Portal:Scotland/Did you know/Archives

From Wikipedia's newest articles:

2017
Did you know...


 * ... that The Dethe of the Kynge of Scotis is the only 15th-century chronicle that says that James I of Scotland was killed in the privy

2016
Did you know...


 * ... that the Scottish composer Martyn Bennett, who was influential in the evolution of modern Celtic fusion, was sometimes called the "techno piper"?
 * ... that in 2016, Ross Greer became the youngest ever Member of the Scottish Parliament, elected at the age of 21?
 * ... that in 1994 the retired Scottish judge Lord Brand became an appeals court judge in Botswana?
 * ... that British media have compared the Scottish footballer Ryan Gauld to Lionel Messi?
 * ... that brothers Abe Moffat and Alex Moffat were trade unionists and communist activists who became successive presidents of the National Union of Scottish Mineworkers?

2015
Did you know...


 * ... that the Scottish footballer Darren Brownlie was signed to Queen of the South by his former Cowdenbeath teammate James Fowler?

2014
Did you know...


 * ... that the boobrie in Scottish folklore is said to prey on animals being transported on ships, preferably calves, but will also eat lambs and sheep?
 * ... that David Wilkie, a nineteenth-century Scottish artist, was the key figure in the development of British genre and orientalist art?
 * ... that Scottish religion in the seventeenth century included intense conflicts between Presbyterian Covenanters and government forces?
 * ... that private estate houses in Scotland originate from extensive building and rebuilding of royal palaces, probably starting under James III?
 * ... that a possible source for the poem The Fox, the Wolf and the Husbandman, by the 15th-century Scottish poet Robert Henryson, was Aesop's Fables as published by William Caxton?"
 * ... that when Norman Heathcote climbed the St Kilda sea stack Stac Lee (pictured) in 1899, he found the climbing "comparatively easy" but getting ashore had been "a most appalling undertaking"?
 * ... that the ancient Scottish estate of Killiechassie, now the home of J. K. Rowling, is noted for its dovecote?
 * ... that early members of the Ladies' Scottish Climbing Club would often take off their long skirts to climb in knickerbockers?
 * ... that the Glorious Revolution put William and Mary on the Scottish throne and led to the dominance of Presbyterians in the Church of Scotland?

2013
Did you know...


 * ... that according to legend, Swami Vivekananda was first introduced to Indian mystic Ramakrishna in a literature class given by Scottish theologian William Hastie?
 * ... that John Wolley was sent to King James in June 1586 to assure him that Mary, Queen of Scots was being well treated, and four months later was one of the commissioners who tried and convicted her?

2012
Did you know...


 * ... that the A968 in Shetland is Britain's northernmost A road?
 * ... that the Vätsäri Wilderness Area in Lapland (Finland), which covers an area of 1,550 square kilometers (600 sq mi), includes taiga forests of Scots Pine and thousands of small lakes?
 * ... that Josh Falkingham scored a goal during his first match in the Scottish Football League First Division?
 * ... that Amaryllis was Gordon Ramsay's first Scottish restaurant?
 * ... that ever since coming between neighbours, Funzie Girt has run almost the length of a Scottish island?
 * ... that "the mill and trysting thorn" in Robert Burns poem "The Soldier's Return" are located in the Scottish hamlet Millmannoch?
 * ... that near the hamlet of Barkip in North Ayrshire, the largest anaerobic digestion power plant in Scotland was completed in June 2011?
 * ... that in the 1889 Scottish Cup Final, conditions were so poor that the players threw snowballs at each other?

2011
Did you know...


 * ... that a 1640 Act of the Parliament of Scotland abolished the observation of Christmas in Scotland?"
 * .. that the Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial, excavated in 2011, is the first confirmed Viking ship burial to be discovered in mainland Scotland since 1935?
 * ... that Denis Law, the all-time top goalscorer for the Scotland national football team, played for the Italian League against the Scottish League XI?
 * ... that the Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial, excavated in 2011, is the first confirmed Viking ship burial to be discovered in mainland Scotland since 1935?
 * ... that every year a Poppy Factory in England produces approximately 36 million remembrance poppies and one in Scotland approximately 5 million?
 * ... that Robert Crawford, scorer of the first goal in international football, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour for causing a servant to be 	flogged to death?

