up bits and pieces here and there. I know a lot more about Ireland and Irish, but I'm learning about my Scots and Welsh ancestors too. I've always figured that when you stop learning, you die.
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A Few Bold Scots
William Balfour Baikie (1825—64) Explored the River Niger and opened it for navigation.
David Douglas (1799—1834) Botanist and plant collector who travelled widely, particularly in north America. Best remembered for the Douglas Fir, which he introduced to
Britain.
Alexander Duff (1806—78) Devoted his life to missionary work in India.
Thomas Blake Glover (1838—1911) Established himself as a trader in weapons and ships in Japan and played a major role in the industrialisation of the country.
Samuel Greig (1735—88) Born in Inverkeithing and travelled to Russia and carried out major reforms in the Russian Naval Service. Catherine the Great appointed him Supreme Admiral of the Russian Navy.
David Livingstone (1819—73) Initially travelled to Africa as a missionary and returned, first to explore the Zambesi River and then to track the Nile to its source. Discovered
Lake Ngami and the Victoria Falls.
John Alexander Macdonald (1815—91) Emigrated to Canada in 1820. Became the first Prime Minister of the
Confederation in 1867. Served 1867—1873 and again 1878—1891.
Alexander Mackenzie (1822—92) Emigrated to Canada in 1842. Served as the first Liberal Prime Minister of Canada, 1873—1878.
Lachlan Macquarie (1761—1824) After military service in North America, Egypt and India, he served very succesfully as governor of New South Wales. MacQuarie Island, the Macquarie River and the Lachlan River are named after him.
Mungo Park (1771—1806) Explorer in Africa. Embarked on two expeditions to track the course of the river Niger and was killed on the second expedition before he reached the source.
Alan Pinkerton (1819—84) Emigrated to America in 1842 and founded the Pinkerton Detective Agency in Chicago (1850). A pioneer in the field of federal intelligence and
security.
James Ramsay (1733—96) Served as a pastor on the island of St Christopher in the Caribbean. On his return to Great Britain, he campaigned vigorously against the slave trade.
Mary Slessor (1848—1915) A mill worker who trained for the missions before travelling to Calabar, Nigeria in 1876. Devoted the rest of her life to working with the people there.
John McDouall Stuart (1816—66) Made several expeditions to Australia. First to cross Australia from south to north (1862) Mount Stuart is named after him.
John Witherspoon (1723-94) A Paisley minister who emigrated to America in 1768. Served as president
of the College of New Jersey, represented the state at the Continental Congress of 1776-82 and signed the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.
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The Scottish Calendar
January brings the sna, Blocks the roads an rails an aa.
February brings the rain, batterin on the window pane.
March comes in wi blustering gales, Sinks the ships an floods the dales.
April's weel-kent for its shooers, Drizzlin on for oors an oors.
If in May ye cast a cloot, Ye'll catch a cauld withoot a doot.
June's supposed tae bring the roses, aa we get is stuffy noses.
In July we thole the thunner; Simmer storms are sic a scummer.
August brings the harvest hame - Soaking wat - it's aye the same!
Sherp September brings the frost, Aa the tender blooms are lost.
Dull October brings the mist, canna see beyond yer fist.
Dark November brings mair rain, Aa the burn in spate again.
Chill December brings the snaw - Anither dreary years awaa!
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The Darien Scheme.
In 1695 the "Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies" was established. As the name implies, the goal of the company was to establish trade with Africa and East Indies. William Paterson, a director of the company, had a plan to do this from a single location on the Isthmus of Panama (known at the time as the Isthmus of Darien). From this position between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the colony could open up trade in either direction, effectively creating a trade "bridge" between east and west. The company ultimately raised £400,000 from investors, a sum of money which represented half the liquid assets of Scotland. The first expedition set sail in 1698.
