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32 unusual facts about scotland


Aberfeldie, Victoria

Scotsman James Robertson named his property Aberfeldie, located on the corner of Aberfeldie Sreet and Park Crescent, after the town Aberfeldy in Scotland.

Alyth

There may have been a Christian presence in this area from early times, since the medieval parish church was dedicated to St. Moluag of Lismore (d. 592), a contemporary of St. Columba.

Bill Heggie

William Campbell Heggie (born 7 June 1927) in Scone, Scotland, is a former Scottish professional footballer who played as a centre forward in the Football League.

Cailean Mór

It was this position that made him the enemy of Iain of Lorn, the MacDougall Lord of Lorne.

Càrn nan Gobhar

Carn nan Gobhar is the name of two Munro mountains, north of the Great Glen in Scotland.

Charles Thomas Campbell

It grew into the town of Scotland, and he became active in Democratic politics, serving as mayor of the town he helped found.

Electoral reform in New Zealand

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP); also known as the Additional Member System used in Germany, Scotland, and Wales (although only in Germany at the time); in which roughly half of the seats are elected by FPP; and the remainder are filled from party lists to top-up the local seats so as to ensure a proportional overall result;

Gabrán mac Domangairt

The domain of the Cenél nGabraín appears to have been centred in Kintyre and Knapdale and may have included Arran, Jura and Gigha.

Geoffroi de Charny

We know from the Chronicles of Froissart that de Charny traveled to Scotland by order of the French King on at least two occasions and was well known to the Scottish nobles of the time.

Gross annual value

In Falkirk in Scotland the Gross Annual Value is used to calculate Council house rent based on factors such as house type, age, structure, number of apartments, overall floor area, location and type of heating.

Harthill

Harthill, Scotland, on the border of North Lanarkshire and West Lothian

Inner Sound

In geography, the Inner Sound is a stretch of water separating the west coast of the Scottish mainland from the Inner Hebrides.

International Criminal Court and the 2003 invasion of Iraq

For example, no mention was made of any involvement by citizens of State Parties (e.g. the Scottish Black Watch regiment) in the US attack on Fallujah in 2003, which resulted in accusations of war crimes — though mainly by US and Iraqi government troops and Iraqi insurgents (who are not under ICC jurisdiction), rather than British forces.

Jedlińsk

The school existed in 1560-1630, and in that period, Jedlińsk attracted many Scottish Calvinists, who founded a bell for the prayer house (the bell still exists).

John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl

Also in 1696, he became Secretary of State, and from 1696 to 1698 was Lord High Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland.

Joshua Gregory

He was posted to Fort George in Scotland, but his health continued to deteriorate, and in 1818 he was forced to retire on half-pay.

Karl Culley

Culley recorded his debut album, Bundle of Nerves, on the Scottish Isle of Jura.

Mac Domangairt

Mac Domangairt is a Scottish surname.

Medway watermills

Production ceased in 1934, with the manufacturing of explosives being transferred to Ardeer in Scotland.

Mittelndorf

A similar thing in Europe could be found, for example, in the stations of Kloster Marienthal (Engers-Au line, Germany); Pertosa, in southern Italy; or Corrour, in Scotland.

Northumberland National Park

It covers an area of more than 1030 km² between the Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian's Wall.

Ontario Veterinary College

The Ontario Veterinary College was established in Toronto in 1862, by the Scot Andrew Smith, a graduate of the Royal School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh.

Planning Acts

This Act paves the way for significant planning reform in Scotland.

Scotland's Environmental and Rural Services

SEARS marked its first anniversary by publication of its first annual review at the Royal Highland Show 2009 by Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham MSP.

Speyside

Strathspey, Scotland, the famous whisky producing region by the River Spey

Sybil Kathigasu

Sybil Kathigasu died on 4 June 1948 aged 48 in Britain and her body was buried in Lanark, Scotland.

T.A. Robertson

Thomas Argyll Robertson OBE (1909-1994), known as "Tommy" or by his initials as "TAR", was a Scottish MI5 intelligence officer, responsible during the Second World War for the Double Cross System disinformation campaign against the German intelligence services in which every German agent in Britain, with the exception of one who committed suicide without having been detected by the authorities, was actually working for British intelligence.

The View from Castle Rock

This narrative retells the lives of members of the Laidlaw family who lived in Ettrick Valley, Scotland, in the 18th century.

