Scotland: 1,000 Things You Need To Know

Edwin Moore

A compact cornucopia of fascinating and hilarious revelations about all things Scottish—from monarchs and malts to tartans and Trainspotting
 
Covering all the need-to-knows, from bagpipes to Billy Connolly, this collection is the real McCoy, a comprehensive guide to Caledonia and its remarkable people. As the proud possessors of a fiercely independent creative heritage, the Scots were a race apart even before Hadrian built the wall. Scotland has produced an indomitable bunch of fighters, builders, thinkers and drinkers, poets, players, and pedagogues that have shaped the course of modern history. Edwin Moore has gathered together more than 1,000 facts about its monarchs, heroes, and rogues; battles, scandals, and great trials; food and (of course) drink; legends, folklore, and sports—for starters—and presents them here in easily digestible, scone-sized portions. This is the perfect gift for anyone curious about the connection between Homer Simpson and small Scottish town Larbert, or about whether both Barack Obama and John McCain can really be descended from a Scottish Lion.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Author biography
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• 1 People and Places
• 2 The Scots Languages
• 3 Fauna and Flora
• 4 Kings and Queens
• 5 Politics and Government
• 6 The Law of the Land
• 7 The Fighting Scots
• 8 The Scottish Enlightenment
• 9 Religion
• 10 Sports and Pastimes
• 11 Food and Drink
• 12 Scotland in the Movies and on TV
• 13 Entertainers and Musicians
• 14 Art and Architecture
• 15 Scottish Literature
• 16 Legend and the Dark Side
• 17 The Clan System and Tartan
• 18 The Scots Abroad
• Appendix A: The Declaration of Arbroath
• Appendix B: The Inevitable List of Scottish Inventions, Discoveries and Innovations