X-Nico

38 unusual facts about Edinburgh


99 Flake

One claim is that it was coined in Portobello, Scotland when Stephen Arcari, who opened a shop in 1922 at 99 Portobello High Street, would break a large 'Flake" in half and stick it in an ice cream.

All Creatures Will Make Merry

Following the critical acclaim of the band's debut album, Pissing On Bonfires / Kissing With Tongues, a newly extended version of Meursault recorded All Creatures Will Make Merry in the winter of 2009, in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

Andrew Gilbert Wauchope

Following the expedition he returned to Scotland to manage his family estates at Niddrie and Yetholm, which he had recently inherited.

Archibald I, Lord of Douglas

Between 1214 and 1226, Archibald acquired the use of the lands of Hermiston and Livingston, with Maol Choluim I, Earl of Fife as his feudal superior.

Barns Ness Lighthouse

Taking approximately 2½ years to construct, it was constructed from stone quarried from Craigree (near Cramond) and Barnton.

Battle of Porto Bello

The capture of Porto Bello was welcomed as an exceptionally popular triumph throughout Britain and America, and the name of Portobello came to be used in commemoration at a variety of locations, such as the Portobello Road in London, the Portobello district of Edinburgh and also in Dublin; as well as Porto Bello in Virginia.

Caledonian Club

There are reciprocal arrangements with clubs in Scotland (the New Club in Edinburgh, The Western in Glasgow, Royal Northern and University Club in Aberdeen and the Royal Perth Golfing Society) and County and City Club, London and the south east, and some 60 clubs worldwide, including the Hong Kong Club, the Hurlingham Club in Argentina, the Royal Bachelors' Club in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Australian Club.

David Burn

He failed to qualify for a land grant returned to Edinburgh in 1829, divorcing his wife there.

David Dumbreck

Dumbreck, the only son of Thomas Dumbreck, collector of inland revenue at Glasgow, by Elizabeth, youngest daughter of David Sutherland of the same service, was born in Aberdeenshire in 1805 and educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. in 1830, having previously, in 1825, passed as a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.

Defence Science and Technology Organisation

1997 - ESRL complex rationalised and new "Knowledge Systems Building" in Edinburgh, South Australia, (the newly renamed part of Salisbury containing DSTO), officially opened.

Edinburgh Northern Tramways

A second line opened on 17 February 1890 from George Street along Frederick Street and Howe Street through Stockbridge to Comely Bank.

Edinburgh's Telford College

River City star Jenny Ryan (a former student of Edinburgh College (Granton Campus)) conducted an acting workshop for the students in sharing their experiences of the acting industry with the students and gave them advice on acting for camera, auditioning and contacting casting directors.

Fishing industry in Scotland

The SFF lobbies for the interests of Scottish fishermen at national and international levels in Edinburgh, London and Brussels.

French Institute for Scotland

The French Institute is located in Randolph Crescent in Edinburgh's West End.

J. K. Annand

Born at Edinburgh to plumber William Annand and his wife Maggie Gold, educated at Broughton Secondary School, he graduated from Edinburgh University in 1930 and later taught at schools in Edinburgh and Whithorn.

James Playfair

His son, William Henry Playfair (1790–1857), was also a celebrated architect, responsible for many of the buildings in Edinburgh’s New Town.

John Archibald Ballard

The Ballards were in Scotland for the birth of both their next two children: Brigadier General Colin Robert Ballard CB CMG on 22 July 1868 in Cockpen, Midlothian; and Joanna E, on 8 January 1870 in Portobello, Midlothian.

John Dowie

John Dowie (innkeeper) c.1800, owner of the infamous John Dowie's Tavern on Liberton Wynd in Edinburgh's Old Town

John Lawrence Toole

Encouraged by Dickens, he made his professional stage debut in 1852 at the Queen's Theatre in Dublin, under the management of Charles Dillon, and by 1853 became the principal "low comedian" at the Theatre Royale in Edinburgh.

John Wilson Murray

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland and came to North America as a young boy.