Tokyo Shock Boys

The Tokyo Shock Boys have a huge cult following in Japan and have appeared in many other locales, such as Australia, Canada, Germany and Scotland in the United Kingdom.

William Bellenden

William Bellenden (c. 1550 – c. 1633) was a Scottish classical scholar.

William Cleireach MacLeod

The head of this family lived on St Kilda and a notable member of this family was the poetess Mairi Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh.

William Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian

He was appointed secretary of state in 1649 and was one of the commissioners sent by the Scottish Parliament to protest against proceeding to extremities against the king.


67th Special Operations Squadron

It was activated on 14 November 1952 at RAF Sculthorpe, England, and discontinued, and inactivated, on 18 March 1960 at Prestwick, Scotland.

Airlie Beach, Queensland

It is almost certain that the town was named for the parish of Airlie, in Scotland, as the name was suggested by the chairman of the former Proserpine Shire Council, who was born in nearby Montrose, Scotland.

Alexander Dennis Enviro350H

Alexander Dennis had since received orders of 22 buses from Stagecoach for use in Scotland (19 introduced in 2012, 3 introduced in 2013), 4 buses from First Essex (introduced in 2013) and 12 buses from Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona, Spain.

Archerfield

Archerfield Estate and Links, a country estate and pair of golf courses in East Lothian, Scotland

Archie Brown

Brown was born in Annan, Scotland, and educated at Annan Academy and Dumfries Academy, before studying at both undergraduate and postgraduate level at the London School of Economics (LSE).

Arthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird

Although he was born in Kensington, London, as son of an old Perthshire family Kinnaird also played for Scotland, winning his solitary cap against England in the second ever international, played in 1873 at The Oval.

Baron Lindsay of Birker

It was created in 1945 for the Scottish academic and educationalist, Sandie Lindsay.

Burns Club Atlanta

Atlanta architect and member, Thomas H. Morgan, obtained the exact measurements of the original Burns cottage in Alloway, Scotland, and prepared plans for the Atlanta replica.

Canmore

the University of St Andrews Catholic Chaplaincy, nicknamed Canmore, a chaplaincy in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Ceremonial ship launching

SS Daphne was a ship which sank moments after her launching at a shipyard in Govan, Glasgow,Scotland, on 3 July 1883.

Clydesdale Harriers

Prior to its inception the only athletics clubs in Scotland were private schools former pupils clubs (e.g. Fettesians-Lorettonians) or University clubs.

Colyn Fischer

As a teenager, he studied with a number of the great fiddlers of Scotland, such as Ian Powrie and Alasdair Hardy, and of the United States, including John Turner and Bonnie Rideout.

Constable

The office of Lord High Constable, one of the Great Officers of State, was established in the kingdoms of England and Scotland during the reigns of King Stephen (1135–1154) and King David (1124–1154) respectively, and was responsible for the command of the army.

Cyril Aldred

He died peacefully at his home in Edinburgh in 1991 but is remembered as one of the leading characters in improving archaeology in Scotland at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

David R. Ross

At the age of about 15, he became interested in the novels of Nigel Tranter, that inspired him to grow an interest in the history of Scotland, as he realised that the history curriculum in British schools was told from an England-centric perspective that ignored (or nearly so) the individual histories of the other countries forming the United Kingdom.

Doctor Finlay

Early storylines include the setting up of the new National Health Service and the modernisation of the medical practice at Arden House, Tannochbrae, Scotland.

Falkirk High railway station

It is on the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line and situated on the southern edge of the town, close to the Union Canal.

Frederick Leith-Ross

Leith-Ross was born in Mauritius, but grew up with his grandfather at the family estate, Arnage Castle in Scotland.

Free Kirk

The Free Church of Scotland, an evangelical presbyterian church formed in 1843 when its founders withdrew from the Church of Scotland, also known as the Kirk.

Ginkgo

Given the slow pace of evolution and morphological similarity between members of the genus, there may have been only one or two species existing in the Northern Hemisphere through the entirety of the Cenozoic: present-day G. biloba (including G. adiantoides) and G. gardneri from the Palaeocene of Scotland.

Graham Shaw

Graeme Shaw, rugby league footballer for Scotland and at club level for Oldham Roughyeds

I Am the Mob

The video was directed by Kevin Allen, director of Twin Town and was filmed in the highlands of Scotland, showing the band playing with toy boats and fishing.

Ian Beausoleil-Morrison

He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Master's of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo, and a Ph.D. from the University of Strathclyde, Scotland.

