Back in 1978, Gavin Alston, an Aberdeenshire farmer was ploughing his field when he uncovered a 6 foot high Pictish stone. The stone was carved with a distinctive figure carrying an axe, it quickly earned the name the ‘Rhynie Man’, coined from the village in which it was found. It was ploughed up on Barflat Farm […]
A few weeks ago I posted the Scottish news that 16 and 17-year-olds will be voting next May for the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections. As noted, next year will be a big year in Scottish politics, potentially including an up or down vote on whether Scotia should schedule a second independence referendum. Over 100,000 16 […]
For the past few years the TV channel ‘Dave’ has put a selection of jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe to a vote to find out which one’s the best. Here are the top 10 “funniest”: 1. Darren Walsh: I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free. 2. Stewart Francis: Kim […]
A newly erected sign (sorry for this awful pun) had the Gaelic community in stitches today. A Gaelic spelling error means the first thing visitors to the isle of Bute see is a big sign saying, ‘Welcome to Penis Island’. For the record, Bute, in the Firth of Clyde, is not known for the number […]
Did the Picts did not look like this We see these depictions all the time, of naked blue people adorned with tattoos and maybe a severed head or two. But evidence shows us they looked was quite the opposite. It’s an incomplete jigsaw puzzle as not much is known, but what we do know is […]
Sitting on the banks of the Cromarty Firth between Evanton and Dingwall, the Storehouse of Foulis is a fully restored 18th Century building that once housed the rent paid in kind from the Munro estate. Once only visited by horse and cart, the Storehouse now sits alongside the busy A9 with cars zipping past on […]
A young Dundee actress is to take on the lead role of a Highland heroine for a new short film about the Highland Clearances. The Last Footsteps from Home is a haunting story inspired by the real life story of Kate McPherson, a courageous young Scots woman who was forced to leave her family home during the […]
Last week we asked our fantastic audience, or our ScotClans family if you will, a very simple question… What do you think is the most valuable invention/discovery/creation to come from a Scot? You all replied with some amazing answers, so first of all I would like to say thank you. ScotClans really does love having […]
It just came to my attention that last night Earth experienced an earthquake just down the road from my home in Colorado. This quake measured 4.2 on the Richter scale and the likely cause of the shake is the practice of hydraulically (using water) fracturing the rock deep in the earth to facilitate collection and […]
What a wonderfully robust response to the first official Not Your Father’s Gaelic blog post. Thanks to everyone and it is great to see some real interest in the topic. One very important comment thread in particular has emerged and I thought I might address it here in a new post. I am certain this […]
