DATES IN
HISTORY
|
As The Flag’s Scottish History Time-line enters its eighth year it
now contains nearly 1,700 dates spanning the past 2,000 years. The
ever-expanding time-line is divided into significant historical
section which are revised as it increases and is an excellent
back-up to James Halliday’s splendid
Scotland: A Concise History. A book which every Scot and all
those interested in Scotland should read. |
15
June 1828
Twenty-eight people died when the north gallery collapsed at The Old Kirk,
Kirkcaldy, whilst the congregation listened to noted preacher Edward Irving.
15 June 1945
Family allowance payments were introduced in Britain – five shillings (25p)
a week for the second child and subsequent children, no payment being made
for the firstborn.
16 June 1890
The Caledonian Railway station in Edinburgh was destroyed by fire.
16 June 2006
The
nearly 150-year-old papermaking firm Smith Anderson, Feetykil, Leslie, Fife,
went into receivership with the loss of 106 jobs. An earlier cut-back had
seen 70 jobs losses in August 2005.
17
June 1747
The Vesting Act authorised the Scottish Court of Exchequer, the guardian of
crown revenues in Scotland, to make full inquiry into the extent and value
of estates forfeited by Jacobites following the 1745 Rising. Fifty-three
estates were surveyed and only 12 of these were declared not forfeit.
17 June 1999
In a parliamentary debate on the new Scottish Parliament building project
First Minister of Scotland Donald Dewar gave an estimate cost of £109
million including VAT, fees and fit-out.
19 June 1943
Flyweight boxer Jackie Paterson followed in the footsteps of Benny Lynch by
winning the world title at Hampden park, Glasgow. He spectacularly knocked
out Englishman Peter Kane after only 61 seconds of the first round.
21 June 2006
Scotland experienced its wettest and windiest June day on record.
See Dates in History in our
Features Section
SCOTTISH QUOTATIONS
I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they
give one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding
expression adequate to one's feeling.
Robert Burns
Statements in prose and verse which reflect
all aspects of Scottish life and outlook from the 1st century to the present day.
New
quotes added every week. The
quotations are not restricted to native Scots but include observations
from abroad which help us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert
Burns, "To see oursels as others see us"
|
For
the next few weeks the featured quotations will come from Billy
Kay’s splendid book ‘The Scottish World – A Journey into the
Scottish Diaspora’ (Mainstream Publishing Company (Edinburgh) Ltd
£16.99) which was published in 2006. The renowned broadcaster and
author takes the reader on a global journey of discovery
highlighting the extraordinary influence the Scots have had on
communities and cultures on almost every continent. |
Anonymous
(Scottish)
Thaim wi a
guid Scots tongue in their heid are fit tae gaun ower the warld.
(Scots
Proverb)
Arthur Herman
For
if you a monument to the Scots, look around you … Before the eighteenth
century was over, Scotland would generate the basic institutions, ideas,
attitudes, and habits of mind that characterise the modern age. Scotland
and the Scots would go on and blaze a trail across the global landscape
in both a literal and a figurative sense, and open a new era in human
history… The Scots are the true inventors of what we today call the
social sciences: anthropology, ethnography, sociology, psychology,
history and … economics. But their interests went beyond that… The
Scottish Enlightenment embarked on nothing less than a massive
reordering of human knowledge. It sought to transform every branch of
learning – literature and the arts; the social sciences; biology,
chemistry, geology and the other physical and natural sciences – into a
series of organised disciplines that could be taught and passed on to
posterity…
(How the Scots
Invented the Modern World – How Western Europe’s Poorest nation Created Our
World & Everything in It, New York 2001)
William
(Billy) Kay
It was
Hugh MacDiarmid the father of modern Scottish literature who wrote the
lines:
“For
we hae faith in Scotland’s hidden poo’ers
The present’s theirs, the past and future’s oors.”
For too
long we Scots were content to look to the past and perpetuate a romantic
myth about the country. Attractive though the myth might be, it hinders
the natural growth of the culture, for no one confronts the problems of
the present in their thoughts and writing. The writers listed above are
among those who tried honestly to be aware of the values of the past,
but only as they touch the present and are relevant to the future. Books
on tartan are fine, but books on people are better. Enjoy your reading
and come to a closer understanding of Scotland at the same time.
(Guid Reading,
Newsletter No 75 of the Caledonian Society of Hawaii, 18 April 1975)
Flagnote: The
writers suggested by Billy Kay included Neil Gunn, Lewis Grassic Gibbons,
George Douglas Brown, Iain Crichton Smith, Fionn MacColla, George Mackay
Brown, Archie Hind and William McIlvanney. Works by all these would still
appear on a suggested reading list of Scottish novelists today.)
John Muir
(1838-1914)
On my
lonely walks, I have often thought how fine it would be to have the
company of Burns. And indeed he was always with me, for I had him by
heart. On my first long walk from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico I
carried a copy of Burns’ poems and sung them all the way. The whole
country and the people, beasts and birds, seemed to like them… Wherever
a Scotsman goes, there goes Burns. His grand whole, catholic soul
squares with the good of all; therefore we find him in everything
everywhere.
