1.
Scottish Gaelic
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Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic, sometimes also referred to as Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish. The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, the census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, only about half of speakers were fully literate in the language. Nevertheless, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased, Scottish Gaelic is neither an official language of the European Union nor the United Kingdom. Outside Scotland, a group of dialects collectively known as Canadian Gaelic are spoken in parts of Atlantic Canada, mainly Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. In the 2011 census, there were 7,195 total speakers of Gaelic languages in Canada, with 1,365 in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island where the responses mainly refer to Scottish Gaelic. About 2,320 Canadians in 2011 also claimed Gaelic languages as their mother tongue, with over 300 in Nova Scotia, aside from Scottish Gaelic, the language may also be referred to simply as Gaelic. In Scotland, the word Gaelic in reference to Scottish Gaelic specifically is pronounced, outside Ireland and Great Britain, Gaelic may refer to the Irish language. Scottish Gaelic should not be confused with Scots, the Middle English-derived language varieties which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the modern era. Prior to the 15th century, these dialects were known as Inglis by its own speakers, from the late 15th century, however, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis. Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a language from Irish. Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the 8th century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth, by 900, Pictish appears to have become extinct, completely replaced by Gaelic. An exception might be made for the Northern Isles, however, however, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, by the 10th century, Gaelic had become the dominant language throughout northern and western Scotland, the Gaelo-Pictic Kingdom of Alba. Its spread to southern Scotland, was even and totalizing. Place name analysis suggests dense usage of Gaelic in Galloway and adjoining areas to the north and west as well as in West Lothian, less dense usage is suggested for north Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire. In south-eastern Scotland, there is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken, the area shifted from Cumbric to Old English during its long incorporation into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria
2.
Scots language
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Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster. It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language which was restricted to most of the Highlands. The language developed during the Middle English period as a distinct entity, although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects do exist, these often render contradictory results. Broad Scots is at one end of a linguistic continuum. Scots is often regarded as one of the ancient varieties of English, alternatively, Scots is sometimes treated as a distinct Germanic language, in the way Norwegian is closely linked to, yet distinct from, Danish. In the 2011 Scottish census, a question on Scots language ability was featured, native speakers sometimes refer to their vernacular as braid Scots or use a dialect name such as the Doric, or the Buchan Claik. The old-fashioned Scotch, an English loan, occurs occasionally, especially in Northern Ireland, the term Lallans, a variant of the Modern Scots word lawlands, is also used, though this is more often taken to mean the Lallans literary form. Scots in Ireland is known in circles as Ulster-Scots or Ullans. Scots is a contraction of Scottis, the Older Scots and northern version of late Old English Scottisc, before the end of the 15th century, English speech in Scotland was known as English, whereas Scottish referred to Gaelic. From 1495 the term Scottis was increasingly used to refer to the Lowland vernacular and Erse, meaning Irish, the Gaelic of Scotland is now usually called Scottish Gaelic. Northumbrian Old English had been established in what is now southeastern Scotland as far as the River Forth by the seventh century and it remained largely confined to this area until the thirteenth century, continuing in common use while Gaelic was the language of the Scottish court. Scots also includes loan words resulting from contact with Gaelic, Early medieval legal documents include a body of Gaelic legal and administrative loans. Contemporary Gaelic loans are mainly for geographical and cultural features, such as ceilidh, loch, from the thirteenth century Early Scots spread further into Scotland via the burghs, proto-urban institutions which were first established by King David I. The growth in prestige of Early Scots in the century. By the sixteenth century Middle Scots had established orthographic and literary norms largely independent of those developing in England, from 1610 to the 1690s during the Plantation of Ulster large numbers of Scots-speaking Lowlanders, some 200,000, settled there. In the core areas of Scots settlement, Scots outnumbered English settlers by five or six to one, Modern Scots is used to describe the language after 1700 when southern Modern English was generally adopted as the literary language though Scots remained the vernacular. In Scotland, Scots is spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, the Northern Isles, Caithness, Arran, in Ulster it is spoken in the Counties of Down, Antrim, Londonderry and Donegal. Dialects include Insular Scots, Northern Scots, Central Scots, Southern Scots, many speakers are either diglossic and/or able to code-switch along the continuum depending on the situation in which they find themselves
3.