Joseph Ebsworth

Ebsworth became established in Edinburgh as teacher of music and singing, and accepted the position of leader of the choir at St. Stephen's Church, which caused him to give up acting; but he continued to write and to translate dramas, which played in London and the provinces.

Lizie Lindsay

A highland Laird courts Lizie Lindsay in Edinburgh, sometimes after his mother had warned him not to hide his highland origins.

Longmore House

Longmore House, formerly Longmore Hospital, on Salisbury Place, Newington, Edinburgh, is the headquarters of Historic Scotland.

Marc-André Raffalovich

He contributed greatly to the cost of St Peter's Church in Morningside, Edinburgh, of which Gray was appointed the first parish priest.

Michael Proffitt

Raised in Edinburgh, Proffitt attend the University of Oxford, where he studied English language and literature.

Niddrie, Victoria

By 1871, Stevenson had built a house he named Niddrie, after his birthplace of Niddrie, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland.

North Britain

The North British Railway operated from 1846 to 1923, leaving a later legacy in the name of the North British Hotel in Edinburgh, which was renamed ‘The Balmoral Hotel’ in the 1980s.

North Carr Lightship

She created quite a stir in Edinburgh on account of her fog horn being tested while lying at ¾ mile outside Granton in the Firth of Forth.

Penfield railway line

The line then went north west and then turned north through Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) in Edinburgh.

Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America

In response to the King's attempts to change the style of worship and form of government in the churches that had previously been agreed upon (covenanted) by the free assemblies and parliament, a number of ministers affirmed their adherence to those previous agreements by becoming signatories to the "National Covenant" of February 1638 at Greyfriars Kirk, in Edinburgh.

Roderick Ross

He retired to Portobello, Edinburgh and died on 6 March 1943 after a short illness in a nursing home at 19 Great King Street, Edinburgh.

Ronnie Shade

Shade was born in Edinburgh and grew up playing golf at Dudddingston Golf Club in that city.

Sighthill Stadium

Sighthill Stadium was a proposed stadium to be located in the Sighthill district of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Simon Kassianides

At the University of Edinburgh he was the producer and executive producer of a sold out run of Grease at the George Square theatre.

St. Mary's College of Engineering and Technology

Apart from the regular undergraduate program the college also has an International Center that offers dual degree programs in collaboration with Napier University, Edinburgh, and Marist College, New York.

Tyrrell 003

The vehicle is currently on display at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

United Kingdom mines and quarries regulation in 1910

The need for this provision was demonstrated by a decision of the Court of Session in Edinburgh, which upheld an employer in his claim to the right of dismissing all the workmen and re-engaging them on condition that they would dismiss a particular checkweigher.

William Abernethy Drummond

Having paid his respects to Prince Charles Edward, when he held his court at Holyrood in 1745, he was afterwards exposed to much annoyance and even danger on that account, and was glad to avail himself of his medical degree, and wear for some years the usual professional costume of the Edinburgh physicians.


1876–77 Home Nations rugby union matches

Scotland: HH Johnston (Edinburgh University RFC), Malcolm Cross, RC MacKenzie, EI Pocock (Edinburgh Wanderers), JR Hay-Gordon, SH Smith, DH Watson, D Lang, C Villar, RW Irvine capt.

20 March 2003 anti-war protest

The Edinburgh demo saw 500 people at midday march to the foot of The Mound, the rally was addressed by MSPs Tommy Sheridan and Lloyd Quinan.

Alexander Edward

Alexander Edward died in Edinburgh, and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard.

Andrew MacBeath

Andrew G W MacBeath, a Scottish preacher associated with the Keswick Convention, was younger brother of John MacBeath; studied at Edinburgh University, the Baptist College in Glasgow, and New College, Edinburgh.

Bootham Crescent

The ground is located just over a mile away from York railway station, which lies on the East Coast Main Line between London's King's Cross station and Edinburgh's Waverley Station.

Buckfast Tonic Wine

In February 2013, J. Chandler & Company applied to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to stop Strathclyde Police from marking bottles of Buckfast so they could trace where under-age drinkers bought them.