While it sounded like a fine plan on paper, there were a few problems in the actual execution. First, no one involved with the planning had ever actually been to Panama. Consequently the site they selected was mostly swamp, not at all suited for farming. Second, like most colonial expeditions, they took a variety of goods with them to trade with the locals. In retrospect, their choice of products was less than ideal. They brought with them bibles, wigs, and wool clothing. Not surprisingly, these were of little interest to the natives, or anyone else in the area for that matter. The third problem was the anyone else in the area, namely the Spanish, who were not at all happy about having a Scottish colony in their midst. All this coupled a lack of support from the English led to the expedition's ultimate failure.
Unfortunately, word of the colony's failure had not yet reached Scotland by 1699, when the second expedition was launched. They arrived to find an abandoned settlement, but decided to give it a go anyway. Sadly, they met the same fate as the first expedition. Over 2,000 men lost their lives in the two failed expeditions.
The failure of the Darien colony was a huge financial disaster for Scotland. It single-handedly wiped out one fourth of the wealth of the country. This financial collapse is often cited as one of the primary reasons for the Act of Union of 1707, whereby Scotland and England joined together to become the United Kingdom.
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The "Darien Scheme" is an extremely interesting subject and I would suggest, for those interested, to further examine the reasons for it's failure starting with Wikipedia.
In my opinion responsibility for the falure of "The Darien Scheme", as with almost all Scotland's problems, lie with the English.
No wonder that today there is still an under current in Scotland of loathing for their English neighbours.
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You got that right Ern. Seems like none of the former or even current subjects of British rule look upon the English with fondness. The Scots and the Welsh seem to have become accustomed to being British, but the English are still foreigners to them, despite geographic proximity. And let's don't even get started about the Irish situation.
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Michael
TO BE SURE, TO BE SURE
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The "Darien Scheme" is an extremely interesting subject and I would suggest, for those interested, to further examine the reasons for it's failure starting with Wikipedia.
In my opinion responsibility for the falure of "The Darien Scheme", as with almost all Scotland's problems, lie with the English.
No wonder that today there is still an under current in Scotland of loathing for their English neighbours.
I agree with you Ern. I've read a bit about "The Darien Scheme" and it was doomed from the start. What those poor people suffered is unimaginable. :'(
Thanks all for the history and bits about Scotland.
In Clanship
Barbara
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A few words...
The word 'sculdudry' was first used in Scotland in the mid 17th century. By the mid 18th it was 'sculduddery'. Scottish emigrants to America made the term popular, where it changed spelling again to 'skullduggery'.
Hekill. First used in 15th century Scotland, the word 'hekill' came to mean 'to reprove or scold' somebody. When the Scottish started to use the modern version of the word, now spelt 'heckle', to refer specifically to members of a crowd 'heckling' a speaker, it became popular through the English speaking world.
Slogorne. Borrowed from the Gaelic phrase 'sluagh ghairm' (the cry of the army) the Scots word 'slogorne' was first used in 14th century Scotland. Originally a slogorne was a battle-cry that was used by a clan to identify and locate other clan members during battle but it eventually came to mean any catchy or ritualistic phrase.
Weird. Originally an Old English word for 'fate' or 'destiny', weird took on it's modern meaning of 'strange' or 'uncanny' thanks to the Shakespearean play 'Macbeth'. Shakespeare based his three witches on an actual Scottish legend about the three Goddesses of Fate that many Scots believed had actually tempted Macbeth to his grisly end. Unfortunately most of Shakespeare's English audience didn't realise that the phrase 'Weird Sisters' meant 'Sisters of Fate' in Scottish and just assumed it meant the Unnatural or Uncanny Sisters'.
Gowf. The Scottish were obsessed with their beloved 'gowf' from as early as the middle 15th century. In 1457, for example, the Scottish Parliament tried to ban the sport as they believed that a large section of the Scottish Army spent more time playing golf than preparing for war. But of course they failed and today Scotland has given the English speaking world a plethora of new sporting words, including 'golf', 'caddie', 'putt', 'putter', 'stymie' and 'tee'.
