Fascinating Facts About Scotland That You Didn't Know

Friday, Aug 14, 2020, 7:54 am

By:Tony Williams

1.Listed buildings

Scotland loves its listed buildings and in Edinburgh you will see the most listed buildings anywhere in the world. They love trying to preserve old ruins and buildings.

2.Loch Ness monster

Ok the Loch Ness monster is world famous, but it is hardly a new thing. Instead, the first sighting was in 565AD when a follower of St Columba was attacked.

3.Redheads

When it comes to redheads Scotland leads the way when it comes to a percentage of the population. An amazing 13% of the population have it with 40% having the gene.

4.Prime Ministers of Canada

The first two Prime Ministers of Canada were both Scottish as well as the creator of the health service. Why, or how, they became so powerful in Canada is a bit of a mystery.

5.Its size

When it comes to area it is roughly the same size as the state of Maine. However most of the population stay in a 50 mile long corridor.

6.Its inventions

Scotland has had more than its fair share of fabulous inventors. Scots have been responsible for the telephone, tarred roads, penicillin, television, and the raincoat.

7.Legal system

Even though it is part of the UK it still has its own legal system. This means new laws passed by the UK government can end up having to be reworded before they apply there.

8.People living abroad

If you take the number of Scottish people living in North America, defined as those claiming it as their ancestry, you end up matching the population of the country itself. Either the Scots are well traveled or a lot of people want to be them.

9.Old trees

There is a tree in a part of Scotland called Fortingall that is 3000 years old. This makes it not only the oldest tree in the UK, but also Europe.

10.Fire brigade

We all need the fire service in our city, but Edinburgh in Scotland was the first city anywhere to have a dedicated service. It was clearly an idea that really took off.

11.Crazy islands

Scotland actually has almost 800 islands around its coastline. However a lot of them are too small to do anything with them and that is why only 130 of them have anybody living there.

12.Its official animal

People think that because there is a Scottish flag called the Lion Rampant that this would be the national animal, but you would be wrong. Instead, it is the unicorn.

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