The Auction of one Drunken Wife in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh

The Auction of one Drunken Wife in the Grassmarket, Edinburgh

A wonderful story from a broadside (early version of a newspaper) from 1828, about a man who was auctioning off his drunken wife at the Grassmarket in Edinburgh. Details of the extraordinary auction are held by the National Library of Scotland in its vast collection of broadsides, single newsheets which were distributed or pinned up […]

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Top 10 Tartan Fails

Top 10 Tartan Fails

#1 Anything in Scotland’s Commonwealth Tartan Scotland’s uniform of for the Commonwealth Games was widely ridiculed. There was even a petition set up which gained hundreds of signatures calling for it to be replaced. The press called it ‘shocking’ lurid tartan. #2 Oh those poor Currie Brothers The Currie Brothers are a popular vocal and […]

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Historic Dundee Drinkers to go Under Hammer

Historic Dundee Drinkers to go Under Hammer

Police mugshots of Dundee’s heaviest 20th century drinkers are set to go under the hammer next week. Published in 1905, the book depicts dozens of citizens who were banned from the city’s bars after flouting the era’s strict public drinking laws. Anyone convicted under the Inebriates Act of 1898 three times in the space of […]

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Hunt On For Highland Strongman

Hunt On For Highland Strongman

Organisers of the Aboyne Highland Games have issued a plea for help tracking down an elusive Highland Games competitor. The strongman is one of the only known people in the world to complete a historic Highland Games event, described by some as the ‘holy grail’ of weightlifting. Slovakian muscleman Peter Puszer, a competitive weightlifter who […]

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Hundreds of Piping Santas Advance on Edinburgh

Hundreds of Piping Santas Advance on Edinburgh

Bagpipe playing Santa Clauses descended on Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens over the weekend, to help warm up runners at the city’s annual Santa Run. Hundreds of runners and walkers dressed as Santa took part in the Wish Upon A Star Charity event to raise money for sick and terminally ill children. The Stockbridge Pipe Band […]

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A Right Dundee United

A Right Dundee United

Here’s something to keep in mind if you’re ever visiting Nigeria – If someone calls you a ‘Dundee United’, it’s probably not a compliment. The Scottish football club’s name has been appropriated as Nigerien slang for ‘idiot’, and is believed to have originated after Dundee played several friendly matches in Nigeria in the 70s.  The […]

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