Flat. Flat as another term for apartment was first used in Scotland in the 18th century. Originally another term for landing (i.e. the 'flat' part at the top of a flight of stairs) it came to also refer to the apartments whose doors opened out onto the 'flats'.
Gift of the gob. Used in Scotland as early as the 17th century. 'Gob' means 'mouth' in Scots, so the phrase literally meant 'gifted mouth'. The English would later change the phrase to 'Gift of the Gab'. 'Gab' is English slang and roughly means glib or profuse talking.
Hunker doon. Used in Scotland since the 18th century, 'hunker doon' means to squat down on your 'hunkers' (Scots for the back of your thighs).
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Me great-grandfather, James George Penny, of Monmouthshire Wales, used to hunker doon, even into his eighties. You'd stop by the kitchen for a chat and there he'd be on his haunches, limber as any twenty-year-old. Few people could squat that way today, much less stay there for such a time as our family chats would last.
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Stu, I'm just "gob smacked" by all your info. ;D
Barbara
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various tidbits...
Geography
- Berwick on Tweed, an English town, changed ownership between Scotland and England more than a dozen times since the 12th Century.
- The border between Scotland and England has been defended furiously for many Centuries, yet it is only 110 miles (180 kilometers) long.
- Scotland is approx 275 miles (440km) long. 25 miles (40km) wide at it's narrowest between the River Clyde and River Forth. 155 miles (250km) wide between it's furthest points.
- Scotland land mass is 30,028 sq miles which equates to 31% of United Kingdom but population is less than 9% of UK total.
- Scottish territorial coastline adds up to 6189 miles in length.
- Highest mountain in Scotland, also UK record. Ben Nevis at 4406 feet.
- Scottish coastal waters contain over 800 islands, only 132 of them known to be inhabited.
- Longest river, Tay at 120.6 miles.
- Biggest Loch. Loch Lomond at 27.4 square miles (71 sq km)
- Deepest Loch. Loch Morar at 1077 feet (328 metres).
- Most famous Loch. Loch Ness home of the legendary Loch Ness Monster.
- Shetland and Orkney Islands were once owned by Norway.
Trivia
- English football team Berwick Rangers actually plays in the Scottish League. The only English team to do so.
- The word Clan (Gaelic clann) means offspring, children, decendants.
- The Forth Rail Bridge took 8 years to build. Contains 55,000 tons of steel, 650,000 cubic feet of granite, 8 million rivets, 150 acres of paint. Stands 361 feet, or about the height of a Saturn V rocket that took man to the Moon. During warm weather it expands about 18 inches at both ends, a total of 3 feet. At peak of construction over 4500 folk were employed.
- Guy Fawkes tried unsuccessfully to blow up the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder. Every year on 5th November the Scots along with the rest of the UK celebrate the "gunpowder plot" with fireworks.
- Heather grows in abundance in central and eastern Highlands, due to it's particularly acidic qualities which Heather thrives upon.
- Scottish banknotes. Average daily circulation £2.2 billion. Although all major Scottish banks print their own money, they have no legal authority to produce coins. English Royal Mint retains exclusive rights.
- Scottish banknotes amazingly enough, are not legal tender. Shopkeepers in Wales and England are not legally bound to accept them. Thankfully this is merely a legislative technicality.
- The word Whisky comes from a Gaelic translation of "water of life".
- Whisky sales in Scotland peaked in 1978 at 70 million gallons (300 million litres).
- First legally licenced distillery, Glenlivet 1823.
- Taxes average 72% per bottle of whisky sold in Scotland.
- The Sunday Mail and Sunday Post newspapers individually, are read by an equivalent of 25% of the population of Scotland.
- Scotland hosts over 300 Castles, or one per every 100 square miles.
Weather
- Sunniest month. 329 hours at Tiree, Argyll in May 1946 and May 1975.