James Livingston

James Livingstone, 1st Viscount Kilsyth (1616–1661), devoted Scottish Royalist who was raised to the peerage of Scotland as Viscount Kilsyth and Lord Campsie in 1661

John F. McIntosh

Born in Farnell, Angus, Scotland, in February 1846, MacIntosh would be famous for working at St. Rollox railway works, in Springburn, in Glasgow.

Kirsty Milne

Milne had developed a strong affection for Scotland during the five years of her childhood spent in the nation, and the revival of the Scottish Parliament following the 1997 devolution referendum gave her an opportunity to return in 1999.

Liber XV, The Gnostic Mass

It is situated in the East, or in the direction of Boleskine House—Crowley's former estate—on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland ("Temple East").

Marianna Palka

Marianna Palka is the Scottish-born screenwriter, director and co-star of the film Good Dick.

Matt Phillips

Phillips finally made his Scotland debut in a 5–1 friendly loss to the United States on 26 May 2012 at EverBank Field, Jacksonville, Florida.

Medium of instruction

In Scotland, English is the primary language of instruction although Gaelic medium education is also available.

Paul Fentener van Vlissingen

Ranked as the richest man in Scotland in 2005, he contributed to the development of game reserves in Africa and bought Letterewe estate in Scotland, where he pledged the right to roam, years ahead of the rest of the country.

Peter Hodge

He brought in players, several from has native Scotland, such as Arthur Chandler, Johnny Duncan, Adam Black, Hugh Adcock, Arthur Lochhead and Ernie Hine, all of whom would go on to become key players in the club's history and by the end of his stint average attendances had almost trebled from their pre-war averages.

Public school

State school in various countries, including Australia, Canada, Scotland, and the United States; a school funded with tax revenue and administered by a government or governmental agency

Red Moss, Aberdeenshire

Alexander Silver, a wealthy East India trader, built Netherley House, a mansion house in Netherley in the late 18th century; he and his son George Silver were noted agricultural innovators of their era.

Robert de Lawedre of Edrington

On 3 February 1424, Sir "Robertus de Lawedre de Bass, chevalier", with 18 men, had a safe-conduct with a host of other noblemen etc., as a hostage for King James I of Scotland at Durham.

Savings and loan association

In the United Kingdom, the first savings bank was founded in 1810 by the Reverend Henry Duncan, Doctor of Divinity, the minister of Ruthwell Church in the Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

Scotch-Irish

The Ulster Scots people, an ethnic group in Ulster, Ireland who trace their roots to settlers from Scotland and northern England

Scottish Science Advisory Council

Scotland has a proud tradition of science research and innovation, but this tends to be exclusively found in its main universities.

Scottish toponymy

Goidelic roots accounts for most place-names in eastern Scotland, with a few Anglic names in Fife and Angus and with a small number Pictish elements assimilated into the total toponymy.

Secessionism in Western Australia

Western Australia was grouped with Scotland, Wales, the Basque Country, and Catalonia as "places seeking maximum fiscal and policy autonomy from their national capitals" in an October 2013 opinion piece in The New York Times.

Siege of Haddington

The Sieges of Haddington were a series of sieges staged at the Royal Burgh of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, as part of the War of the Rough Wooing one the last Anglo-Scottish Wars.

Spey River

River Spey, Scotland, important for the scotch whisky distilleries along its banks

Stephen Donohoe

He sealed the prestigious award with victory on a 14/1 shot, Show Trial, at Musselburgh Racecourse in Scotland.

Stevie O'Reilly

Stevie O'Reilly (born 13 December 1966) is a Scottish football referee who is active in the Scottish Premier League.

The Omega Factor

Produced by BBC Scotland, the series was shot on location in Edinburgh (making use of a number of Edinburgh landmarks such as the Royal Mile, Holyrood Park, and Edinburgh Zoo), with studio production conducted in Glasgow.

Treaty of Edinburgh

The fortifications at Leith, Inchkeith and Dunbar Castle were duly removed, and the French garrisons left Scotland.

Vendace

:*Coregonus vandesius, in lakes of Scotland and England; arguably the same species as Coregonus albula

Walter J. D. Annand

Walter John Dinnie Annand was born 21 August 1920 in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

West Sound

On 3 June 2013, station owners Bauer Radio announced West Sound would axe its remaining local programming with the weekday breakfast show, then presented by Kenny Campbell, replaced with a networked show hosted by Robin Galloway from Monday 1 July 2013 across Bauer's network of AM stations in Scotland.