Chuck Blair

Blair was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and while still an infant, he immigrated with his family to Canada.

Clan Kerr

Newbattle Abbey or Newbattle Castle near Edinburgh became a secular lordship for the last commendator, Mark Kerr, 1st Earl of Lothian (Ker) in 1587.

David E. Muller

After a brief stay in Madrid and Paris, in September 1937, Hermann moved to Edinburgh, where he married Dorothea Kantorowicz in May 1939.

David Wilde

He has recorded for HMV, Decca Oiseau Lyre, Lyrita Saga and CRD, and now records exclusively for Delphian Records of Edinburgh, who have already issued a recordings of music by Dallapiccola, Busoni, and Liszt, Schumann and Brahms.

Dunbar railway station

A year later in May 2011, all Scotrail services between Dunbar and Edinburgh introduced a one intermediate stop at Musselburgh to allow the connection of Dunbar students to Queen Margaret University.

Duncan Cameron

Duncan Inglis Cameron (1927–2006), founding secretary of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh

Duncan Inglis Cameron

He served as justice of the peace for several decades and was a highly respected session clerk of St Ninian's Church in Corstorphine, Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle Rock

Edinburgh rock, a Scottish confection sometimes known as Edinburgh Castle Rock

Edinburgh Institution

Stewart's Melville College, formerly Edinburgh Institution for Languages and Mathematics

Emily Lyle

She was appointed as a Research Fellow at the School of Scottish Studies of the University of Edinburgh from 1970 to 1995 and as a Lecturer from 1995 to 1998.

George Ernest Gibson

He worked with Otto Lummer at the University of Breslau where he received his Ph.D in 1911, and stayed there as lecturer for two additional years before returning to the University of Edinburgh in 1912.

Gordon Castle

Eventually the commission fell to the lesser-known Edinburgh architect, John Baxter, who rebuilt it in 1769 for Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon.

Guy Warrack

Guy Warrack (6 February 1900, Edinburgh - 12 February 1986, Englefield Green) was Scottish composer and conductor.

History of Lothian Buses

Traditionally, Edinburgh Corporation, Lothian Regional Transport (LRT) and Lothian Buses had a livery of madder (a dark red) and cream (white), with matching madder leatherette seating.

Hugh Alexander Webster

Hugh Webster was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh FRSE on 2 May 1887 proposed by Sir John Murray, William Evans Hoyle, Robert Gray, Alexander Buchan.

International Seismological Centre

The present International Seismological Centre was formed in Edinburgh in 1964, with Dr. P.L. Willmore as its first director, to continue the work of the International Seismological Summary (ISS), which was the first gathering of all observations of earthquakes worldwide.

James Craig Annan

James Annan subsequently joined his family’s photographic business, T. & R. Annan and Sons of Glasgow, Hamilton and Edinburgh, and in 1883 went to Vienna to learn the process of photogravure from the inventor, Karel Klíč.

JANET

The core point of presence (Backbone) sites in SuperJanet4 were Edinburgh, Glasgow, Warrington, Reading, Bristol, Portsmouth, London and Leeds.

John Lazar

Born in Edinburgh, Lazar came to Sydney in 1837 where he worked as an actor and theatre manager.

John Runciman

Born in Edinburgh, he was the younger brother of the better-known painter Alexander Runciman.

John Somerville, 4th Lord Somerville

The historian only found one charter signed by John at Edinburgh in 1510 connected with his coming-of-age, and assumes the Lord spent most of his life at Cowthally Castle near Carnwath.

Jonathan Manson

Born in Edinburgh, he studied cello with Jane Cowan and later went on to the Eastman School of Music in New York, where he studied with Steven Doane and Christel Thielmann.

Joshua Guest

The castle was successfully held during the time Edinburgh was occupied by the rebels, the last act of the defenders being to cannonade Prince Charles's followers at the review preceding their march into England.

King Creosote

Anderson also contributed to the Cold Seeds collaborative album along with Frances Donnelly of Animal Magic Tricks, and Neil Pennycook and Pete Harvey from Meursault; which was released on the Edinburgh-based indie label Song, By Toad Records.