- Dullest month. 36 minutes at Cape Wrath, Highlands, January 1983.
- Wettest day. 9.52 inches of rain (238 mm) at Sloy Main Adit, Loch Lomond, 17 January 1974.
- Highest low level wind gust. 142mph (123 knots) at Fraserburgh Aberdeenshire, 13 February 1989.
- Warmest day. 32.9 °C ( 91.2°F) at Greycrook Lothian & Borders, 9 August 2003.
- Coldest day. -27.2 °C (-17°F) Braemar Aberdeenshire, 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982. -27°C (-17°F) Altnaharra, Highlands 30 December 1995.
- Scotland gets enough rain in one year to completely fill Loch Lomond.
- Highest high level wind gust. 173 mph (150 knots) at Cairngorm Automatic Weather Station, altitude of 4085 feet (1245m), 20 March 1986.
- Edinburgh receives half to one third less rain than Glasgow per annum.
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Trivia
Scottish people are called Scots. Things from Scotland are called Scottish, not Scotch, which refers solely to the drink.
James Lind, born Edinburgh, Scotland, October 4, 1716. Established the curative effect of lemon juice on scurvy.
Duncan I was the King of Scotland until he was slain by his cousin, Macbeth, on August 15, 1057. This slaying was the basis for the famous Shakespeare play, "Macbeth."
John Hunter, born East Kilbride, Scotland, February 13, 1728. Wrote The Natural History of the Human Teeth and laid the foundations for dental anatomy and pathology.
The Ghost of Mary Queen of Scots haunts the Talbot Hotel. Her Ghostly figure has been seen walking down the beautiful oak staircase, which was brought from the ruins at Fotheringhay, where she was executed.
Edward I (1272-1307)--think "Long Shanks" in Brave Heart--was so wrapped up in his desire to subdue Scotland that on his death bed he extracted a promise from his son: When Scotland was attacked, his body was to go with the army. After Edward died his body was preserved in oiled linen. The promise was kept for the next two hundred years, his large tomb in Westminister Abbey being opened again and again.
Scotch Tape' is a result of the 3M company's decision to put adhesive only on the edges of its tape. The tape did not work properly and among the returns was the complaint that the company should take back its "Scotch Tape". A reference to the supposed stinginess of Scots people.
The Scots believed in "Samhanach", a goblin who came out only on Samhain and stole children.
Margaret the wife of Malcolm III (King of Scotland) died on November 16, 1093 . She was later declared a saint. To this day in Scotland, the grace cup is called St. Margaret's blessing.
The power of Edgar "the Peaceful" was such that as a sign of his power, Edward was rowed down the River Dee with the oars manned by 8 Kings of tributary kingdoms.
There are three Scottish place names which contain only two letters-Oa, Ae, and Bu.
The Lincoln Monument in Edinburgh's Old Carlton Cemetery was the first statue of an American president to be constructed outside the US.
Carrying a bagpipe was considered to be as much a crime as carrying arms during the Jacobite rebellion, it was classified an "instrument of war"
Loch Lomond is Britain's' largest fresh water lake, 23 miles long and one and a half to five miles wide. There are 24 islands on it.
In 1969 the U.S. astronaut Alan Bean, an American Scot carried a square metre of the MacBeath (MacBean) tartan with him on his historic Apollo XII space mission to the moon.
The Guinness Book of Records shows that the tallest Scotsman and the tallest "true" giant was Angus Macaskill. Born on the island of Berneray off the island of Harris in 1825, Macaskill was 7ft 9in (2.36m) tall. He was also strong, reputedly able to lift a hundredweight (50kg) with two fingers and hold it at arms length for ten minutes. He died on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, in 1863. A cairn on Berneray commemorates him.
Before the 19th century tartans were not used in the identification of clans in Scotland. The plant badge that the men wore would tell the Scotsman's clan loyalties.
Scotland is the only country in Europe that the Romans could not conquer.
