Scottish Blog

Irn Bru is an internationally sold soft drink that is produced in Scotland.

Irn Bru was first created in 1901 by the A.G Barr Company. Originally the drink was named Iron-Brew, but a law change in 1946 saw it prohibited from using the term “brew” as it was technically brewed. The original Irn Bru formula is still used in today’s Irn Bru. The recipe is still a closely guarded secret, known in full only by the A.G Barr board of directors, with a single written copy being kept inside a safety box. Playing on this secrecy, Irn Bru was at one point claimed to be “made out of girders”, in a number of advertising campaigns. Irn Bru is subject to a number of myths and rumors, regarding it exact ingredients, some of the most popular contest that Irn Bru is made out of either seaweed or barley, although its manufacturers have neither denied nor verified these claims.

Irn Bru has being jokingly dubbed as “Scotland’s other national drink”, in reference to Scotch whisky, although this might be attributed to various Irn Bru advertising campaigns which proclaimed this to be the truth.

Through its unique advertising and taste, Irn Bru has until very recently been the largest selling soft drink in Scotland, only losing to Coca-Cola in recent years. It has consistently held a spot as the third largest selling soft-drink in the United Kingdom.
Irn Bru is sold through a number of countries throughout the world. Alongside the Scottish production factories for Irn Bru, there are five production areas in Russia and a number in Canada, South Africa and Australia.

A seagull in Scotland has developed the habit of stealing chips from a neighborhood shop...

A 157-year-old whisky sold for more than $59,200 in Glasgow, making it possibly the most expensive Scotch ever auctioned in the world...

Prestwick Airport

Prestwick Airport is the largest commercial airport in Scotland.

Prestwick Airport is located forty six kilometers outside of Glasgow, its location puts it within service range of both Glasgow and Ayrshire and technically it is located in the south Ayrshire district. Currently, Prestwick Airport has two runways, one concrete runway of almost three kilometers in length and one asphalt runway of almost two kilometers in length, these runways can cater for Boeing 747, 737 and Airbus aero planes. Officially Prestwick Airport is called Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Prestwick Airport was constructed in 1934, primarily to be used as an air force training ground, by 1935 an air tower, hangar and a number of offices were constructed on the Prestwick Airport grounds. The airport faced even higher expansion during World War II as it was used as a base for American aircraft traffic. In 1938, the Prestwick Airport grounds were expanded to allow for passengers traffic. In part this is due to the local geographical profile, the weather at the airport is reputed to be one of the best in the United Kingdom. As such, Prestwick Airport was the first in Scotland to allow trans-Atlantic passenger flights.

Prestwick Airport has been experiencing an unprecedented rate of growth in the last ten years. Mainly this is due to increased passenger traffic with “no-frills” airlines. In 2006 Prestwick Airport saw over 2.3 million passengers on 48,000 planes, to thirty six national and international destinations. Amongst these recent growths, Prestwick Airport has also been host to the arrival of world leaders for the G8 summits. It is also the only place in the United Kingdom where Elvis Presley set foot on the ground. On a bi-annual basis Prestwick Airport also plays host to the Prestwick Airshow, although the last instance of the air show was in 1992.

A Yorkshire man claims to have shot a video capturing the mythical Loch Ness monster...

Aberdeen Airport is the third largest airport in Scotland.

Aberdeen Airport is located nine kilometers north west of Aberdeen City, in an area called Dyce. Currently it stands sixty six meters above sea level, it has one main runway and three helipads. There is one main passenger terminal, three terminals for the three helipads and a small terminal that is used for charter by an oil company. The three helipad terminals are also chartered on a permanent basis by three different heli-companies, Bristow Helicopters, CHC-Scotia and Bond Offshore Helicopters. As with most modern airports, Aberdeen Airport has all the typical facilities that are expected, along with the Dyce railway station in close proximity, which can directly link to the city of Aberdeen. There have been resource consent submissions to extend the current runway by one to three hundred meters.

Aberdeen Airport was established with the purpose of providing a link between northern Scotland and London. The airport was officially opened in 1934 and was almost immediately used the Royal Air Force as a base for air reconnaissance missions. Although it was released by the military in 1947 and came under the control of the British Aviation Authority
In 1967 when oil was found off-shore Aberdeen there was a great influx of passengers through Aberdeen Airport. The number of passengers has grown since that point, with roughly 3.16 million passengers coming through in the 2006 financial year.

1766-1832

John Leslie was a renowned Scottish mathematician and physicist during the Scottish Enlightenment.

John Leslie is best known for his work involving research on heat. His most famous experiment is known as the Leslie cube. In its original form the cube is painted black on one side, polished on two sides and a dull copper on the last side. This experiment is meant to show that heat radiation is the most significant on the black side.
In 1810, John Leslie was also the first person to artificially create ice through capillary action of an air pump.

