X-Nico

41 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.

A.G. Visser

He received teacher's training at Normaal College in Cape Town en studied medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1901 to 1906.

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.

Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll

On 12 March 1678, he married Elizabeth Tollemache (daughter of Elizabeth and Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet of Helmingham) at Edinburgh, Scotland.

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.

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.

Colin Lauder

The son of Dr George Lauder (1712–1752) a surgeon and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, by his spouse Rosina Preston (d.1786), Colin Lauder was the great-great-grandson of Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet, of Fountainhall and the grandson of Surgeon Dr John Lauder (1683-1737) deacon of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Combretum indicum

Dr John Ivor Murray sent a sample of the "nuts" to the Museum of Economic Botany in Edinburgh in 1861, with a note that they were "used by the Chinese for worms" and a description of the means of preparation and dosage.

Drummond Street

Drummond Street, Edinburgh, a street in the Old Town of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

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, Leith and Newhaven Railway

The loop via Piershill and Abbeyhill was retained and used as a diversion for slower trains, and in both 1970 and 1986 a temporary passenger halt at Meadowbank was built for the duration of the Commonwealth Games.

Edinburgh's Telford College

On 15 September 2006, Telford College's purpose-built main campus in Granton was formally opened by the First Minister of Scotland, the Rt.

Edward Brackenbury

Brackenbury, a direct descendant from Sir Robert Brackenbury, lieutenant of the Tower of London in the time of Richard III, was second son of Richard Brackenbury, of Aswardby, Lincolnshire, by his wife Janetta, daughter of George Gunn of Edinburgh.

French Institute for Scotland

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

Holy Cross Church, St Helens

Fr Thomas Seed, the head of the Jesuits in Britain, who also founded Sacred Heart Church in Edinburgh laid the foundation stone of the church on 3 May 1860, what was then Feast of the Finding of the True Cross.

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.

Jack Pratt

John "Jack" Pratt (b. 13 April 1906 in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom - d. 11 January 1988) was a professional ice hockey player who played 37 games in the National Hockey League.

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.

Johann Christian Bauer

From 1837 to 1847 he worked for the firm of P.A. Wilson in Edinburgh, where he could study punch-cutting and type founding, as Great Britain was at that time in the forefront of the industry.

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 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.

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.

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.

Lady Margaret Sackville

In 1922 she published "A Masque of Edinburgh." This was performed at the Music Hall, George Street, Edinburgh, and depicted the history of Edinburgh in eleven scenes from the Romans to a meeting between the poet Robert Burns and the writer Sir Walter Scott.

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.

Portman Estate

The present grid layout of streets was established when the Estate was developed in the 18th Century and it is characterised by Georgian architecture, similar to Edinburgh's New Town.

Rannoch School

Other schools that carry out this practice include Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh.

Saprof

Paper presented at the ninth Conference of the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Silvermills

Mill lades serving the mills led from the Water of Leith at a point just north of Stockbridge, through the area and on to Canonmills Loch at Canonmills.

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.

Stanley Park, Liverpool

It includes the 1899 Gladstone Conservatory (recently restored and renamed the Isla Gladstone Conservatory), a Grade II listed building built by Mackenzie & Moncur of Edinburgh.

Treaty of Vincennes-Edinburgh

Michel, F.X., Les Écossais en France, les Français en Écosse II vols.

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.

University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences

The institutes of Ecological Sciences and Earth Science are located at the King's Buildings, whilst the Institute of Geography is located on Drummond Street in the Central Area.

Vioearth Holdings

Vioearth Holdings is a computer energy tracking and efficiency management company based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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.

Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge

The earliest designs for the bridge were modeled after the Forth Bridge, near Edinburgh, which had been completed in 1890.


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.

A Fictional Guide to Scotland

This reading tour visited places as far and wide as Wigtown, Ullapool, Inverness, Edinburgh, Stirling, Lanark and Glasgow and was supported by the Scottish Arts Council.

Alexander Edward

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

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.

Carlos Alexander

Alexander has sung with companies in Buenos Aires, Vienna, Brussels, Canada, Copenhagen, Paris, Athens, Bayreuth (Beckmesser in Wieland Wagner's Die Meistersinger, 1963), Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Florence, Mexico City, Basel, Geneva, Zurich, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Hartford, etc.

David Burn

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

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 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.

