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.

Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth

Andrew Weir, 1st Baron Inverforth PC (24 April 1865–17 September 1955) created and headed the firm of Andrew Weir and Co. shipowners of Glasgow.

Barren County, Kentucky

Glasgow, the county seat, has numerous manufacturing facilities, and is also a medical and retail hub for the area.

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.

Birkbeck Court

It is situated on Cathedral Street, which is at the very centre of Glasgow and the university campus.

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.

Charles J. Phipps

Theatre Royal, Glasgow (1880) and (1895) the largest surviving example of his work.

Christopher Hollis

His last book, Oxford in the Twenties (1976) is about his wide circle of friends, including Evelyn Waugh, Maurice Bowra, Harold Acton, Leslie Hore-Belisha, and the cricketer R. C. Robertson-Glasgow.

Deubré

Falling back on a word he had picked up from his Glasgow-native college roommate, he called it a "doobrie." Doobrie is a Scottish placeholder name, akin to "watchamacallit" or "thingy." Though Clegg suspected his audience had mistaken doobrie for a technical term, he continued his presentation.

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.

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.

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.

Ernesto Jaconelli

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

Gallowgate

Gallowgate, Glasgow, Scotland, a throughfare running east-west from Glasgow Cross to Parkhead Cross, part of the A89 road

George V Bridge

George V Bridge, Glasgow, across the River Cylde in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow Bridge Street railway station

Between 1901 and 1905 Glasgow Central Station was refurbished and extended over the top of Argyle Street; and thirteen platforms were built.

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.

Hercules Ross

He was the ninth son of John Ross (fifth son to a second wife, Elizabeth Fullarton), an excise officer in Port Glasgow of narrow means and a probable descendant (via the Rosses of Kirkland and Tartraven) from Ninian Ross, 3rd Lord 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 C. Potter

A native of Scotland, he was schooled at the Mechanics' Institutes in Glasgow and was also a member of the 5th Battalion of the Royal Rifles.

James Nairn

James MacLauchlan Nairn (1859 – 1904) was a Glasgow-born painter who (along with G. P. Nerli) strongly influenced New Zealand painting in the late 19th century.

Janet 'Rusty' Skuse

She turned down an offer from a showman in Glasgow, Scotland to become a tattooed attraction; however, the offer convinced her to get tattooed completely.

John Cameron Peddie

Peddie was Minister of Kennoway United Free Church and then the High United Free Church in Aberdeen followed by 6 years as Minister of Westbourne Church, Barrhead, Glasgow.

Kalidhindi B. R. Varma

He was a postdoctoral researcher with the Dept. of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Strathclyde University, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

The gallery is located on Argyle Street, in the West End of the city, on the banks of the River Kelvin (opposite the architecturally similar Kelvin Hall, which was built in matching style in the 1920s, after the previous hall had been destroyed by fire).

Later...When The TV Turns To Static

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

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.

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 North railway station

Mount Vernon railway station served the Mount Vernon area of Glasgow, Scotland on the Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Railway between Shettleston and Hamilton.

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).

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.

The libretto was commissioned by Scottish Opera, and first used in Glasgow on 23 October 1985, in a performance conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson and directed by Graham Vick, with production design by Russell Craig.

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.

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.

Rosshall Academy

Rosshall Academy is a secondary school in the Crookston area of Glasgow.

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.

Sighthill

Sighthill, Glasgow, a housing estate in the Springburn district of the city of 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.

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.

Tariq Rahman

In 1989, he also got an M.Litt in linguistics from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

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.

Thomas McGraw

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

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.

University of Strathclyde Faculty of Education

The Faculty Of Education is one of the 5 faculties which make up The University of Strathclyde. in Glasgow, Scotland.

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.

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.


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.

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 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.

Apollon XI

She was chartered by Burns & Laird Lines Ltd. for the service between Belfast and Liverpool, also from Cork to Fishguard, Dublin to Liverpool and for the service Glasgow - Dublin - Liverpool.

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).

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.

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.

Douglas of Mains

The family intermarried in the Glasgow area, having links with the Campbells of Blythswood, with landed families across Scotland (including the Duke of Douglas) and more latterly the United Kingdom.

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.

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.

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.

Hillhead subway station

Hillhead subway station is a station on the Glasgow Subway, serving the Hillhead area of Glasgow, Scotland.

Jackie Lockhart

She started in the buzzing atmosphere that enveloped the Scottish Championships in Glasgow, where her team - largely inexperienced at the highest level apart from herself at skip - overcame Rhona Martin's rink in a three-match final to claim the right to represent Scotland at the World Championships in Bismarck, North Dakota, ahead of the newly-famed Olympic gold medallists.

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.

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.

JANET

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

John Taylor Caldwell

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

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.

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.

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.

Penilee

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

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.

Port Glasgow

Port Glasgow expanded up the steep hills inland to open fields where areas such as Park Farm, Boglestone and Devol were founded.

River Cart

The river forms the boundary between East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire here before running through the centre of the village of Busby after which it runs around the eastern side of Clarkston and Netherlee where it crosses the Glasgow city boundary into Linn Park, heading downstream to Cathcart.

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.

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.

Society for Experimental Biology

The main meeting is held in the UK or continental Europe (Swansea, Wales, 2002; Southampton, England, 2003; Edinburgh, Scotland, 2004; Barcelona, Spain, 2005; Canterbury, England, 2006; Glasgow, Scotland 2007, 2009, 2011; Marseille, France, 2008; Prague, Czech Republic, 2010; Salzburg, Austria, 2012; Valencia, Spain, planned for 2013).

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.

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.

The Phantom Band

The Phantom Band is a Glasgow-based band consisting of Duncan Marquiss (guitar), Gerry Hart (bass), Andy Wake (keyboards), Rick Anthony (vocals and guitar), Iain Stewart (drums) and Greg Sinclair (guitars).

Thomas Leith

While an apprentice he also studied for the Higher National Certificate exams at Langside College in Mount Florida and, following this, left Weirs to study full-time at the Royal Technical College, Glasgow (now the University of Strathclyde).

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.

Vivacitas

Vivacitas (subtitled "Live at Glasgow 2002") is a live album recorded by The Nice, who reformed for a set of concerts, augmented by the Keith Emerson Band for the second half of the concert.