John Leslie was born on the 10th of April 1766 in Largo, Fife in Scotland. He was raised and educated there for his early years. Due his natural aptitude in mathematics John Leslie was encouraged to attend the University of St Andrews. Until 1787 John Leslie studied Arts and divinity. After his graduation from both courses John Leslie spent time working as a private tutor and working on his first publication, “Natural History of Birds”, which was published in 1793 across nine volumes.

In 1805 John Leslie was he was elected to the chair of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. While holding this position John Leslie published a number of new mathematics papers.

In 1819 John Leslie was promoted to the chair of natural philosophy. He kept this position until his death in 1832. While here he also made a number of contributions to the field of physics such as the differential thermometer.

A fleet of buses fueled by chip fat is taking to the roads of Ayrshire in a trial green transport project...

The Black Watch was a regiment of Scottish infantry until 2006.

The Black Watch is an infantry division of the United Kingdom Army. The black Watch was formed in 1881 as an amalgamation of the Royal Highland Regiment and the 73rd (Perthshire) Foot Regiment. The Black Watch has always been known for their dark green tartan, this came to be the origin of their name, as the other section comes from their duty to “watch” over the Highlands.

As the senior regiment of the Highland Battalion, the Black Watch has traditionally been charged with protecting the Scottish Highlands. Yet they have been deployed in a number of international conflicts.

All 25 battalions of the Black Watch were deployed in World War II. Predominantly they were found in France and Flanders, although the 2nd and 10th battalions were sent to Palestine and the Balkans respectively. During these encounters in World War I the Black Watch was often referred to as “The Ladies from Hell” due to their ferocious fighting and the kilt being a mandatory part of their uniform.

The Black Watch was present in all aspects of World War II where British presence was strong. They were also deployed during the Korean War.

In recent times, the Black watch is known for its involvement in the Iraq War. It was also played a large role in the 1997 Hong Kong handover ceremony.

Pumpkins have been banned from a Halloween festival in favor of a more Scottish-style celebration (Video)...

The Scottish Rugby Union is the premier governing body of the rugby union sport in Scotland.

The Scottish Rugby Union was established in 1873. Originally it was called the Scottish Football Union, although this was changed in 1924, to better reflect the then modern nature of the sport. In 1886 the Scottish Rugby Union (then known as the football union) was one of the founding members of the International Rugby Board, the others were Wales and Ireland, to this day this day the Scottish Rugby Union is still a member of this world rugby union governing body.

Currently, the Scottish Rugby Union owns the Murrayfield Stadium, which is the home-stadium of the Scottish national team. Although in the earliest days of Scottish Rugby Union, rugby games were played where ever space was available for them, primarily this was tended to be on cricket fields. To combat this inconvenience, the still used Murrayfield stadium was purchased in 1922, slightly before the name change from Scottish Football Union to the Scottish Rugby Union.

The grounds of the Scottish Rugby Union are primarily used for home games and practices of the three main Scottish rugby representative teams. Edinburgh Rugby, a district team, which was also one of the first teams in the world to play in inter-district competitions. The other representative team is the Glasgow Warriors, which was created for play in the Heineken Cup. The Scottish Rugby Union team is the Border Reivers.

The Scottish Rugby Union also oversees the national Scottish rugby league games, these consist of three leagues, the Premier league consisting of 36 teams, the National League also consisting of 36 teams and lastly the Regional League which consists of 85 teams.

A woman from the Borders has been crowned the first national conkers champion of Scotland...

- Nature and sports have collided over Donald Trump's plans to build "the world's greatest golf course" on a stretch of remote and stunning Scottish coastline that is home to some of the country's rarest birds...>>>

- Bumper passenger numbers have helped Edinburgh Airport retain its place as Scotland's busiest airport...>>>

- Norway has decided to end its formal diplomatic presence in Scotland after more than half a century...>>>

- Scotland has been named as one of the 15 most important marine wildlife areas in the UK...>>>

- Serenity is not a word often associated with politics, particularly nationalist politics. But since the Scottish National party won its dramatic victory in the Scottish parliamentary elections five months ago, Scotland has been a serene place. Less fractious, more relaxed...>>>

- The Scottish government has launched a scheme to extend broadband services to those who are unable to get connected...>>>

- Scotland is once again powering ahead with its plans to fulfill our renewable energy potential...>>>

- Asking prices are falling in many towns and cities in England and Wales but values in Scotland are continuing to increase with property inflation higher than anywhere apart from Northern Ireland and London...>>>

Sixties pop star plans to open meditation university in Scotland...

Scottish Gaelic was at one point the most prominent language spoken throughout Scotland.

