X-Nico

72 unusual facts about Glasgow


2003 in Scotland

24 November - The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

22 Park Circus, Glasgow

The house forms part of Park Circus, the focal point of the high-end area known as the Park district of the West End of the city.

Álvaro de Campos

According to his author, this alter ego was born in Tavira, Portugal, studied mechanical engineering and finally graduated in ship engineering in Glasgow.

Astrovirus

Early studies carried out in Glasgow demonstrated that a significant proportion of babies excreting virus particles, 12%, did not exhibit gastrointestinal symptoms; seroprevalence studies carried out in the US have shown that 90% of children have antibody to HastV-1 by age 9, suggesting that (largely asymptomatic) infection is common.

Bertram Kelly

Bertram Kelly was educated at Southend High School for Boys and Walton College before studying electrical engineering at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow.

Blue Slide Park

The United Kingdom leg of The Incredibly Dope Tour ran from September 1 to 4, making up four dates in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow.

Bridgeton Central railway station

Bridgeton Central railway station was located in Glasgow, Scotland and served the Bridgeton area of that city.

Caol Ila distillery

In 1863 the business was acquired by Bulloch Lade & Co, of Glasgow, traders in whisky stocks.

Carl Wilhelm Heine

After assisting his father in his orthopaedic institution he visited several European countries and stayed in Paris, London, Glasgow and Dublin.

Charing Cross, Glasgow

Formerly the gateway from the shopping area of Sauchiehall Street to the more prosperous Woodlands area, its architectural qualities were largely razed by the building of the motorway.

Dalmarnock

It is bounded by the Clyde to the south and east, Parkhead to the north, and Bridgeton at Dunn Street to the north west.

Dattatreya Laxman Patwardhan

At the recommendation of his boss, he attended another naval school in Glasgow and Dundee in Scotland, and then worked on steamers plying between Liverpool and New York.

Dewsbury by-election, 1902

Their possible candidates included Edward Hartley, Ben Turner from Batley, J A Parr, a Justice of the Peace also from Batley and Peter Francis Curran, a Glasgow-born trade union official from London, who was later Labour MP for Jarrow.

Don Greenlees

Born in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Greenlees started his professional career with nearby St. Mirren where he gained a reputation as "one of the best half-backs in Scotland".

Dulcitone

The instrument was designed by Thomas Machell of Glasgow and manufactured by the firm of Thomas Machell & Sons during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Ernesto Jaconelli

Born in Townhead, Glasgow to Italian parents-Riccardo and Amelia (originally from Valvori, Italy).

Francis Sparks

On 13 March he again played in the match against Scotland, this time played at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

Ganglion cyst

In a 2007 study of patients whose foot lumps were being surgically removed in Glasgow, 39 of 101 cases were ganglion cysts.

George Archibald, 1st Baron Archibald

Archibald was the son of George W. Archibald, of Glasgow, and was educated at St George's Road Elementary School and Alan Glen's High School.

Glasgow Green

When the Reform Act of 1832 passed in Parliament, increasing the electorate from 4,329 (1820) to 65,000 (1832), a large demonstration of over 70,000 people was held on the Green with a procession lead around the park by a Bridgeton band.

Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Railway

The Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Railway was a railway company in Scotland that was formed to run trains between Shettleston and Hamilton.

Glasgow's miles better

The figure of Mr. Happy from the Mr. Men children's books appeared on posters and badges alongside the slogan.

Gränna

When Niklas Strömstedt wrote lyrics in Swedish for the musical Mamma Mia!, Glasgow was replaced by "Gränna" as the place which the singer calls from in the lyrics of the song Super Trouper.

Heather Peace

In 2010, Peace was cast as Detective Sergeant Sam Murray in the groundbreaking BBC Three TV series Lip Service, written by Harriet Braun about the loves and lives of group of aged-30-something lesbians in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hercules Ross

In 1782, with his fortune made, Ross returned to Scotland, where he was elected an Honorary Burgess of Glasgow and purchased an estate at Rossie, near Montrose, on which he later built a large house, Rossie Castle.