Sutherland
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Sutherland is a county in the Highlands of Scotland. Sutherland borders Caithness to the east, Ross-shire to the south, in Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas, Dùthaich MhicAoidh in the northeast, Asainte in the west, and Cataibh in the east. Cataibh is also used to refer to the area as a whole. The name Sutherland dates from the era of Norwegian Viking rule and settlement over much of the Highlands and Islands, although it contains some of the northernmost land in the island of Great Britain, it was called Suðrland from the standpoint of Orkney and Caithness. The northwest corner of Sutherland, traditionally known as the Province of Strathnaver, was not incorporated into Sutherland until 1601 and this was the home of the powerful and warlike Clan Mackay, and as such was named in Gaelic, Dùthaich Ic Aoidh, the Homeland of Mackay. Like its southern neighbour Ross-shire, Sutherland has some of the most dramatic scenery in the whole of Europe and these include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks. Much of the population is based in towns, such as Helmsdale and Lochinver. Much of Sutherland is poor relative to the rest of Scotland, with few job opportunities beyond government funded employment, agriculture, further education is provided by North Highland College, part of the University of the Highland and Islands. The Ross House Campus in Dornoch was the first establishment in the UK to provide a degree in Golf Management, the Burghfield House Campus, also in Dornoch, is a hotel school. The inland landscape is rugged and very sparsely populated, despite being Scotlands fifth-largest county in terms of area, it has a smaller population than a medium-size Lowland Scottish town. It stretches from the Atlantic in the west, up to the Pentland Firth, the sea-coasts boast very high cliffs and deep fjords in the east and north, ragged inlets on the west and sandy beaches in the north. The remote far northwest point of Sutherland, Cape Wrath, is the most northwesterly point in Scotland, Sutherland has many rugged mountains such as Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro. The western part comprises Torridonian sandstone underlain by Lewisian gneiss, the spectacular scenery has been created by denudation to form isolated sandstone peaks such as Foinaven, Arkle, Cùl Mór and Suilven. Such mountains are attractive for hill walking and scrambling, despite their remote location, together with similar peaks to the south in Wester Ross, such as Stac Pollaidh, they have a unique structure with great scope for exploration. On the other hand, care is needed when bad weather occurs owing to their isolation, Sutherland has many fine beaches, a remote example being Sandwood Bay, which can only be reached by foot along a rough track. The number of visiting tourists is, naturally, minimal, there are pockets of the native Scots Pine, remnants of the original Caledonian Forest. Owing to its isolation from the rest of the country, Sutherland was reputedly the last haunt of the native wolf, the last survivor being shot in the 18th century. However, other wildlife has survived, including the eagle, sea eagle
4.
United Kingdom Census 2001
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A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday,29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194, the 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Detailed results by region, council area, ward and output area are available from their respective websites. Similar to previous UK censuses, the 2001 census was organised by the three agencies, ONS, GROS, and NISRA, and coordinated at the national level by the Office for National Statistics. In England and Wales these regulations were made by the Census Order 2000, in Scotland by the Census Order 2000, the census was administered through self-completion forms, in most cases delivered by enumerators to households and communal establishments in the three weeks before census night on 29 April. For the first time return by post was used as the collection method. The postal response rate was 88% in England and Wales, 91% in Scotland, a total of 81,000 field staff were employed across the UK. The census was conducted at the height of the crisis, which led to extra precautions being adopted by the field staff. However, it was reported that the outbreak did not affect the effectiveness of the collection process. The census was estimated to cost £259m over its 13-year cycle from the start of planning in 1993 to the delivery of results in 2006. Printing of the 30 million census forms was subcontracted to Polestar Group, the forms were initially scanned into digital format, then read with OMR and OCR, with manual entry where the automatic process could not read the forms. The forms were then pulped and recycled, and the copies printed onto microfilm for storage. Once the data were returned to the statistics agencies it underwent further processing to ensure consistency and this was due to a number of factors, households with no response, households excluding residents from their returns, and addresses not included in the enumeration. In Manchester for example 25,000 people from 14,000 addresses were not enumerated because the database was two years out of date. The Local Authority with the lowest response was Kensington and Chelsea with 64%, hackney had the next lowest response at 72%. Out of all authorities, the ten lowest response rates were all in London. The results from the 2001 census were produced using a known as the One Number Census. This was an attempt to adjust the census counts and impute answers to allow for estimated under-enumeration measured by the Census Coverage Survey, resulting in a single set of population estimates
5.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
6.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
7.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
8.