The Scots were the tallest race in Europe, according to the 1909 Census. But the carnage of WW1 changed that. By the 1930s, the average height of men in Scotland had been reduced by 9 inches.
The blue paint that Pictish, and later the Scottish warriors wore in battle was a hallocinogen. It was was the mold from rye.
The first kilts were worn by the Irish not the Scottish. However, many of the Irish moved to Scotland (Alba) and they brought their clothing with them.
Scotland is the only country in the world. that Coca cola is not the best selling soft drink. Irn Bru made by the Barr Company i s the best selling soft drink.
Sheep theft is still legally a hangable offence in Scotland.
There are more pipe bands in America than in Scotland.
The word "whisky" or "whiskey" is derived from the Gaelic uisge breatha meaning "water of life."
The original name of Scotland was Caledonia.
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Thank you, Stu :D
I really enjoy your Scottish Trivia
Donna
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HIGHLAND DANCING
Women's Lib came a lot earlier to Scotland than most of us realise, while the fair sex in England were still doing their embroidery and meekly honouring and obeying, a major bastion in Scotland was crumbling.
It was late in the last century when a young woman called Jenny Douglas struck the first decisive blow for sexual equality and competed in a Highland Dancing Competition.
When organised Highland Games were instituted with caber-tossing, hammer throwing, and piping the dancing contests too, were male events.
No-one had ever considered that girls could dance or wish to compete, but Jenny entered and was accepted on the principle that what was not forbidden must be permitted.
By 1900 that first girlish drop had become a substantial trickle and then a flood so that today the position is reversed and the girls outnumber the boys by roughly 100 to 1. August and September are the traditional months for many of the big games and it can be seen that those taking part in the dancing are nearly all girls, the boys sticking out like a sore thumb with a tammy on top.
Highland Dancing is entirely different from Scottish Country Dancing. Country Dancing is, by its nature, a group dance form in which sets of 2,3,4 or 5 couples perform the steps and figures together. Highland Dancing, on the other hand, is essentially solo dancing, no partners being involved. Two Country Dances are however classified as Highland Dances for the purpose of competition - The Reel of Tulloch and The Argyll Broadswords.
The real Highland Dances, of which there are only three, - The Highland Fling, the Sword Dance, and the Seann Triubhas - were most definitely not a lassies game in their original form. Of the three the Fling is the oldest, considered to be based on the rutting movements of the stag, a kind of fertility dance. All the movements, the arms held aloft like antlers, the feet dancing from side to side and the body turning round suggests the stag. The date of its origin is not known for certain but it was probably being danced by Highland men before Christianity came to Scotland.
Malcolm Canmore, King of the Scots, is accredited with the Sword Dance. The story goes that in 1058 he slew his opponent and, overjoyed at his victory, placed his own sword and that of his enemy on the ground in the form of a cross and danced in triumph over them.
The wearing of the kilt, or rather the ban on its wearing, brings us to the third of the trio of Highland Dances - the Seann Triubhas. This is the youngest of the Highland Dances having been devised during the period after Culloden when the wearing of the kilt was forbidden, often under the penalty of death. The name Seann Triubhas, loosely translated from the Gaelic, means ugly or unwanted trousers, and the movements of the dance, the shake, shake, down of the leg, are visible attempts to discard the hated garment. Many men dance it in tartan trews for greater effect.
None of these three dances were ever intended to be danced by women and one can imagine the shock when Jenny Douglas stepped on to the boards and opened the floodgates of women's participation.
The period between the two World Wars saw the growth in popularity of Highland Dancing as a pastime, and it was a poor town, or village, that didn't boast a Teacher of Dancing.
Girl pupils wore exactly the same dress as the boys - bonnet, velvet jacket, jabot, plaid, kilt, sporran and hose. Some girls even wore the sgiain dubh for everyone took it for granted that Highland dress meant the lot.