2010
Did you know...


 * ... that Castle of Park, near Glenluce, has "commodious closets"?


 * ... that Adam of Kilconquhar, first husband of Robert the Bruce's mother Marjory of Carrick, died on crusade at Acre in 1271?

2009
Did you know...


 * ...that the domesticated animal breeds originating from Scotland include the Scottish Fold cat, the Rough Collie of "Lassie" fame, and the Grice, a somewhat aggressive pig?


 * ... that Jim McColl, the son of a butcher, reportedly became Scotland's richest man in 2008?


 * ... that Willie McCartney was listed by the Sunday Herald newspaper as the 22nd greatest Scottish football manager of all time, even though he never won a major trophy?

2008
Did you know...


 * ... that the Scotch Professors, a group of 19th-century Scottish footballers, are credited with inventing the passing style of the modern game and spreading the sport globally?


 * ... that Scotsman Adam Menelaws became the de facto leading architect of the Russian Empire when he was around seventy years old?


 * ... that Glen Ord is the only remaining single malt scotch whisky distillery on the Black Isle in the Highlands of Scotland?


 * ... that from its creation in 1963 to its closure in about 2000, the Scottish Tartans Society recorded and documented about 2,700 different designs of tartan?


 * ... that according to legend, the eponymous ancestor of Clan McCorquodale was awarded lands for recovering the decapitated head of Alpin, father of Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots?


 * ... that Greenbank Gardens near Glasgow, Scotland were built by Robert Allason, a slave trader?


 * ... that when the King of Scotland told King Magnus of Norway he could have any land he could circumnavigate, Magnus had a longshipdragged across an isthmus to East Loch Tarbert, Argyll and claimed Kintyre?


 * ... that HMS Vidal, the ship sent to annexe Rockall, was named after Alexander Vidal, the first man to properly survey the islet?


 * ...that survivors of the Loch Sloy disaster who made it ashore to Kangaroo Island, Australia were eventually found with the remains of two dead penguins tied around their neck?


 * ... that in 1906, Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer built the Hill of Tarvit mansion house on an Iron Age site?


 * ... that the earliest written record of Scotland during the Roman Empire is the submission of the King of Orkney to the Emperor Claudius at Colchester in the year 43?


 * ...that Séon Carsuel's Foirm na n-Urrnuidheadh (1567) was the first work printed in any Gaelic language, including Irish?


 * ...that Scotland's North West Highlands Geopark contains some of the oldest rocks in Europe and the site of a famous geological controversy?


 * ...that rugby union footballer George MacPherson was the captain of the first Scotland team to ever win a Five Nations Grand Slam?


 * ...that in the year 1214, the Scot Ruaidhri mac Raghnaill, Lord of Kintyre, stole the treasures of Derry from its monastery?


 * ...that Scottish film actor Moultrie Kelsall played a pivotal role in saving the dilapidated Menstrie Castle in Clackmannanshire from demolition?

2007
Did you know...


 * ...that Hinba, an island in Scotland of unknown location was the site of a small monastery associated with the church of Saint Columba on Iona?


 * ...that rugby union footballer Robert Wilson Shaw was so influential in Scotland's Triple Crown winning victory over England in 1938 that the match became known as "Wilson Shaw's match"?


 * ...that Hector Munro Macdonald graduated as fourth Wrangler in the Mathematical Tripos of 1889?


 * ...that kings of the House of Alpin ruled Pictland and the kingdom of Alba, in modern Scotland, beginning with Cináed mac Ailpín in the 840s and ending with the death of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda in 1034?


