The Bay City Rollers were a Seventies worldwide  sensation and the Tartan equivalent in their day of Take That or One Direction! Who doesn’t remember the fans going crazy with their long long Tartan scarves singing along to  “Bye Bye Baby” and “All of Me Loves All of You”. 

Scotland has always struggled in the football World Cup and didn’t manage to get past the first round in 1978.   But super–striker Archie Gemmill made us all super–proud and became the talk of the steamy with a cracking goal and a 3-2 win against Holland!

‘Love Scotland’ Apron

Glasgow chef Ali Ahmed Aslam lays claim to creating Britain’s official favourite dish, and the staple of a million takeaways, Chicken Tikka Masala. The proprietor of the Shish Mahal restaurant in the west end of the city, was experimenting with condensed tomato soup, threw in some spices and culinary history was made!

In 1772 Scotland made it mandatory to drive on the left side of the road. It was more than 60 years until England and Wales followed suit in 1835.

In the 13th century, Scottish theologian John Duns Scotus was the pioneer of the Dunces Hat. This was a pointy hat that the class clowns, bullies and generallynaughty boys or girls had to put on while they stood in a corner to meditate over their misdemeanours. The original version of time out…

In Scotland in 1753 the law stating that young couples under 21 couldn’t marry without parental permission was repealed.  And so, at Gretna Green just over the Scottish border, young couples flocked from the south to be married under Scottish law. Bet they didn’t invite their parents!

Do you remember Taggart? The hard but sensitive detective from Glasgow’s Strathclyde Police Force gave us innumerable riveting crime thrillers plus lots of fun identifying local landmarks! With a cult following around the world and especially in Scandinavia, Taggart inspired a new generation of crime authorslike Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo.

We all love Peter Pan, who is cherished by children and adults worldwide for his wonderful adventures in Neverland. It is however not generally know that  Scottish Author J M Barrie created this boy based on his older brother, who sadly died aged 13 years.

‘Lola’ Serving Tray – for rain or shine!

Golfing originated in Scotland with the first written account of the game recorded in 1457. With the Old Course at  St Andrews dating back to the 16th century, golf has attracts millions of overseas golfing fans to our shores each year.

We all know that a Mac is a raincoat and that it’s short for Macintosh – but did you know that it is named after Glasgow’s fabulous architect and designer, Charles Rennie Macintosh?  In 1824 Macintosh created one of the first waterproof fabrics by rubberising a sheet of fabric in his textile factory and the new raincoats were an overnight success.

Billy Connolly, appeared 15 times on the Parkinson show; a record. The Big Yin famously told a very typically naughty joke on his first appearance on the show and Parky, helpless with laughter  was unable tospeak for quite a few minutes!  I remember it well and as a family we were all helpless with laughter too. Billy quickly became and remains today a national treasure.

(The joke was the ‘Bicycle Joke’, in case you want to google it. Tee-hee!)

I’ll be back with more riveting Scottish stuff again soon! Till next time, 

Lorna