In competitions judging was often a case of bias in favour of a particular style used in some part of the country and even if a dancer's performance was absolutely correct, if it was not the style the judge preferred, the dancer was in danger of being marked down as a result.
The system of selecting judges left a lot to be desired; the adjudicator very often being just a well known dancer, with that as the only recommendation to justify his fee. rules, where they existed, could vary depending on in which contest the dancer wished to compete, although it must be said that the major gatherings laid down quite firm guidelines.
Cowal Highland Gathering, amongst others, made its conditions quite plain in their programme of events, under the heading "Rules for Dancers" were included
(1) Birth Certificates must be produced on demand.
(2) No judge will be allowed to judge more than one event in Scottish Championships.
(3) All protests must be in writing accompanied by a deposit of £1.
(4) Don't wear medals on your doublet, or any jewellery other than Highland Dress ornaments.
(5) Don't chew gum when dancing.
(6) Don't glance at the judges when dancing.
These rules were right and proper but there existed no governing body which could formulate a consistent procedure covering all Highland Dancing contests. Medal-hungry dancers became easy prey to so-called organisers who arranged local competitions in halls and rooms up and down the country, and there is no doubt that a great deal of fiddling besides piping went on at these venues.
All local contests at this time were not rigged, but a great number were suspect. Dancers in one age group of, say 10 to 12 years old, could find themselves competing in an entry of 60 to 70 children with only three medals awarded. Distressing scenes could occur at the end of the day, with angry mums besieging the judges.
Meanwhile great strides had been taken to ensure the pipe band contests were judged fairly. Adjudicators sat within closed tents relying only on their hearing to select the best. Similar considerations could not be accorded to dancers until in 1950 interested parties got together to devise how to arrive at an overall policy that would ensure that standards were the same in all teaching and contests, dress and judging. After months of research and discussion the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing (S.O.B.H.D.) was formed.
All the steps in the dances were standardised, as was the order in which the steps should be performed - eight steps for the Fling, Six slow and two quick for the Sword Dance, and eight slow and six quick for the Seann Triubhas. A book was published which included judging standards, and finally dress for the dancers. A form of Kilt dress for females was devised and out went the head-dresses, plaids, sporrans and belts and in came a fitted and boned velvet waistcoat with short-sleeved blouse along with the Kilt. The official board dress also put paid to the widely-used custom of schools of dancing dressing all their pupils on one particular tartan and style. It was like handing a visiting card to an adjudicator and intimidating the lone competitor.
National Dances became part of the contest scene in the 1960's and with their introduction formed a very attractive element in addition to the Highland Dances. The National Dances mainly for girls had seldom been seen. The dances themselves are old but they brought a whole new dimension to the scene, being danced in an up-to-date version of he old Aboyne Dress for girls. This consisted of a laced velvet waistcoat, ruffled blouse, belted plaid, full tartan skirt over petticoats, and either long white stockings or bare legs. It's a dress that lends itself perfectly to the dances as in most movements the skirt is held in the fingers. Seven of the National Dances are now permissible at most contests.
The Seven National Dances selected by the board - all solo - are:-
The Scottish Lilt, Flora Macdonald's Fancy, The Earl of Errol, Highland Laddie, Blue Bonnets over the Border, The Village Maid, and lastly Wilt Thou go to the Barracks Johnnie.
The S.O.B.H.D. is now affiliated to the Scottish Pipe Band Association who are responsible for the organisation of Bands in Games and contests. There are very few competitions today which are not staged under S.O.B.H.D. rules.
Highland Dancers can now tread the boards, take exams via medal tests which give an unbiased assessment of their ability, and compete in an unprejudiced and competitive atmosphere giving pleasure to the thousands who watch
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Trivia of the month.
Question: What's the fastest way to incite a riot in Scotland? Answer: Mess with their whiskey!
More than 20,000 Scots took to the streets in Kilmarnock after multinational beverage giant Diageo announced its plans to shut down the plant that produced 'Johnny Walker' whiskey, costing about 700 jobs.They have been making Johnny Walker since 1820.