 * ...that several prehistoric standing stones and natural stone features in Scotland are called Carlin stones, possibly from the term cailleach meaning "old hag" or "witch"?


 * ...that Angus Purden, regular presenter of the BBC's Cash in the Attic, was crowned Mr. Scotland as a teenager, and modelled for Giorgio Armani for three years in Milan?


 * ...that in 1708 the Bonnington pavilion in Scotland had a "hall of mirrors" designed to give visitors the illusion that they were standing in the middle of the Corra Linn?


 * ...that visitors to the House of the Binns in Scotland can see the table where General Tam Dayell is supposed to have played cards with Satan?


 * ...that Ian Smith's 24 international tries, scored for Scotland in rugby union between 1924 and 1933, was an international record until 1987?


 * ...that William Wallace disguised himself as a woman to hide at the castle in Riccarton, a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland?


 * ...that the election of Dominican friar Laurence de Ergadia as Bishop of Argyll in Scotland was voided by Pope Urban IV in 1274 on a technicality?


 * ...that although he was an illegitimate child, the 13th century prelate of Scotland Albin of Brechin had a successful career in the Roman Catholic Church after obtaining dispensation from the Bishop of Porto?


 * ...that Craigiehall, a country house designed for the Earl of Annandale by Sir William Bruce in 1699, is now the headquarters of the British Army in Scotland?


 * ...that Thomas de Dundee, later Bishop of Ross, was one of three men from the small Scottish burgh of Dundee studying Roman law at the University of Bologna at the same time in the later 13th century?


 * ...that Lady Isle, a small Scottish island in the Firth of Clyde, is Britain's first seabird reserve?


 * ...that students at the four ancient universities of Scotland are no longer afforded a traditional Meal Monday holiday, but manual staff at the University of St Andrews still are?


 * ...that moot hills in Scotland were mostly artificial mounds built as traditional meeting places for de facto lairdly courts and courts of law?


 * ...that 16th century Scottish Bishop of Ross Henry Sinclair was simultaneously Lord President of the Court of Session, and was succeeded in that office by his brother, John Sinclair, Bishop of Brechin?


 * ...that Church of Scotland clergyman William Couper protested against the introduction of episcopacy in 1606, but became Bishop of Galloway four years later?


 * ...that Dr. John Stevenson, 18th century Scottish merchant and developer of Baltimore, was known as the "American Romulus"?


 * ...that Walter Scott's narrative poem The Lady of the Lake is in six cantos, each of which concerns the action of a single day?


 * ...that despite being organised on St. Andrew's Day, the first Scotland v England football match did not result in a home win?


 * ...that the last chief of Clan MacQuarrie sold off his clan lands in Scotland and joined the British Army, at age 68, and fought in the American Revolutionary War?


 * ...that the rare Northern colletes bee was recently found to be thriving in the unique machair seaside habitat of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland?


 * ...that the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park in Scotland covers an area of 108 square miles of Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, stretching from Greenock in the north, down the coast to Largs and West Kilbride and inland to Dalry and Lochwinnoch?


 * ...that Scots' Dike was constructed by the English and the Scots in 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable Lands and thereby settle the exact boundary between the kingdoms of Scotland and England?


 * ...that Bob McGrory managed the English football team Stoke City for a period of 17 years, having previously played for the club for 14 years?


 * ...that Balfour, Orkney was built in 1782 to house tenants evicted to make way for the house now called Balfour Castle, then partly demolished later to improve the castle's view?


 * ...that the Corbett hill Beinn Chuirn has Scotland's largest known deposits of gold?


 * ...that Ardencaple Castle Light is used as a navigational aid for shipping on the Firth of Clyde?


 * ...that St. Mary's Collegiate Church is the longest church in Scotland at 62.8 m?


 * ...that Johnny Ramensky was a Scottish criminal who used his safe-cracking abilities to help the British Army?


 * ...that several of the Orkney islands' highest points are named "Ward Hill" due to the many old warning beacons in the area?