Robert Louis
Balfour Stevenson (1850-1894)
I feel
that when I shall come to die out here among these beautiful islands, I
shall have lost something that has been my due – my native, pre-destinate
and forfeited grave among honest Scots sods.
(Address to
the Scottish Thistle Club of Honolulu 27 September 1893)
See
Scottish Quotations in our Features Section
THE BLUE
TOON SONG BOOK
A selection of popular Scottish songs compiled by Anne Fowler and
published by Peterhead branch of the Scottish National Party in
September 2000.
FLOWER OF SCOTLAND
Roy
Williamson
Oh Flower of Scotland
When will we see your like again
That fought and died for your own wee hill and glen
And stood against them - proud Edward's armies
And sent them homeward to think again.
The hills are bare now
And autumn leaves lie think and still,
And land has been lost now that those so dearly held
That stood against them - proud Edward's armies
And sent them home to think again.
Those days are past now
And in the past they must remain.
But we can still rise now and be the nation again
That stood against them - proud Edward's armies
And sent them homeward to think again.
Flagnote: The
best known song from the pen of the late and sadly missed Roy Williamson. A
national song but not a National Anthem, it is particularly popular with
sporting crowds.
See the
THE BLUE TOON SONG BOOK in our
Features section
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
The Scots are very much an international race, not
only the make-up of the indigenous population, but the number of Scots and
their descendants who have made their mark worldwide. From the Middle Ages
onwards Scots, as traders, scholars and soldiers were welcome throughout
Europe. With the opening up of the New World, The Americas, Australia and New
Zealand, Scots found themselves very much to the fore. The Highland Clearances
added, albeit involuntarily, considerably to the numbers but many went
willingly to find a future that Scotland, under the Union, could not provide.
Over 20 million people of Scots descent are spread worldwide.
Next week
marks the 131st anniversary of the
Battle of the Little Bighorn where General George Armstrong Custer was killed
leading his regiment against a force of Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors.
Among the Scots and those of Scots descent who died on 25 June 1876, it now
appears that Custer, himself, might well have had Scottish fore-bears. Two
months before his death General Custer replied to a letter from John Cursiter
of Orkney who suggested that Custer's ancestors originally came from Orkney.
Cursiter, pronounced "Custer", is still a local name in Orkney.
General Custer rode to his death in the firm belief that John Cursiter was
right in his suggestion.
Now we have no way of knowing whether or not
General George Armstrong Custer ever enjoyed the Orkney treat of Clapshot, but
the poet, the late George Mackay Brown was most certainly a fan - "Clapshot
is one of the best things to come out of Orkney, together with Highland Park
and Orkney fudge and Atlantic crabs" ( from 'Under Brinkies Brae',
published by Gordon Wright 1979 ). One of the great advantages of Orkney
Clapshot, as the poet pointed out, is that it goes with everything. It is also
delicious just on its own!
Orkney Clapshot
Ingredients : 1 lb ( 500 g ) mealy potatoes; 1 lb
( 500 g ) yellow turnip ( swede ); 1 onion, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon
chopped chives; butter and milk for mashing; seasonings - salt and pepper
Peel the potatoes and remove coarse skin from the
swede. Cut them both into roughly the same sized pieces. Put into a pan with
the onion. Add boiling water to cover and simmer gently till just soft. Drain
off cooking bree. Mash everything thoroughly, adding chives and enough milk
and butter to make a light consistency. Season well with salt and pepper.
Serve with cheese as a meal, or with haggis. This splendid dish will happily
accompany stews of fried meats.
A KIST O
FERLIES
A Keek at the Guid Scots
Tung
By Peter & Marilyn Wright
(Note: All words underlined in
this section are RealAudio links)
OH Thou, wha in the heavens dost dwell!
Wha, as it pleases best thysel',
Sends ane to heaven, and ten to hell,
A' for thy glory,
And no' for ony gude or ill
They've done afore thee!
COMPLETE POEM
The Sair
Finger
By Walter
Wingate
Read by Kenzie Wallace (when she was 7 years old)
Born at Dalry in Ayrshire,
Wingate (1865-1918) worked as a mathematics teacher in Hamilton and
published his verse in numerous newspapers.
You
can listen to this poem in Real Audio here
You’ve
hurt your finger? Puir wee man!
Your
pinkie? Deary me!
Noo,
juist you haud it that wey till
I
get my specs and see!
My,
so it is – and there’s the skelf!
Noo,
dinna greet nae mair.
See
there – my needle’s gotten’t out!
I’m
sure that wasna sair?
And
noo, to make it hale the morn.
Put
on a wee bit saw.
And
tie a bonnie hankie roun’t –
Noo,
there na – rin awa’!
Your
finger sair ana’? Ye rogue.
Ye’re
only letting on!
Weel,
weel, then – see noo, there ye are.
Row’d
up the same as John.
Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library