Landsbanki

In 2005, Landsbanki acquired three European securities houses: Teather & Greenwood, located in London and Edinburgh; Kepler Capital Markets, headquartered in Paris; and Merrion Capital Group in Dublin.

Lawrence Macdonald

In about four years he returned to Edinburgh, and there produced busts of Professor John Wilson and George Combe, the phrenologist.

Logic programming

It emerged from a collaboration between Colmerauer in Marseille and Robert Kowalski in Edinburgh.

Mayfield Park

Mayfield Park, Edinburgh, a recreational area in Edinburgh, Scotland (see Hibernian F.C.)

Nick Helm

His 2013 Edinburgh Fringe show, One Man Mega Myth, strongly referenced Evel Knievel and he was again nominated for Best Show in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, losing out to Bridget Christie.

Osadia

Tollwood Festival, Munich / Sydney Mardi Gras, Australia / Trafalgar Square Festival, London, UK / Juste pour rire/Just for laughs, Montreal, Canada / The Esplanade Festival, Singapore / NZ International Festival, Wellington, New Zealand / Kleines Fest im Grossen Garten, Hanover / Daidogei World Cup, Shizuoka, Japan / Hogmanay, Edinburgh, Scotland / Festes de la Mercè, Barcelona

Paulo Sérgio Bento Brito

On 19 May 2012, Sérgio and Hearts won the 2011–12 Scottish Cup – the eighth Scottish Cup victory for the club and the first in six years – after a 5–1 victory against fellow Edinburgh side Hibernian.

Port Royal, South Carolina

Streets running north-south are named after the capitals of nations who have at one time or another settled in the Port Royal area (Paris, London, Madrid, Edinburgh, and Richmond).

Queen of the Troubled Teens

Initially, the single received only small scale acknowledgement in Edinburgh's record shops, and later received praise from local students and BBC Radio 1's Steve Lamacq.

Raoul Bhaneja

In January 2006 Bhaneja debuted in Hamlet (solo), a one-man version of William Shakespeare's Hamlet directed by Robert Ross Parker, which has been performed across Canada including an engagement at The National Arts Centre in the fall of 2013, in the United Kingdom at The Assembly Rooms as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art as well as in New York City on a number of occasions, including Off Broadway.

Samuel Manuwa

He then proceeded to study at the University of Edinburgh where he received a bachelor's degree in Chemistry and Medicine in 1926.

Scottish State Coach

The carriage was used for the Order of the Thistle service on at Edinburgh in 1994 and then as a reserve carriage for the State Visit of Harald V of Norway and Queen Sonja of Norway at Holyrood the following day.

Stephen Maxwell

His friend Owen Dudley Edwards, an Irish-born Edinburgh historian, remembers his press briefings as unique: "Hostile journalists were staggered to hear him explain that their objections to this or that in the party were not really rewarding subjects but that a more useful question to raise would be this other."

Steve Oram

He started as a character comedian on the comedy circuit and performed several comedy shows at the Edinburgh Fringe with comedy partner Tom Meeten during the early 2000s.

Stuart McQuarrie

McQuarrie trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow and soon became a highly popular actor amongst Edinburgh theatre goers before moving to London where he has played prominent roles in more controversial, new dramas by playwrights such as Sarah Kane and Anthony Neilson, amongst others.

Thomas George Roddick

Earlier in 1877, Roddick traveled to Edinburgh to witness Joseph Lister's medical antiseptic system.

Thornbridge Brewery

Thornbridge's beers were originally brewed by Martin Dickie, a graduate of the International Centre for Distilling and Brewing at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and Stefano Cossi, a graduate in Food Science and Technology at Udine University, Italy.

Trinity Academicals RFC

Trinity Academicals RFC, nicknamed "Trinity" or "Trinity Accies" is a rugby union based in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, originally for the former pupils of Trinity Academy, Edinburgh.

Tyneview Park

The East Coast Main Line can be found to the east of the site also, with the Newcastle to Edinburgh stretch of the line.