Check out the tartan army
QUESTION You can buy Princess Diana tartan in Edinburgh gift shops. What other unusual tartans are there?
Scotland’S 500 clans each have their own tartan. the wearing of tartan as Highland dress dates back several centuries, but in recent years the number of variations has grown exponentially.
More than 7,000 have been recognised by the Scottish tartan Register to whom applications for new patterns have had to be made since 2009.
anyone submitting an idea for a new tartan must demonstrate it is significantly different from any other, explain its purpose and the reasons behind its design and colours, and pay a fee of £70.
nowadays, a tartan can be registered not only for a clan, but also for corporate use, to promote a film or an event or to honour a famous character.
Hello Kitty has her own tartan, as does Peter Pan, and there is a predominantly green one for Shrek.
the Irn Bru drinks brand and Harley davidson motorcycle company have their own plaids.
there is a festive red and green christmas tartan and a titanic pattern inspired by the fabric of a deckchair on board the ship.
Fast food chain nando’s has a design in its corporate colours, there is a bright lGBt fabric, an EU tartan featuring 12 gold stars and a blue Jewish one created by Scottish rabbi Mendel Jacobs.
disney has registered a design for donald’s uncle Scrooge Mcduck, and a
Presley of Memphis pattern has been woven in honour of Elvis.
Even the pandas at Edinburgh Zoo have been recognised.
less well known are Irish tartans, which traditionally represent counties and provinces rather than families.
Ian MacDonald, Billericay, Essex.
QUESTION Does the southern hemisphere have a similar wind system to the northern hemisphere’s jet stream?
JEt streams are narrow bands of strong wind, a few hundred miles wide and often less than three miles thick, which blow from west to east across the globe, up to nine miles above the Earth in the troposphere. there are four: two polar jets, near the north and south poles, and two subtropical jets near the equator.
the Sun doesn’t heat the Earth evenly: it warms some areas, particularly the tropics, more than others, such as the poles. When air masses meet, the warmer air rises while cooler air sinks to replace it. this movement creates the powerful air currents.
Jet streams move at 110 mph, but under extreme temperature differences, such as at the poles in winter, can reach 275 mph.
Jet streams are not confined to Earth. Jupiter has many jet streams, caused by internal heating of the convection cells that form the planet’s coloured bands.
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