Its enough to bring tears to yur eyes.
Tom
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Hey Tom,
Thanks for posting the Trivia of the Month :D
But don't ya know, it made me miss Stu.
Stu,
I really miss your jokes, my friend. :-[
I hope you're feeling better and I'm still praying for you (and Dot)
Donna
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Question: What's the fastest way to incite a riot in Scotland?
Answer: Mess with their whiskey!
To a Scot, that's whisky. They're quite proud of the fact that there's no 'e' in Scotch whisky. The Irish have the 'e' in their whiskey.
But it's true. If you enter a Scottish household and they don't offer you a wee dram, they probably don't like you.
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Are you ready for some football? Check out the roster for Scotland!
The first international football match match was played in Scotland on a cricket ground. at Hamilton Crescent, the West of Scotland Cricket Ground in Partick, Glasgow.
Prior to the first official meeting, there had been several unofficial international matches played between the countries at the behest of the English Football Association. Such was their enthusiasm for these fixtures they arranged the venue, the officials, the selection of the English side and, incredibly, the selection of the Scottish side. For these matches, the "Scotland" team was assembled from players in and around London who had Scottish connections.
In 1872 League Championships had yet to begin in either country. The FA Cup tournament had completed its inaugural running in England and the Scottish competition would start the following year. For the match on 30 November 1872, St Andrew's Day, the Scotland players were all selected from Queen's Park, the leading Scottish Club of its day. This was not the original intention but the Scots were unable to obtain the services of two countrymen who had competed in the FA Cup final. Arthur F Kinnaird of the Wanderers and Lt Henry Waugh Renny-Tailyour of the Royal Engineers would have to wait until 1873 to play for their country.
While Scotland was eventually represented by eleven men drawn from the Queen's Park club, England played the match with players from nine different sources selected by Charles Alcock the English Football Association Secretary and captain of the FA Cup winning Wanderers. Alcock, who was the driving force behind the unofficial matches, was unable to play in the first official meeting due to injury but he participated by running the line.
Three England players came from Oxford University but only Reginald Welch played from the successful Wanderers side. Scotland wore dark blue shirts, the then colour of Queen's Park, with a single lion crest badge attached. England, in white, had the badge of the three lions on their shirts.
The crowd who gathered to watch the match numbered 4,000 and they paid an entry fee of a shilling, the same price charged by the English Football Association for the first FA Cup final. They endured a twenty-minute delay to the scheduled 2pm kick-off but then settled to watch the contest in the relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere that would accompany the fixture for over one hundred years before the wrong shade of partisan behaviour started to creep in during the 1970s.
The atmosphere worked its way onto the pitch and the game was conducted in a friendly manner (the introduction of shin pads to the game was still two years away) and there were few contentious decisions for the Scottish referee to make.
On a pitch that was heavy due to the rain that had watered Glasgow over the previous three days, the smaller and lighter Scottish side pushed their English counterparts hard. The advantage that the Scots had with their team being drawn from Queen's Park was negated by the way that the English team came together, dispelling fears that their unfamiliarity of playing alongside each other would be an issue.
The crowd, whilst witnessing the first official meeting between the countries, were denied the pleasure of the first goal. That would come the following year at the Oval when England enjoyed a 4-2 victory over the travelling Scots. The next time that Scotland and England would meet without generating a goal was 1970 at Hampden Park.
The Scottish captain, Bob Gardner, who would play a further four times against England and lose only once, had been responsible for team selection. The future Scottish Football Association president had that year made the switch from forward to goalkeeper. He kept goal for his country for the whole match unlike his English counterpart, Robert Barker, who decided to join the action outfield when he switched with William Maynard.
