A Shetland fire station has been forced to close its doors as the result of a viking fire festival. Two fire fighters from the station on the Island of Bressay have refused to shave their beards ahead of today’s Up Helly Aa festival, which celebrates Shetland’s Viking heritage and culminates with the dramatic burning of […]
A dictionary of an extinct language spoken only in the remote Scottish Highlands has been uncovered in an English charity shop. The two-volume Norn Dictionary was anonymously donated to the Willow Burn bookshop in County Durham, and with a price tag of £120 is the most valuable item to date handed into the shop. Originally […]
A map of Great Britain’s most popular surnames shows the dominance that clan areas still hold in Scotland, while other areas show the effects of modern-day immigration. Created by experts from three English Universities, Uncertainty of Identity uses surnames listed on the electoral roll to find the three most popular names in each electoral ward. […]
One of the world’s leading travel guides has named the Shetland Islands as one of the top 10 regions on earth to visit. The Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011 places the islands at number six in the world. You can see some of my photos from when I visited the Shetland Islands in 2014 […]