 * ...that football players Billy and John McPhail are the only brothers to have both scored hat-tricks for Celtic F.C. against their Old Firm rivals, Rangers F.C.?


 * ...that Kirk o' Field in Edinburgh was the location of one of the world's great unsolved historical mysteries, the murder of Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary Queen of Scots, in 1567?


 * ...that over four hundred 4000-year-old carved stone balls have been uncovered in archaeological digs in Scotland?


 * ...that John Paterson was the last Archbishop of Glasgow of the Church of Scotland?


 * ...that the Laigh Milton viaduct, built in 1812, is the oldest surviving railway viaduct in Scotland and one of the oldest in the world?


 * ...that Whuppity Scoorie is a traditional celebration in Lanark, Scotland during which children run around a church three times swinging paper balls over their heads?


 * ...that the Scottish island of Lunga is the location of the "well of the church of Saint Columba", which reputedly never runs dry?


 * ...that, after 34 years years as Roman Catholic abbot of Coupar Angus, Donald Campbell converted to Protestantism in 1559, and destroyed the icons and altars of his monastery in Scotland?


 * ...that despite being illiterate, Duncan Bàn MacIntyre became one of the most famous Scottish Gaelic poets?


 * ...that the Anstruther Fish Bar in Fife has won the accolade "best fish and chip shop" in Scotland, on three occasions?


 * ...that Charlotte Stuart was the illegitimate daughter of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the secret mistress of the Archbishop of Bordeaux?


 * ...that John Murray of Broughton was a Jacobite turncoat, whose evidence led to Lord Lovat's execution for high treason?


 * ...that Archibald Cameron of Locheil was the last man to be executed for his part in Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite rebellion?


 * ...that the Loch Arkaig treasure, a large amount of specie provided by Spain to finance the Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745, is said to be still hidden at Loch Arkaig in the Scottish Highlands?


 * ...that former British Member of Parliament Walter Scott-Elliot was murdered by "Monster Butler" Archibald Hall?


 * ...that the City of York was a British barque which sank after hitting a reef off Rottnest Island within sight of its destination?


 * ...that Craignethan Castle was the last private fortress built in Scotland?


 * ...in 2005, Adam Bruce became the first herald appointed to Clan Donald of Scotland in 510 years?


 * ...that Scottish international rugby player Tremayne Rodd was banned from playing amateur rugby union in 1966 after accompanying the British and Irish Lions?


 * ...that David Colville Anderson, whose career was ended by a scandal involving teenage girls, blamed it on the KGB?


 * ...that Sgurr na Ciste Duibhe, a Munro in Scotland, is one of the "Five Sisters of Kintail"?


 * ...that there are four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Scotland and four more sites currently undergoing a process of evaluation including the iconic Forth Bridge?

2006
Did you know...


 * ...that after two thousand years or more of continuous habitation the Scottish island of Mingulay was abandoned by its residents in 1912?


 * ...that the Carron, a river in central Scotland only about 23 km long, has given its name to a type of naval cannon, a line of bathtubs, two warships and an island in the Southern Hemisphere?


 * ...that, according to the Lanercost Chronicle, Richard de Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld, was poisoned by King Alexander III of Scotland so that the king could take the bishop's movable possessions?


 * ...that Beinn a' Ghlò is a large mountain in Scotland that has three Munro summits, and is an SSSI?


 * ... that Fowlsheugh cliffs, attract 170,000 breeding seabirds annually, and may be one of the few nature reserves with more vertical than horizontal land area?


 * ...that Edinburgh University did not teach Scottish history until 1901, when a new professor, Peter Hume Brown, insisted that it was not revolutionary to study its national history?


 * ...that Saint Gilbert of Dornoch was the last Scot to appear in the Calendar of Saints?


 * ...that Lord Neaves, a judge on the supreme court of Scotland, was quoted by Charles Darwin on evolution, but attributed the concept of evolution to Lord Monboddo, not Darwin?


