Stanley Baxter was born on May 24th, 1926, in Glasgow Scotland. He initially attended that Hillhead High School, although was later taught by his mother in the field of acting and stage. His skills were developed further when Stanley Baxter completed his National Service with the Combined Services Entertainment unit.

At the end of World War II, Stanley Baxter truly began his stage acting career. He worked with the Glasgow’s Citizens Theater for three years. He became popular and well known in the art of pantomime, and retained his renown until his retirement. During his career, Stanley Baxter nurtured and helped build the career of several pantomimes, including Alyson McInnes, John Ramage and Euan McIver.

Stanley Baxter began his television career in 1959, after he moved to London. He is now remembered best for a series of sketches called “Parliamo Glasgow”, filmed for the BBC. He was also a reoccurring actor on the British children’s comedy show “The Goodies”. From 1986 until 1988, Stanley Baxter held the lead role in “Mr Najeika”, playing the show’s namesake character.

Stanley Baxter has been involved in British and Scottish film since 1955, when he starred in “Geordie”. He followed the roles up by acting in “Very Important Person” and “The Fast Lady” in 1961 and 1962 respectively.
Stanley Baxter continued a comedy career even after retiring in 1990. He has published several books on the language and humor of Glasgow. Although during his career he received three BAFTA awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Comedy Awards.

Tommy Flanagan’s career change came under the advice of Robert Carlyle and his wife, who advised him to enter the field of acting. While apprehensive at first, Tommy Flanagan began working at the Rain Dog Theater in 1992. In 1995, Tommy Flanagan received his first break when Mel Gibson hired him to act in the upcoming movie "Braveheart". His acting career took off after Mel Gibson hired him for further roles.

Tommy Flanagan’s next significant role was playing a character named Scarface, alongside Val Kilmer in "The Saint". His distinct facial scarring have lead Tommy Flanagan to play harder-edged roles in mainly action or crime movies. Most recently, he starred in "Smokin’ Aces 2" and "Sin City", and is featured in several upcoming large production movies.

David Hume 1711-1776 David Hume is considered by some to be one of the most important English speaking philosophers to have ever lived.

Adam Smith 1723 - 1790 Adam Smith is regarded as the grandfather of modern economic thought. He is the author of "The Wealth of Nations".

James Bowman Lindsay 1799 - 1862 James Lindsay was an important, albeit somewhat overlooked, pioneer in the field of electricity.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 1859- 1930 The author of what is undoubtedly one of the most recognized fictional characters in literature, Sherlock Holmes.

Thomas Graham 1805 - 1869 Throughout his life, Thomas Graham was a influential figure in the study of chemistry.

James Watt 1736 - 1819 James Watt is credited with creating early versions of the steam engine.

William Paterson 1658 - 1719 William Paterson's most significant contribution to history is founding the Bank of England.

James Hutton 1726 - 1797 James Hutton was an early personality in geological study.

Ewan McGregor 1971 - Ewan McGregor is a famous Scottish actor, known for numerous films, including the new Star Wars trilogy.

John Napier 1550 - 1617 John Napier was the inventor of the mathematical concept of logarithms.

Thomas Reid 1710 - 1796 Thomas Reid was a Scottish Enlightenment-era philosopher.

James Gregory 1638 - 1675 James Gregory contributed to many early concepts in mathematics and astronomy.

Robert the Bruce 1274 - 1329 Robert the Bruce is perhaps one of the best known figures of Scottish history.

William Wallance 1270 - 1305 William Wallace was the Scottish leader portrayed in the movie Braveheart.

Sir Walter Scot 1771 - 1832 Sir Walter Scot was a renowned Scottish novelist and poet.

James Clerk Maxwell James Maxwell made several contribution to maths and physics, along with creating the first permanent color photographs.

Alexander Nasmyth 1758 - 1840 Alexander Nasmyth is considered to be a pioneer of Scottish landscape painting.

Alexander Scott 1525 - 1585 Alexander Scott is another prominent Scottish poet.

James Mill 1773 - 1836 James Mill was an intellectual authority during the Scottish Enlightenment, and wrote the original entry for "Utilitarianism" in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Alasdair Gray 1934 - Alasdair Gray is a highly awarded contemporary Scottish author.

Irvine Welsh 1958 - Irvine Welsh is a Scottish writer, best known for his novel and subsequent movie adaptation of Trainspotting.

Sir James Barrie 1860 - 1937 Sir Jame Barrie, otherwise known as J.M. Barrie, was the creator of Peter Pan.

Francis Hutcheson 1694 - 1746 Francis Hutcheson is regarded as an initial member and instigator of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Robert Carlyle 1961 - Robert Carlyle is a Scottish actor, having featured in Trainspotting and The World is Not Enough.

Joseph Black 1728 - 1799 Joesph Black was a Scottish scientist, best known for being the first individual to isolate the Carbon element.

Matthew Stewart was a Scottish mathematician, best known for his publication "Some General Theorems of Considerable use in the Higher Parts of Mathematics".

