Weekly Snippets from Scotland

Weekly Snippets from Scotland

Bits and pieces of information gleaned from Scottish Sites and History

SCOTTISH SNIPPETS

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Edinburgh to be promoted as a hub for creative industries.

A global drive promoting Edinburgh as one of the most crative cities in Europe is to be implemented within weeks. It is believed that the city is second only to London as the best place for those in the arts, advertising, computer gaming, software development, media and literature. Now a campaign highlighting the quality of life, world-leading events and the strength of the city's economy is to be developed in an effort to win investment and lure talent from abroad.

Leading players in the festivals and arts organisations, advertising and design agencies, architecture firms and publishers will be asked to support the "Creative Edinburgh" campaign, which is expected to be launched at Tartan Week in New York next month. Edinburgh is also expected to join forces with Glasgow, which has a booming digital media quarter on the Clyde. Consultants found that Edinburgh's quality of life and relatively low living costs make it competitive with rivals such as Barcelona, Milan, Copenhagen and Vienna.

The research, from FDi Intelligence, states: "As a city renowned for the performing arts, it is unsurprising that Edinburgh should excel in the creative industries. Edinburgh offers one of the best-educated populations in Europe, an outstanding research and development record and a living environment and level of wealth conducive to recreation and the arts."

The study found Edinburgh had more than 10,000 people employed in arts, education and recreation – the third-highest in the UK, and ahead of Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. In terms of research and development, the capital was also ahead of Hamburg, Athens, Geneva, Copenhagen, Manchester and Dublin.

Duke of Buccleuch describes family anguish at Da Vinci theft.

Richard Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, the tenth Duke of Buccleuch, yesterday told a court his late father had been especially fond of the £20 million artwork that was stolen from Drumlanrig Castle in 2003.

The ninth duke was deeply saddened by the lack of progress in recovering Madonna of the Yarnwinder and died just a month before it was found. His son said it had been feared the painting might be destroyed by the thieves and, therefore, "it was a huge relief to find it had been undamaged".

The work, which dates from about 1500 and is now on display in the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, is believed to be one of about only 20 paintings by Leonardo Da Vinci.

The duke recalled the day in August 2003 when he was told it had been stolen from the castle, "I returned immediately to the castle. I wanted to establish as far as I could what had happened and also to be with the staff who had been through a very frightening and difficult experience," he told the High Court in Edinburgh.

The court heard that Madonna of the Yarnwinder was valued in 2008 at £20m. Five men are on trial accused of conspiring to extort £4.25m from the duke and the insurer, Hiscox UK, for the safe return of the painting.

Ski centre signs boost Gaelic language.

Excellent conditions from prolonged snowfalls are not only helping Scotland's ski centres, but may also provide a boost for the Gaelic language. Bilingual signs were installed at the Lecht, Glenshee, Nevis Range and Glencoe resorts a year ago, and a new research project will now assess their impact. The signs were put up by Comunn na Gàidhlig (CnaG), on behalf of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

CnaG chief executive Donald MacNeill said: "The recent wintry weather and surge in visitors at Scotland's ski centres is providing great exposure for the new Gaelic presence at these centres. It's an ideal opportunity to examine the effectiveness of the bilingual signs among skiers and boarders who are attending the centres; a lot of whom may never have come across signs with Gaelic and English before."

"The bilingual signage scheme has run successfully for a number of years, with 100 companies having taken advantage of the opportunity, so we already know it's worthwhile in raising the profile both of Gaelic and the participating business. What this new research is about is trying to find out whether the presence of these signs

affects the general interest in Gaelic; encourages people to think about Gaelic in a different light; or if visitors are more attracted to places with Gaelic.

Researchers will carry out face-to-face interviews with visitors to the Nevis Range centre and an online survey form is available via CnaG's website: www.cnag.org.uk It is hoped the responses will help to develop future policies to promote Gaelic.

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RECIPE

SCOTTISH CREAM LIQUEUR

(Not Bailey's Irish Creme - but similar

and not Diageo.)

Ingredients:

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 tsp. instant coffee

1 cup whipping cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. chocolate syrup

2 and 1/2 cups Scottish whisky

Preparation:

Whip cream until thick and frothy. Add eggs and continue beating. Add milk, vanilla,

almond extract, and syrup. Beat thoroughly. Add Scotch a little at a time, beating between

additions. Sample, adjust, serve. Must be kept refrigerated.

March 6 1457 - King James II decreed in an Act of Parliament that there

should be regular target practice and military parades and that "football

and golf be utterly cried down and not used". This was the first time that

the games had been mentioned in Scottish documents.

March 8 1702 - King William III died and Queen Anne acceded to the throne

at the age of 37. She was the daughter of King James VII.

March 8 1859 - Kenneth Grahame, author of "The Wind in the Willows" born in

Edinburgh.

March 8 1936 - The "Oor Wullie" cartoon strip first appeared in the "Sunday

Post".

March 9 1776 - "Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith published

March 10 - St Kessog Day. St Kessog was the patron saint of Scotland prior

to the adoption of St Andrew*

March 10 1748 - John Playfair, clergyman, geologist, mathematician, born in

Edinburgh.

March 10 1916 - Birth of James Herriot, author of "All Creatures Great and

Small"

March 11 1820 - Death of Sir Alexander Mackenzie (of Dunkeld), explorer of

North America and in 1793 became the first white person north of Mexico to

reach the Pacific by crossing overland.

March 11 1955 - Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, died.

March 13 1873 - Scottish Football Association founded. The initial clubs

were Queen's Park, Clydesdale, Vale of Leven, Dumbreck, Third Lanark,

Eastern, Granville and Kilmarnock.

March 13/15 1941 - Blitz of Clydebank by German Luftwaffe.

FYI - According to Wikipedia:

*Saint Kessog was an Irish missionary of the mid-sixth century active in the Lennox area and southern Perthshire. Kessog was Scotland's patron saint before Saint Andrew, and his name was used as a battle cry by the Scots. Son of the king of Cashel in Ireland, Kessog is said to have worked miracles, even as a child. He left Ireland and became a missionary bishop in Scotland. Using Monks' Island in Loch Lomond as his headquarters, he evangelized the surrounding area until he was martyred, supposedly at Bandry, where a heap of stones was known as St Kessog's Cairn. Kessog was killed in 520 AD. The St McKessog's church in Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond is named after Kessog and in the church resides his effigy. Kessog is claimed to have brought Christianity to the area around Luss in 510AD and 1500 years of continuous Christian presence in the area will be celebrated in 2010AD.

Close the Deal

Sandy McWachle hadn't been working for the MacGrabbit Estate Agency for long and had just closed his first sale. But he was horrified to find soon after that the land he had sold was completely under water! In some distress he went to his boss to tell him and ask "If the

His boss Hector MacGrabbit raised his eyes in despair at such naivety. "What kind of salesman are you?" he asked. "If the customer comes back - sell him a houseboat!"

Dangerous Food

A dietician was addressing a large audience in Auchtermuchty Town Hall (there must have been at least 15 folk in the hall). The dietician was

ranting about what we eat, saying that red meat caused heart problems, soft drinks eroded stomach linings and bones, vegetables were rarely washed well enough and the germs in our drinking water caused countless problems. He concluded by asking the audience if they knew which food caused the most grief and suffering, years after it had been consumed.

A 75-year-old man in the front row stood up and said firmly, "Wedding cake".

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