House of Fraser

The Company was founded by Hugh Fraser and James Arthur in 1849 as a small drapery shop on the corner of Argyle Street and Buchanan Street in Glasgow, Scotland trading as Arthur and Fraser.

Ian Fraser, Baron Fraser of Tullybelton

Ian Fraser was born in Glasgow on 3 February 1911, the only child of Alexander Reid Fraser and his wife Margaret Russell MacFarlane.

James Howe McClure

James Howe McClure was born on 8 July 1851 in the Barony district of Glasgow, the son of James Howe McClure (1812–1891) and Grace (née Buchanan).

Jamie Raeburn

Jamie Raeburn is reputed to have been a baker in Glasgow before being sentenced for petty theft, although he was allegedly innocent, and then sent out to the colonies as punishment.

John Caswell

He was acquainted with the Scottish mathematician Robert Simson and provided a supporting testimonial when Simson was under consideration for appointment as Professor of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow.

John Henry Kerr

John Henry Kerr was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, the elder son (with three daughters), of John Smith Kerr, tea and sugar merchant of Greenock, and his wife, Sarah Ann Bray, elder daughter of Tom Cox Bray, an early settler of Adelaide, South Australia.

John Robinson estate scandal

On January 10, 1764, Glasgow merchants trading in Virginia complained about unburned notes in the colony's treasury to the Lords of Trade.

John White, 1st Baron Overtoun

After his death citizens of Glasgow erected a statue of him at Cathedral Square, Glasgow.

Kelvinbridge

Kelvinbridge is also used to refer to the area in the neighbourhood of the bridge, encompassing parts of the districts of Woodside, Woodlands, Kelvinside and Hillhead.

Kingston Bridge

Kingston Bridge, Glasgow, a bridge across the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland

Later...When The TV Turns To Static

It was recorded and mixed at the Gorbals Sound Studio in Glasgow.

Limeade

Most major beverage companies now offer their own brand of limeade, such as A.G. Barr plc of Glasgow and Newman's Own since 2004, with Minute Maid even introducing a Cherry Limeade drink in response to the popularity of Limeade.

Luz Station

The station was assembled in Glasgow, then disassembled and sent to São Paulo where it was reassembled.

Make Model

Make Model were a Scottish 6 piece indie band formed in Glasgow and formerly signed to EMI.

Mary Hannay Foott

Mary Hannay Foott was born at Glasgow to a merchant, James Black, and his wife Miss Grant.

Mount Kirkpatrick

Discovered and named by the British Antarctic Expedition (1907–09), the mountain was named for a Glasgow businessman, who was one of the original supporters of the expedition.

Mount Vernon railway station

Mount Vernon railway station is located in the Mount Vernon area of Glasgow, Scotland.

New Ideas

The song was released on King Tut's Recordings, a minor label created through Glaswegian venue King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in order to expose small unknown artists to more major record labels.

Newbank, Glasgow

Although many residents of Newbank would consider themselves residents of Parkhead or Tollcross, they have been officially placed within the Braidfauld Ward of Glasgow City Council.

North Clyde Line

The section through the city centre largely runs in tunnels between High Street and the former Finnieston station (west of Charing Cross at the intersection of Argyle Street and Kent Road).

Nude mouse

Nude mice were first discovered in 1962 by Dr. N. R. Grist at Ruchill Hospital's Brownlee virology laboratory in Glasgow.

Oberon Old and New

A staging that parked an aeroplane on the roof of Glasgow's Theatre Royal on the opening night only seemed to sink the already preposterous plot further into the mire, although Burgess was so taken with the music that he went on to arrange the overture to Oberon for guitar quartet.

Oleg Tistol

At the end of 1988 Tistol and Reunov in cooperation with the curator Olga Sviblova start to exhibit their works in Glasgow, Reykjavík, Helsinki.

Patrick Fairbairn

After that time, he pastored churches in Bridgeton, Glasgow, and Salton, East Lothian.

Percy Fairclough

In 1878, shortly after his twentieth birthday, he was selected by England for the match at Hampden Park, Glasgow against Scotland on 2 March.

