In August 1966, tenor Dennis Clancy released a single to commemorate the opening of the Tay Road Bridge and it was *chef’s kiss*.
Categories
Category: Uncategorized
Categories
Dick Picts
Good morning! The Pittensorn Pictish slab depicts two men fighting over a book while serpents bite them in the balls.
Categories
The Big Salamander
In 1802, the local name for the Loch Ness Monster in Abriachan was ‘an t-salamandar mhor’ i.e. ‘The Big Salamander’
Categories
The Battle of Cromarty
In Oct 1914, after mistaking a dolphin for a German U-boat, two British warships in the Cromarty Firth accidentally shelled the village of Jemimaville. No one was killed, but a baby almost lost a leg. She was given a silver rattle by the Navy to say sorry.
Categories
A church without a steeple
Inveraray Church doesn’t have a steeple because someone stole it. Dismantled and stored as a precaution during WW2, the carefully numbered blocks were gone when it came time to rebuild. Only 2 blocks were ever found.
Categories
A pernicious weed
Mr A. Young and the cannabis plant he accidentally grew in his Arbroath garden in 1933.
Categories
The Bingo Plague of 1961
In 1961, an epidemic was raging in Scotland. MPs called for serious intervention. Ministers railed from the pulpit. Social workers warned of increased poverty and child neglect. Cinema, theatre, concerts, sports would all dwindle and die. What was this plague? Bingo.
Here are some clippings from Scottish newspapers of the time.
Categories
A slice of heavy
In the winter of 1809, many Scottish ale-sellers switched to selling beer by the slice or by weight as the prolonged frost made pouring impossible.
Categories
Big Kippen Vine
Planted 130 years ago, the Big Kippen Vine was the largest single grapevine in the world. Covering 5000 sqft, it snaked through 4 glasshouses. Its massive trunk was 55 inches around. It produced over 2000 bunches a year.
The world’s second and third largest vines were also at Kippen!
Categories
A Clydebuilt church
In 1846, after being denied land to build one, the Free Kirkers of Strontian had a church built by a Glasgow shipbuilders and moored it in Loch Sunart. Attendance could be judged by how low it sat in the water on a Sunday.