 * ...that Charles St. Clair was both a Scottish Peer and a York Herald of Arms, and was consequently able to attend the State Opening of Parliament in either capacity?


 * ...that tradition traces Clan Drummond, a Scottish clan from Stirlingshire, to Hungarian origins?


 * ...that pioneering Scottish Victorian photographer, John Thomson, was honoured by having one of the peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro named "Point Thomson" on his death in 1921?


 * ...that Miss Cranston pioneered the social phenomenon of tea rooms, introducing "fairyland"-like interiors designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh?


 * ...that Reaper, a 105 year old historic Fifie herring drifter, nearly sank off the north east coast of England after being restored and put back into service as a museum ship?


 * ...that the Reverend John Thomson, distinguished landscape painter and former minister of Duddingston Kirk, is often credited with originating the famous Scots adage "We’re a' Jock Tamson’s bairns"?


 * ...that in the 1848 Moray Firth fishing disaster on the east coast of Scotland, 124 boats sank and 100 fishermen perished, leading to a major redesign of fishing boats in the following years?


 * ...that bowls player Willie Wood was the first athlete to compete in 7 Commonwealth Games, despite being barred from the 1986 games in his home country of Scotland for refusing to reclassify as an amateur?


 * ...that Greyfriars Kirkyard, famed for its association with Greyfriars Bobby, is haunted by the spirit of "Bluidy Mackenzie" and featured in the early photography of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson?


 * ...that the Willow Tearooms, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, is the most famous of many new Glasgow tearooms opened in the early 20th century due to the emergence of the Temperance movement?


 * ...that Bud Neill was a Scottish newspaper cartoonist whose best loved strip was set in "Calton Creek", a fictional Arizona outpost of the wild west populated with Glaswegians, including Sheriff "Lobey Dosser" who rode a two-legged horse?


 * ...that Robin Philipson, former President of the Royal Scottish Academy, was particularly renowned for his cockfight paintings?


 * ...that the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther contains 66,000 exhibits including Reaper, a 104 year old restored fifie herring drifter?


 * ...that the village of Cellardyke in Fife, Scotland, is the site of the first confirmed case of H5N1 avian flu in the United Kingdom, and was once home to a 200-strong fishing fleet?


 * ...that North Berwick Harbour was built in the 12th century as a ferry port for St. Andrews bound pilgrims, while legend has it that "Satan himself" once worshipped on the Harbour's "Auld Kirk Green"?


 * ...that a cuttie-stool is the Lowland Scots name for a three legged stool that was thrown by Jenny Geddes at the Dean of St Giles High Kirk, in protest at the introduction of Anglican style prayer books in 1637?


 * ...that Bonnybridge, forming part of the "Falkirk Triangle" in Scotland, is considered by many UFO enthusiasts to be world's number one UFO hotspot, with around 300 sightings every year?


 * ...that the Royal Navy operated a secret training and anti-submarine warfare base at Seacliff in East Lothian during World War I?


 * ...that Rough Castle Fort is the best preserved of 19 Roman forts along the Antonine Wall?

2005
Did you know...


 * ...that the 14th-century Lennoxlove House in East Lothian, Scotland contains many important artworks and artefacts, including the death mask of Mary, Queen of Scots?


 * ...that Kellie Castle in Scotland dates back to 1150 and it is rumoured that the 5th Earl of Kellie hid there in a burnt-out tree stump for the entire summer following the Battle of Culloden in 1746?


 * ...that the Dunmore Pineapple was a folly where pineapples were grown in Scotland from 1761 and that it was built by the 4th Earl of Dunmore, John Murray, who later became governor of Virginia Colony in the U.S.?


 * ...that the Reverend Dr. James Blair of Scotland was a clergyman and missionary to the Virginia Colony, and is best known as the founder in 1693 of the College of William and Mary, where he served as President for 50 years?