Matthew Stewart was born in the year 1717, in Rothsay, on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. He entered the University of Glasgow in 1734, after finishing grammar school. While attending university, Matthew Stewart was considered to be a favorite pupil of Robert Simson and Francis Hutcheson. Matthew Stewart formed a close friendship with Robert Simson, and the two remained in close contact for the rest of their lives. It is believed that Matthew Stewart began to seriously study mathematics under the advice of Simson.

After graduating, Matthew Stewart worked with Robert Simson on his publication "Apollonii Pergaei locorum planorum libri II". However, at the same time Matthew Stewart was also convinced by his father to enter the clergy, which he did, becoming a minister at Roseneath, Dumbartonshire in 1745. In 1746 he attained the position of Professor of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.

In the field of mathematics, Matthew Stewart is known for his contribution and extension to Robert Simson’s Proposition II. The work has come to be known as Stewart’s Theorem, and revolves around the relationship formed between the lengths of the sides of the triangle and the length of a cevian of the same triangle. Using geometric methods, Matthew Stewart also provide a solution to Kepler’s Problem.

Matthew Stewart passed away on January 23rd 1785, and his work was carried on by Dugald Stewart.

Thomas Muir was Scottish mathematician, known mainly for his contribution to the field of determinants.

Thomas Muir was born on August 25th 1844, in Stonebyres, near Lanark, Scotland. His father, George Muir, was a relatively successful shoemaker, which afforded his son an advanced education. Thomas Muir attended an independent school in Wishaw, and specialized in the Greek language. At a later point he joined the University of Glasgow and transferred from the field of Classical studies to mathematics, on the advice of William Thomson.

Shortly after graduating, Thomas Muir joined the University of St Andrews as a tutor in 1868. While there, Thomas Muir traveled across Europe, and was credited in making great advances in the field of mathematics alongside many prominent mathematicians of the time.

In 1871 Thomas Muir began to tutor at the University of Glasgow. He soon published a paper and was subsequently elected as a fellow to the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Between 1874 and 1892 he acted as the master of science and mathematics at the Glasgow High School. In 1883 he was elected as the president to the Edinburgh Mathematical Society. He also taught in South Africa.

Thomas Muir published “Treatise on the Theory of Determinants” in 1882. In 1890 he followed up with his book, the “History of Determinants”. In 1882 he released one of his most influential lemmas on determinants. He proved that the determinant of a skew symmetric matrix is equal to its Pfaffian squared. In modern mathematics Thomas Muir's name is attributed to duality theorem between minors.

Thomas Muir passed away on March 21st 1934.

Niel Gow was considered to be the best Scottish fiddler in the country during the 18th century.

Niel Gow was born on March 22nd 1727, in Inver, Perthshire, Scotland, to John Gow and Catherine McEwan. Though he began playing at a much earlier age, Niel Gow took fiddle lessons at the age of thirteen. Some considered Niel Gow to be a musical prodigy. Despite his promise, Niel Gow was trained as a plaid weaver from an early age, although gave the trade up in later life.

By the age of 20 Niel Gow was reputed to have been a well respected and admired Scottish fiddle player. At the age of 18 Niel Gow entered into a music competition judged by John McCraw. Niel Gow won first prize, and John McCraw said that he could “ken his bow hand among a hunder players" (be able to tell Niel apart from one hundred other players). The competition sparked serious interest in Niel Gow’s playing, which won him the patronage of the Duke of Atholl.

Throughout this career, Niel Gow is reputed to have produced 87 different pieces of music. Although according to some sources, nearly a quarter of Niel Gow’s tunes would have been heavily based on or even outright copies of older songs. Most of his songs were aimed at being dance music, and are now often played at ceilidhs and country dances.
Currently, Niel Gow is commemorated every year at the Niel Gow Fiddle Festival in Dunkeld and Birnam, Perthshire, Scotland. It is hoped by the event’s organizers that enough funds can eventually be raised to erect a monument to Niel Gow.

Scottish fiddling is said to be distinctly differentiable from its neighboring fiddling styles, like Irish and Celtic. Scottish fiddling is also know for a unique musical characteristic, called the Scottish snap. Typically, this is described a rhythm feature where a short note on the beat is followed by a longer note. Scottish fiddling is often very encompassing of bagpipe accompaniment, with pieces being written with both instruments in mind. Additionally, Scottish fiddling is seen as a relatively worldly sound, due to the international spread of Scottish people.

Scottish fiddling is regional across Scotland, with different areas having a distinct character to their music. The Shetland style is thought to be very lively and with a distinct Irish and Norwegian influence. Musically, Scottish fiddling in Shetland is characterized by the ringing of open strings above and below the melody line. The North-East style is elegant and more rooted to classical music, with a wide utilization of staccatos and Scottish snaps. The Highland style, which is geographically the widest spread, is heavily aimed towards bagpipe accompaniment. Conversely, the Borders region style of Scottish fiddling uses more hornpipes alongside the fiddle. There is also a great propensity to re-write fiddle pieces to include two or more fiddles, and the use of double-stopping. The Cape Breton style, which originates from Scottish immigrants in Canada, is often accompanied by a piano and is heavily aimed at being used for step dancing.