In an age when playing with six or seven forward players was normal, the team selection of Bob Gardner almost paid off as Scotland came closest to victory. In the final stages of the match Robert Leckie sent in a shot that landed on top of the tape that was strung between the two posts to represent the crossbar. It was as near as either side would come and the match yielded no goals but it was the start of a rivalry that continues to generate passion when the countries meet.
Scotland: Bob Gardner, William Ker, Joseph Taylor, James Thompson, James Smith, Robert Smith, Robert Leckie, Alexander Rhind, William Muir MacKinnon, Jamie Weir, David Wotherspoon (all Queen's Park)
England: Robert Barker (Hertfordshire Rangers), Ernest Greenhalgh (Notts County), Reginald Welch (Wanderers), Frederick Chappell (Oxford University), William John Maynard (1st Surrey Rifles), John Brockbank (Cambridge University), Charles Clegg (Sheffield Wednesday), Arnold Kirke Smith (Oxford University), Cuthbert Ottaway (Oxford University/Old Etonians), Charles John Chenery (Crystal Palace), Charles John Morice (Barnes
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Sent to me by a meber of the Wigtown List.
Ern
> --------------------------------------------
>
>
> Dear friends, There was an interesting long article in the Wall Street
> Journal a couple of days ago from which I will clip interesting parts.
> "New Year madness is a thing of quite modern making, and hardly an
> improvement on the tradition that long preceded it, which called for a
> somewhat sober, respectful, and reflective morning celebration. I blame
> the Scots for the worldwide embrace of midnight debauchery. And of
> course, whoever it was some little while beforehand, went and invented
> public clocks.
>
> These devices first began to peal their chimes in the 15th century, and
> they became popular and quite widely dispersed by the 17th. All towns had
> them by then, as did most villages - and it was about this time that the
> Scots, armed with timepieces of their own, enthusiastically got into the
> act.
>
> They adopted in short order their peculiar twin customs of Hogmanay and
> First Footing, designed to mark the sliding of one year into another, and
> by the 1680's they started organizing celebrations around them that
> eventually had us all getting off on this whole present day
> New-Year-begins-at- midnight malarkey. Then a century later Robert Burns
> wrote the words to "Auld Lang Syne" and set it to a jaunty Scottish dance
> tune - and that and the provision on the last evening of December of
> copious draughts of whisky, so these normally dour and repressed peoples
> oversaw the beginning of the long decline of the old habit of marking New
> Year with ceremonies of dignified moderation and temporal respect.
>
> I lived in Scotland for awhile, and there was no escaping it. The precise
> nature of the partying varied from town to town: In one they would
> manufacture and dress up a giant herring, and parade it through the
> streets, in another set ablaze huge smoking bonfires of juniper bushes,
> and in one fishing village on the North Sea coast, local lads well in
> drink would set to swinging dangerous looking fire balls around their
> heads, usually until someone got arrested or killed.
>
> All Scotland thus awakes to the New Year in a state of catatonic
> incapacity, aching of head and foul of temper. All are said to pity them.
> And there in Scotland would the madness have happily remained - except for
> that bounder of an English poet, Alfred Tennyson, who got into the act one
> full century after Robert Burns, by declaiming on a lover's whim his most
> famous poem"Ring Out, Wild Bells".
>
> And that quite frankly did it. Come the year of 1860 Wildness on New
> Year's Eve anywhere was now and for evermore officially sanctioned. "The
> year is dying in the night/Ring out wild bells and let him die" The Celtic
> infection began swiftly to spread.
>
> The new custom went still further afield: Given the spread of Scotsmen
> about the Empire, old and new, the habits born of Hogmanay soon achieved
> the status of diaspora, fetching up in Hong Kong and Melbourne, Quebec and
> Singapore, and for the last century or so, in New York City, and her
> American siblings, too.
> Despite alternative daylight festivities, western customs are fast easing
> into the fabric everywhere just as if they were in Trafalgar Square, or on
> Eighth Avenue, or on Princes Street in Edinburgh, where it all began."
>
> -------------------------------
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