Peugeot E7

It is licensed to operate in 93% of all local authority areas across the UK, including cities such as Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Sheffield, Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland, Southampton, Stafford, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Pollokshaws Bowling Club

This was particularly sweet for Jim and Paul as they had reached the Final of the same competition in 1999 only to lose out to Queens Park.

Ralston, Renfrewshire

It then continues across the Renfrewshire-Glasgow border through Crookston, Cardonald and Ibrox to Paisley Road Toll, where it meets the A8 once again.

To the east, Ralston's painted stone cottages and their proudly-maintained front gardens define the Glasgow Road all the way to the Renfrewshire border and beyond, merging unobtrusively with the cottages of neighbouring Crookston.

Roy Crowson

His collections of British Coleoptera are in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, and his collections of world families, including large quantities of microscope slides and dissections, in the Natural History Museum, London.

Royal Pump Room Gardens

The current bandstand was designed by Walter MacFarlane & Co and founded in Glasgow.

Scotus College

In February 1980, the Archdiocese of Glasgow transferred its seminary from St Peter's Seminary, Cardross, because of maintenance difficulties, to the site of a former convent of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in Newlands, Glasgow.

Sigmund Neuberger

The body of Lafayette was apparently soon found and sent to Glasgow for cremation.

Siobhan Redmond

Originally from Tollcross, Glasgow, Redmond's first television appearances were in the early 1980s.

Strathclyde University Sports Union

The Strathclyde University Sports Union is a sports centre run on campus by students from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, which is currently celebrating its 90th year.

Sultanah Helen Ibrahim

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in September 1889 and Scottish by birth, she was the daughter of a master saw-maker from Stirlingshire.

Taylor G. Belcher

During his tenure with the State Department, he was stationed at Mexico City, Glasgow and Washington.

The Prayer Boat

However, the band were determined to keep trying, and they moved to Glasgow in 1994, signing a deal with a new independent record label, Almo Sounds.

The Stand Comedy Club

The Edinburgh venue was established in 1995, in a small bar basement in the city’s Old Town, and the Glasgow venue was opened in 2000 located in the basement of an old secondary school in Woodlands in the West End of the city.

Todd Riech

He set his personal best (79.04 metres) with the new javelin type on July 2, 2000 in Glasgow.

Triads in the United Kingdom

Triads in the United Kingdom first appeared during the post-World War era with the 14K Triad emerging in Chinese communities in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester in England and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee in Scotland as early as 1952.

Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde Air Squadron

Its headquarters are based in the West End of Glasgow in the Park District and is equipped with two Grob Tutor aircraft which are based at the flying element of the squadron at Glasgow International Airport.

University of Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre

The Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) is a centre for technological research currently under construction in Glasgow, Scotland.

Walcheren Barracks

A former Territorial HLI Battalion in Glasgow, the 7th (Blythswood) Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry was based at 69 Main Street, Bridgeton (now demolished and replaced by a tenement), it was converted to Royal Artillery in 1938, becoming the 83rd AA Regiment.

William McWhirter

There were no power stations in Glasgow at the time, and under the arches of the railway viaduct on Argyle Street, a makeshift generator was built from a Robey boiler and engine, with dynamos with copper wire brushes.

Wolf pack Vorwärts

Her engines and steering gear were intact, so the crew boarded and managed to take her back to Glasgow, arriving on 15 September.

Zoey Van Goey

Zoey Van Goey are an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland, made up of Matt Brennan, Michael John McCarthy, Kim Moore and Adam Scott.


Alex Arthur

After winning 11 fights in a row and picking up a couple of fringe titles on the way, Arthur managed to get a crack at the vacant British Super Featherweight title when he challenged Dewsbury's Steve Conway at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow on 19 October 2002.

Alex McAvoy

As a young actor he played the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow’s Gorbals district alongside such future stars as John Cairney and Mary Marquis.

Alien War

Alien War (now called Alien Wars) opened at its original home at the Arches Glasgow on 6 December 2008 and ran until 30 August 2009 in a modified format that is unrelated to the 20th Century Fox film series.

