Did You Know?
Scotland is a wonderful and fascinating country full of stories, legends, amazing tales, historical characters, sporting heroes, bustling cites, small towns and empty glens. Everyone has an interesting fact about Scotland…… some of them are even true!
Interesting and Unusual Scottish Facts
Scottish Salmon returning to spawn can leap falls 11ft high, taking off at 20mph.
The shortest scheduled flight in the world is one-and-a-half miles long from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands – it takes 1 minute 14 seconds to complete!
Redheads! Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads in the world – 13%
There are 787 islands off the coast of Scotland, of which 130 are inhabited.
Edinburgh is on the same latitude as Moscow
The oldest subscription library in Britain opened in 1741 in Leadhills, Lanarkshire
Glenelg, Scotland’s only palindrome is twinned with Glenelg on Mars.
The word ‘clan’ is from the Gaelic clan meaning children.
The earliest record of a Highland Games goes back to the 11th century when King Malcolm held a contest in the Braes of Mar to find his fastest and toughest fighting men.
Scotland has over 600 private gardens that open to the public under the charity Scotland’s Gardens.
Of all the bridges in the British railway network the Forth (Rail) Bridge is the only one with no number – it is known by its name.
Tony Blair’s dad was brought up in Govan, Glasgow
James VI went down a coal mine in the Firth of Forth (Culross) in 1595
Aberdeenshire has more castles per hectacre than anywhere else in the UK