More amazing Scottish facts

Test your knowledge of Scotland with our fascinating and fun facts!

Chocolatier Friederike Gower, from Haddington, created an entirely edible sporran. It was made from around 15 bars of premium chocolate, weighed 2kg and contained a whopping 10,600 calories. In 1424, an Act of Parliament called for archery facilities for every Scotsman over 12

The tongue-twister scoreline – “East Fife four, Forfar five” – finally came true almost 50 years after comedian Eric Morecambe first started using it. In the 2018 Scottish League Cup, Forfar won 5-4 on penalities.

William Inglis, an Edinburgh-born lieutenant colonel in the British rallied Army, first used the phrase “die hard”. He his troops yelling, “Die hard, 57th, die hard!” at 1811’s Battle of Albuera.

The world’s first photograph of a tennis player was taken around 1843 by pioneering Scottish photographers, Robert Adamson and Octavius Hill.

A Scottish engineer patented the world’s first electric drill. In 1889, Arthur James Arnot travelled to Melbourne, Australia, to design and manage a power plant – he patented his power drill later the same year.

Benjamin Franklin received his first honorary degree in the UK and his first doctorate from St Andrews University. In 1759, he was made a Doctor of Laws and granted Freedom of the Burgh.

In 2016, the personal seal of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, was found in a drawer at Tennent’s Brewery. It was on an IOU for beer he’d drunk at the Saracen Head in Glasgow.

Only in Scotland would there be an actual name for the small hole intentionally left in a stone wall that’s just big enough for a sheep to pass through. It’s called a lunkie.

Bathgate-born physician James Simpson, the first to demonstrate the anaesthetic properties of chloroform, carried out his early experiments at dinner parties! Invited friends and family often ended up feeling light-headed, breaking into song or passing out.

According to an American genealogist, Barack Obama and his former Republican rival, John Mccain, are supposedly descendants of the same Scottish king – William the Lion, who ruled Scotland for 49 years, from 1165 to 1214. The Scots name for large, snowy-looking clouds on the horizon is Banff bailies

Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh was in the habit of visiting the Salon de Luxe at The Willow Tea Rooms, Glasgow, before it opened to arrange the flowers and ensure the tea room was presented exactly as he’d designed it.

Scottish actor Brian Cox leads a parallel life with Sir Anthony Hopkins. When Brian played Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter, Anthony was appearing at the National Theatre as King Lear. Five years on, Anthony starred as Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs, while Brian played King Lear at the National Theatre.

For more stunning Scots facts visit our website: scotsmagazine.com/ articles/q-aye-collections