Edwin C. May

His technical expertise is well respected, and he has given presentations at the famous World War II site Bletchley Park (UK), Harvard University, the Universities of California at Los Angeles and at Davis, Stanford University, the University of Edinburgh, Trinity College Cambridge, Eötvös Loránd University, the University of Stockholm, Imperial College London and others.

Erik Routley

He was chaplain of Mansfield from 1948 to 1959 and then held appointments as minister in Edinburgh and Newcastle before becoming Professor of Church Music at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey in 1975.

Fernando Screpis

Screpis signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with the Edinburgh club during a trial period in Austria in the summer of 2007, however it did not take effect until January 1, 2008, with Screpis agreeing to spend six months with Vladimir Romanov-sponsored FBK Kaunas before defecting to Scotland.

Festival Cup

As Edinburgh's twin cities include Munich, Florence and Kiev, the local media speculated that a globally recognised team such as FC Bayern Munich, ACF Fiorentina or Dynamo Kiev may play in Scotland's capital.

Geogaddi

The album premiered in six cities around the world: London, New York, Tokyo, Edinburgh, Paris, and Berlin.

Giric

Alfred P. Smyth, Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000. E.J. Arnold, London, 1984 (reprinted Edinburgh UP).

Guy Warrack

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

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.

Jackie Clune

She had a part in Showstopper (1997), Bryony Lavery's play A Wedding Story (1999) and portrayed Julie Burchill, at the time a columnist for The Guardian, in the one-woman play Julie Burchill Is Away by Tim Fountain at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in the West End (2003).

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.

Jane Martha St. John

Her brother Michael, 21 years her senior had married and her brother William, 18 years older than his sister, was continuing his education at Eton and at Edinburgh with his tutor Sydney Smith, leaving her as the only child at home.

Jesse Moren Bader

From 1937 onwards he attended all the major ecumenical gatherings related to the formation and establishment of the World Council of Churches including Oxford and Edinburgh (1937), Amsterdam (1948), Evanston (1954), New Delhi (1961) and the annual meetings of the World Council of Churches executive committee once it was set up in 1948.

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.

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.

Liverpool poets

Other related poets include the Londoner Pete Brown (who wrote lyrics for Cream), Pete Morgan and Alan Jackson (both associated with the 1960s Edinburgh poetry scene), Tom Pickard and Barry MacSweeney (both from Newcastle), Spike Hawkins, Jim Bennett, Heather Holden, Mike Evans, Pete Roche and Henry Graham.

Logic programming

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

Louis Isaac Rabinowitz

Rabbi Rabinowitz was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, descendant of a long lineage of Lithuanian Rabbis.

Mayfield Park

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

Multrees Walk

Multrees Walk, Harvey Nichols and Edinburgh Bus Station (which sits below 'Multrees Walk' and is accessed by escalators from St Andrew Square or from Elder Street) was designed by Edinburgh architects CDA

Nick Doody

He has recently appeared on The World Stands Up for BBC America and Paramount in the UK, and on Edinburgh and Beyond, also for Paramount.

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

Paul Cullen, Lord Pentland

Born in Gosforth, Northumberland, he was educated at St Augustine's High School, Edinburgh and at the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh.

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.

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.

Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah

Her future husband, Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, who was descended from the Sadaat of Paghman, had settled in England before the first world war and she met him in Edinburgh during that war, where he was studying medicine at Edinburgh Medical School.

Salem Ramaswami Mudaliar

Ramaswami halted at Edinburgh on way to Aberdeen to listen to the speech of the liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone while he regarded the speech given by John Bright at Birmingham as the best he had ever listened to in life.

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.

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.

The Omega Factor

Produced by BBC Scotland, the series was shot on location in Edinburgh (making use of a number of Edinburgh landmarks such as the Royal Mile, Holyrood Park, and Edinburgh Zoo), with studio production conducted in Glasgow.

Thomas George Roddick

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

Tony Law

He also appeared in a series of television adverts for Gala Bingo and has had TV exposure on Edinburgh & Beyond and Comedy Cuts.

Totally Jodie Marsh

Totally Jodie Marsh: Who'll Take Her Up the Aisle? was a British reality television show, which saw glamour model Jodie Marsh audition a potential husband in London, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bournemouth.

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.

Woolamaloo Gazette

The Woolamaloo Gazette is a blog begun by Edinburgh bookseller Joe Gordon in April 2003, posting satiricial takes on news stories, comments, book reviews, photographs and general life in Edinburgh.