With its ancient origins and prominence within Scottish history, Scottish Gaelic is a linguistic heirloom of the Scots.

Scottish Gaelic belongs in the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, alongside Irish and Manx. Outside of Scotland Scottish Gaelic is often mistakenly referred to as Scots, while in Scotland and related areas this name would refer to the Scots language.

Scotland has the highest concentration in the world of Scottish Gaelic speakers, although the actual number of capable Scottish Gaelic speakers is relatively low. A survey conducted in 2001 found that there were approximately 92,000 speakers of Scottish Gaelic in Scotland in addition to 900 in Nova Scotia, 1,600 in the USA, followed by roughly 100 speakers in both Russia and Kazakhstan. The study also estimated that by the year 2007 there would be over 100,000 speakers of Scottish Gaelic throughout the world. Although the numbers of people who can speak Scottish Gaelic in recent years is low, it is still recognized by many Scottish as an official language of Scotland, whether they themselves can speak it or not.

It is known that Scottish Gaelic was a prominent, if not the main, language of the Scottish nation for many years. But, due to the difficulty of surveying the entire population of Scotland in its early years, not to mention the difficulty of preserving the results of such a survey, it is impossible to tell exactly what percentage of the Scottish population were speakers of the Scottish Gaelic language. It is strongly believed that the population of Scotland had a large number of speakers of Scottish Gaelic at the time of the arrival of the Romans. It is also known that the use of Scottish Gaelic suffered heavily during the Highland Clearances in the late 16th century.

Plans to remove white lines from some Aberdeenshire roads to improve safety have been backed by councillors.

The Gaelic Language Act 2005 was an act designed and passed by the Scottish Parliament, with the aim of increasing the recognition of the Gaelic language.

Many consider the Gaelic language to be a precious heirloom of Scottish history, and as such it should be protected for further generations to enjoy and celebrate. This was the sole reasoning behind the passing of the Gaelic Language Act 2005.

The Gaelic Language Act 2005 was marked as a momentous occasion for the Gaelic language. In fact, the Education minister of Scotland, who also is charged with the development of the Gaelic language, was quoted saying “This is a momentous day for Gaelic as we open a new chapter in the language's history. We have come a long way since the dark days of 1616 when an Act of Parliament ruled that Gaelic should be 'abolishit and removit' from Scotland."

The Gaelic Language Act aimed to place the Gaelic language next to the English language in terms of respect in Scotland. Primarily the Gaelic Language Act 2005 went about this task by the creation of the Bòrd na Gàidhlig, which is a Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organization basically charged with the development of the Gaelic language.

Amongst other task assigned to the Bòrd na Gàidhlig by the Gaelic Language Act 2005, they are charged with creating a plan for the development of the Gaelic language. Also, they are required to inform ministry members on issues concerning the Gaelic language. As the Gaelic Language Act 2005 did not officially declare the Gaelic language as one of Scotland’s national languages, it is a task of the Bòrd na Gàidhlig to achieve this goal.

Mobile phone footage apparently showing the inside of a Scottish courtroom during a case has been posted on the video-sharing website YouTube...

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh was the last battle between the England and Scotland during the War of the Rough Wooing.

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh was fought between the English and the Scots. In essence it was the last segment of the War of the Rough Wooing against Scotland. In essence the objective of the war, at least from the side of the English, was to encourage the Scots to wed the young Mary Queen of Scots to the son of the English king, Edward VI.

The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh took place on the 10th of September of 1547. The armies were led by Earl of Arran for the Scottish and Duke of Somerset for the English. Estimates of the size of the Scots forces numbered between 23,000 and 36,000 troops, while the English consisted of roughly 17,000 troops and 30 warships.

The day before the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh took place, the leader of the Scots, the Earl of Arran, marched with one and a half thousand troops to meet the Duke of Somerset. He challenged the Duke to a duel with an equal number of troops.

On the day of the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, the Scots fared no better than they did the previous day. The English army was heavily protected from one side by their artillery and on the other side by a bog, they also had support of warships. For the Scots this meant that the only route of attack was directly from the front. Although the battle was not without minor victories for the Scots, like driving of the English main cavalry charge. Ultimately the Scots were defeated, suffering almost 5000 casualties and 1,500 prisoners.

As the Battle of Pnkie Cleugh was such an important one for Scottish history, a large number of Scottish clans participated in it, as a rundown, these were some of the most important in the battle:

Clan Buchanan
Clan Cameron
Clan Campbell
Clan Farquharson
Clan Forbes
Clan Gordon
Clan Graham
Clan Hunter
Clan Irvine
Clan MacFarlane
Clan MacGregor
Clan MacKenzie
Clan MacLaren
Clan Munro
Clan Ogilvy
Clan Stuart