Ancient universities of Scotland

In modern times, former college names may refer to specific university buildings, such as the King's College and Marischal College buildings in Aberdeen, the Old College and New College at Edinburgh and the 'Old College' to refer to the former buildings of the University of Glasgow before its move in the 19th century to Gilmorehill.

Andrew Nairne

He was the Visual Arts Director at the Scottish Arts Council and for eight years he was the Exhibitions Director at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.

Barr and Stroud

In 1895, Barr & Stroud's Patents Ltd was renting workshop space near the university, at 250 Byres Road, Glasgow, but demand for the product soon necessitated a move to larger premises in Ashton Lane, Glasgow.

Battlefield, Glasgow

The area includes one of Glasgow's main hospitals the Victoria Infirmary and further education institutions, Langside College.

Bishop of Paisley

Upon the death of Bishop Black in March 1968 the Rt Rev Stephen McGill was translated by Pope Paul VI from the see of Argyll and the Isles and remained in Paisley until his retirement in March 1988 whereupon he was succeeded by the Rt Rev John Mone an auxiliary bishop of Glasgow and an appointee of Pope John Paul II.

Bob Glasgow

Robert "Bob" Glasgow is a Democratic Party politician from Stephenville, Texas who held office as a member of the Senate of Texas.

British Airways Engineering

Today, British Airways Engineering has hangars at Heathrow (its base), Gatwick, Glasgow and Cardiff International airports as well as hundreds of line maintenance stations (engineers based around the world to do minor 'line' maintenance such as routine daily inspections or minor repairs).

Ceremonial ship launching

SS Daphne was a ship which sank moments after her launching at a shipyard in Govan, Glasgow,Scotland, on 3 July 1883.

Coia

Emilio Coia (born 1911), artist and widely published caricaturist from Glasgow

Costas Evangelatos

He has presented sections of his works in solo exhibitions in Athens, Rochester, New York, Thessaloniki, Arezzo, Avignon, Chantilly, Paris, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Nicosia.

Croftfoot railway station

Croftfoot railway station is a railway station that lies directly on the City of Glasgow / South Lanarkshire boundary (the western part in Glasgow and the eastern part being in South Lanarkshire) serving the Croftfoot area of the City of Glasgow and the Spittle area of the town of Rutherglen, Scotland.

Crossroads Caring Scotland

There are 47 Crossroads services throughout Scotland, supported by the national office based in George Square, Glasgow.

Cyril Aldred

He died peacefully at his home in Edinburgh in 1991 but is remembered as one of the leading characters in improving archaeology in Scotland at the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

Demography of Scotland

Around 70% of the country's population live in the Central Lowlands — region stretching in a northeast-southwest orientation between the major cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and including major settlements such as Paisley, Stirling, Falkirk, Perth and Dundee.

Dugald Cowan

He was Headmaster of North Kelvinside Higher Grade School from 1896–1919 and he played a large part in educational activities in Scotland in particular through the Educational Institute of Scotland, but also through Glasgow University and the Corporation of the City of Glasgow as well as other bodies.

Elaine C. Smith

For many years she was a regular in pantomime at the Kings' Theatre, Glasgow, starring alongside Gerard Kelly in performances such as Aladdin, Mother Goose and Sleeping Beauty.

Glasgow Airport Rail Link

GARL would have run from a reconstructed Platform 12 at Glasgow Central on the former Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway, Ayrshire Coast Line and Inverclyde Line; via Cardonald, Hillington East and Hillington West, to Paisley Gilmour Street station.

Glasgow smile

The Glasgow smile has been inflicted on characters in multiple films and television programs, including Green Street, House of Tolerance, The Krays, Sons of Anarchy, Pan's Labyrinth, and 2008's The Dark Knight, in which Heath Ledger as the Joker both has the scar and carves it on numerous victims.

Hamish Wilson

Hamish Wilson (born 13 December 1942) is a Scottish actor from Glasgow, and is best known for briefly taking over the role of Jamie McCrimmon for part of two episodes in the 1968 Doctor Who serial The Mind Robber when series regular Frazer Hines was ill with chickenpox and unable to attend the recording.

