X-Nico

61 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.

Belt-driven bicycle

When his project was complete, Sanders chose entrepreneur and former Greg Norman manager James Marshall and a Glasgow manufacturer to turn his award-winning design into a product.

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.

Castle Semple

At one time, Glasgow and Ayr Railway passed through the Castle Semple estate and in the immediate neighbourhood of the loch.

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.

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".

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 Buchanan McClure

George Buchanan McClure, also known as Joe, was born on 8 July 1851 in the Barony district of Glasgow, the son of James Howe McClure and Grace (née Buchanan).

Gilbert Dawson

Dawson was later found dead in his crashed car on 24 May 1969 in Paisley, Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

Glasgow bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Nearby Tollcross Park Aquatics Centre, which already has one Olympic standard 50 metre swimming pool, would be extensively upgraded, and a second 50 metre pool would be added for the Games' aquatic events.

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, Paisley and Greenock Railway

The line provided several new stations from Greenock to Gourock, and allowed the Caledonian Railway to have their own rail-connected steamer pier in the area, directly competing with the Glasgow and South Western Railway's Princes Pier.

Glasgow, Virginia

Glasgow is about 6 miles east of Natural Bridge, Virginia, the site of the historic land bridge of the same name.

Glasgow's miles better

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

Harry Liston

Liston made his performing début at the Scotia Music Hall, Glasgow in 1863, continuing on the music hall circuit.

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.

Helen FitzGerald

She started writing while working as a criminal justice social worker, latterly with serious sex offenders in Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison.

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.

International Council of Societies of Industrial Design

Icsid has now hosted the Congress in places such as Venice, Paris, Vienna, Montreal, Slovenia, Glasgow, Taipei, Toronto, Sydney, Kyoto and London.

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).

James Radley

In June 1910 he flew his Blériot XI at the first aviation meeting held in Scotland at Pollokshaws, Glasgow making seven flights.

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 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.

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.

Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend

On top of that, Glaswegian Head Gardener Angus McAllister is making noises on his pet hobby, the project to gravel the famous Yew Alley.

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.

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.

Ninian Spot

Before becoming Bishop of Galloway (or Whithorn), he had also held the parish church of Nelbland, probably Newlands in the diocese of Glasgow, which is mentioned in papal documents because it became vacant upon Spot's accession to the bishopric.

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).

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.

Paisley Canal Line

The line ran from St Enoch station to three stations in Paisley: Paisley Hawkhead Road, Paisley Canal station, and Paisley West; with intermediate passenger stations at: Shields, Bellahouston and Crookston and a terminus at North Johnstone.

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.

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.

Robin Jackson

Jackson is the subject of a tune by Glasgow-based The Sons of Ulster Flute Band which is entitled Volunteer Robin Jackson; some of the members of the flute band had been his friends.

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.

Sammy Irvine

Irvine was born in Glasgow but started his career at English side Shrewsbury Town where he made 229 league appearances for the club, scoring 19 goals in six seasons.

Sandyhills

It is in close proximity to other districts of Glasgow namely Baillieston and Mount Vernon.

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.

SIMY

It grew out of two different youth and children's project that worked out of the local church in Townhead and St Rollox church in Sighthill, Glasgow.

Siobhan Redmond

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

Slobodan Trkulja

With attendances reaching 120,000 and events taking place across 14 venues throughout Glasgow they had great feedback from this visit.

Taylor G. Belcher

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

The Ghost Shirt

In 1891 the shirt was brought to Glasgow, and sold to Kelvingrove Museum by George C. Crager, a member of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Traveling Show.

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.

Thomas McGraw

Tam McGraw died of a suspected heart attack at his home in Mount Vernon, 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.

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.


91st Missile Wing LGM-30 Minuteman Missile Launch Sites

The senior 91st SMW had organizational roots dating from World War II and had been deployed from Glasgow AFB to Southeast Asia, where it had been flying combat missions with the B-52 Stratofortress during the Vietnam War.

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.

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 Best Semple

He graduated in medicine from the University of Glasgow in 1934 and specialised in public health, serving as an assistant Medical Officer of Health in Paisley, Portsmouth and Blackburn.

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.

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.

Archie McLeod

An injury ended his career and he returned home to Glasgow where he worked as a machinist with John Brown & Company.

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.

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).

Coia

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

East Liverpool, Ohio

Though in the bordering states of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, the communities of Chester and Newell, West Virginia and Glasgow, Pennsylvania owe their existence to East Liverpool's rapid population growth of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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.

George Wyllie

Wyllie was born in Shettleston, in the east end of Glasgow, and grew up in Craigton, in the south west of the city.

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.

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.

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 Darwin Rogers

He died at Shawlands, Glasgow in 1866 seemingly as a result of a combination of overwork, a weak constitution and the effect of the Glasgow climate.

JANET

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

John Duncan Lowe

John Duncan Lowe CB (1948–98), lawyer, was a former Crown Agent for Scotland and Sheriff of Glasgow and Strathkelvin.

John Scouler

In 1834, he was appointed professor of mineralogy, and subsequently of geology, zoology, and botany, to the Royal Dublin Society, a post he held until his retirement on a pension in 1854, when he returned to Glasgow.

Karen Dunbar

Over Christmas 2007, Dunbar made her first appearance in pantomime, at the King's Theatre in Glasgow, playing Nanny Begood in Sleeping Beauty.

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.

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.

Murder of Alexander Montgomerie

Alexander was engaged to Jean or Jane, a daughter of the Maxwell family of Pollok House in Eastwood parish near Glasgow and had been a regular visitor in the months before his wedding.

Murder of Kriss Donald

Glasgow band Glasvegas wrote the song "Flowers And Football Tops" having been inspired by the tragedy and the likely impact it would have in the victim's parents.

National Museum of Rural Life

National Museums Scotland and partners have developed the National Museum of Rural Life, previously known as the Museum of Scottish Country Life, which is based at Wester Kittochside farm, lying between the town of East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire and the village of Carmunnock in Glasgow.

Nyah Fearties

Nyah Fearties have been described as a kind of hybrid between Celtic folk-punk outfit The Pogues, and Glasgow-based industrial music band Test Dept.

Penilee

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

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.

SIMY

There are addition specific support like the Exam support program, CV & application support, employability services (in conjunction with PYT, Fairbridge and West Glasgow Employability).

Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex

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

Springburn Museum

Springburn Museum was set up in the reading room of the Springburn Library, Glasgow, Scotland, and opened by Tom Weir in 1988.

Station Park, Forfar

The ground, as the name suggests, was once close to the town's railway station, situated on the Caledonian Railway's main line from Aberdeen to Glasgow and London, but this station was closed in 1968 as part of the Beeching cuts.

Strathclyde Buses

Whilst the SBG units began operating services within Glasgow's city limits, Strathclyde PTE started or extended services to places including East Kilbride, Cumbernauld, Balloch and Johnstone.

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.

Sydney MacEwan

He was born and brought up in the Springburn area of Glasgow by his mother alone after his father left the family.

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.

Walcheren Barracks

The facility is the only one in Glasgow and the West of Scotland to be formally designated as a Barracks, although there are several other Territorial Army Centres in the area, including 32 (Scottish) Signal Regiment at Kelvinside, 105 Regiment, Royal Artillery in Partick, the 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment at Finnieston and Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities Officer Training Corps in Hillhead.