Between 1986-1995, Fort Augustus man, Jerry Johnson made a drink called “Augustine Nectar” that was made from heather and thistles. Touted as a non-alcoholic alternative to whisky, the vast majority was drunk by Mormons in Utah and California.
Lay Miserables
In 1631, the Burgh of Peebles made it illegal to let your chicken eat your neighbours thatched roof. In 1656, the Burgh ordained that all chickens must wear wooden clogs to prevent them flying up onto rooves.
CATKYNDNESS
n. Selfishness, opportunism; cupboard-love
“He wis aa catkyndness – paws the day, cleuks the morra”
Bells and Girders
In 1996 United Distillers teamed up with A.G. Barr to produce an alcopop: Bell’s Whisky and Irn-Bru. Notoriously disgusting, it was soon discontinued.
The Road Bridge to Bonnie Dundee
In August 1966, tenor Dennis Clancy released a single to commemorate the opening of the Tay Road Bridge and it was *chef’s kiss*.
“The best lady driver that ever lived”
Muriel Thompson (1875-1939) was a Scottish racing driver, suffragist, an WW1 ambulance driver. In 1919, she was known as “the best lady driver that ever lived”. She was the undefeated champion of “reverse-start high-speed blindfold racing”.
Dundee diplomacy
In March 1875, after a workplace disagreement, Dundee millworkers Elizabeth Melville and Gordonia Skinner met during their lunch break for a square-go in front of a large crowd. Elizabeth won by KO after 3 rounds then the two went back to work.
Beds are burning
In parts of the Highlands, if a crewmember of a herring boat was suspected of having brought bad luck on board, his crewmates would steal his bed, tow it out to sea, then set fire to it.
Miracle healer
In July 1563 surgeon Robert Henderson was awarded 20 merks by Edinburgh’s town council for “healing” a man whose hands had been cut off, a couple who’d been run through the body with swords, and a woman who’d suffocated and lain dead in her grave for two days.
OOSHIN-GOOSHIN
n. festering matter or purulence from a wound and by extension: sin, ill thoughts.
“O Lord! Squeeze the ooshin-gooshin oot o us!”