Henry Wilson, Baron Wilson of Langside

He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1946 and served as an Advocate Depute from 1948-51 and as Sheriff-substitute at Greenock from 1955-56 and in Glasgow from 1956-65.

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.

John Taylor Caldwell

For many years, Caldwell shared with Ethel MacDonald a third-floor flat in Gibson Street, Hillhead, Glasgow.

Kasper Køhlert

Køhlert's father is Morten Køhlert who currently works as an assistant manager at Varde If and his brother Nicolaj Køhlert who is younger, have played for Liverpool, Glasgow Rangers and is now playing for the Danish side Silkeborg IF.

Kennomeat

Robert Wilson & Sons were an established manufacturer of pet foods, with canneries in Barrhead near Glasgow and at Malone in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and in the 1930s they registered the names Kennomeat and Kattomeat.

Lucius Hunt

Following the success of their 2006 album Fear and Desire: The Conflict Within, Lucius Hunt kicked off their UK tour by playing at Glasgow's famous King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, the venue where Oasis were discovered.

Man Dancin'

The film was shot in twenty-two days during late 2002 in locations in and around Glasgow including Greenock, Govan, Ibrox and Pollokshields, and in Gateshead.

Minarti Timur

They were runners-up at the 1997 All-Englands and bronze medalists at the 1997 IBF World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Patrick Boyle, 10th Earl of Glasgow

Patrick Robin Archibald Boyle, 10th Earl of Glasgow DL (born 30 July 1939) is a British peer, politician and the current chief of Clan Boyle.

Penilee

The district's southern boundary forms Glasgow's border with the Renfrewshire settlement of Ralston.

Pro-cathedral

St Andrews Pro Cathedral in Glasgow has been the seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow since 1889.

Quentin Cooper

At the BBC, he started as a producer in News and Current Affairs, then moved to produce youth programmes at Radio Scotland (in Glasgow), and Radio 5 in Manchester where he created programmes such as Hit The North which first united Mark and Lard aka Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley and Bite the Wax presented by the then unknown Armando Iannucci.

Rouken Glen

Amongst the park's owners were Walter Crum of Thornliebank and Archibald Cameron Corbett, M.P. for Tradeston, Glasgow (later Lord Rowallan) who gifted the estate and mansion house to the citizens of Glasgow.

Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise has approximately 1,100 staff and operates from 13 offices - Aberdeen, Bellshill, Clydebank, Dundee, Dumfries, Edinburgh, two in Glasgow, Glenrothes, Kilmarnock, Paisley, Selkirk and Stirling.

Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex

That arrangement ended in Summer 2011, when they would move to Fullarton Park in Tollcross, Glasgow.

Stephen House

Stephen House was born in Glasgow in 1957 and grew up in Castlemilk, before moves to Bishopbriggs and Inchinnan in the metropolitan area of Glasgow.

Stuart Christie

Christie was born in the Partick area of Glasgow and was raised in Blantyre, by his mother and grandparents, becoming an anarchist at a young age.

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 Glasgow Committee on Anæsthetics

However, they did not succeed, but a subcommittee consisting of Davind Newman (a Pathological Chemist to the Western Infirmary) Joseph Coates (Pathologist to the Western Infirmary) and Professor McKendrik (Physiologist at Glasgow University) became known as the Glasgow Committee and began work in 1877.

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.

Tim Dedopulos

Early in 1995 he joined the Glasgow office of Seattle games giant Wizards of the Coast to work on their dystopian future-horror game SLA Industries.

Tom at Tut's

It was released in 2011 and includes songs and banter from two gigs on consecutive nights - 25 and 26 November 2004 - at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow where McRae performed with a full band.

Undergraduate gowns in Scotland

A significant example of this is the actions of John Anderson, a professor at the University of Glasgow and founder of what went on to become the University of Strathclyde.

Vids

Presenters Nige and Stef would review a selection of the week's new DVD and video releases in their own inimitable style from their mock-videostore located in Hamilton, near Glasgow.

Whistle for the Choir

It was filmed in Glasgow city centre, including Buchanan and Sauchiehall Streets.