Subdivisions of Scotland
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For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as council areas, which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as councils. The council areas have been in existence since 1 April 1996, historically, Scotland has been divided into 34 counties or shires. Although these no longer have any function, they are still used to some extent in Scotland for cultural and geographical purposes. Traditionally burghs have been the key unit of the government of Scotland, being highly autonomous entities. Even after the Acts of Union 1707, burghs continued to be the principal subdivision, until 1889 administration was on a burgh and parish basis. The years following 1889 saw the introduction of a hierarchy of local government administration comprising counties, counties of cities, large burghs, source,2011 Census for Scotland Scotland has several other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils. The Police and Fire Reform Act 2012 resulted in the merger of police and fire services on 1 April 2013 to form the Police Service of Scotland. Policing was the responsibility of the Cities and Burghs of Scotland, Police and fire service areas date from the era of regions and districts and island council areas. There are several joint boards for electoral registration and the purposes of property valuation for assessing council tax, see also NHS Scotland Until 1 April 2014 the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area despite being located in South Lanarkshire. They are now part of NHS Lanarkshire, the Scottish Government has created seven Regional Transport Partnerships, for establishing transport policy in the regions. They broadly follow council area groupings and these areas in most cases resemble those of the pre-1975 administrative counties with Glasgow being the only current city to form a registration county. Although they have had no administrative function since 1930, they still exist and are used for statistical purposes such as the census. Many former civil parish areas also continue to form current registration districts and it should be noted that many boundary changes have occurred over the years and that an area currently derived from an old parish might no longer contain a place previously within that parish. The base level of sub-division in Scotland is that of communities, the main role of the CCs is to channel local opinion to larger local-government bodies. Otherwise, they have limited powers. There are around 1,200 communities in Scotland, not all communities have councils, some have joint councils. Scottish communities are the nearest equivalent to parishes in England. List of articles about local government in the United Kingdom ISO 3166-2, GB, subdivision codes for the United Kingdom
9.
Highland (council area)
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Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It shares borders with the areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries, according to the 2011 UK census, there are nearly 12,000 Scottish Gaelic speakers in the Highland area. The act also abolished county and burgh councils, in 1996, under the Local Government etc. Act 1994, the Highland Regional Council and the councils were wound up. The Highland Council adopted the districts as management areas and created committees to represent them. However, the boundaries of committee areas ceased to be aligned exactly with those of management areas as a result of changes to ward boundaries in 1999, the names of these areas are also names of constituencies, but boundaries are different. To many people within the area, using the name Highland as a noun sounds wrong, dingwall in Highland, for example, sounds strange and is not idiomatic usage. To refer specifically to the covered by the council, people tend to say the Highland Council area or the Highland area or the Highland region. Otherwise, they tend to use the county names, such as Ross-shire. Highlands sometimes refers to the Highland council area, more usually it refers to a somewhat larger or overlapping area. The Highland Council headquarters is located in Inverness with most previous district council offices retained as outstations, Highland Council covers an area of 25,657 square kilometres — which is 11. 4% of the total size of Great Britain and is 20% larger than Wales. Highland Councils highest point is Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole and its northernmost point is Stroma, a small island in the Pentland Firth. Its southernmost point is on the Morvern peninsula, Highland contains the westernmost point of the island of Great Britain, at Corrachadh Mòr. Despite the name, not all of Highland is mountainous, the areas east of Inverness, as well as the Black Isle, eastern Sutherland, and all of Caithness are, in fact, low-lying. The Coalition had 45 councillors and the other 35 councillors were Independents, the current ruling administration was formed by the Independent group in June 2015. Three of the constituencies, each electing one MSP, are within the Highland area, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn and Skye, Lochaber. Each constituency elects one MP by the first past the post system of election
10.
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
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The lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarchs representatives, in Scotland. The lord-lieutenants titles chosen by the monarch and her advisers are mainly based on placenames of the traditional counties of Scotland. In 1794 permanent lieutenancies were established by Royal Warrant, by the Militia Act 1797, the lieutenants appointed for the Counties, Stewartries, Cities, and Places were given powers to raise and command County Militia Units. Lieutenancy areas are different from the current local government council areas and they also differ from other subdivisions of Scotland including sheriffdoms and former regions and districts. The Lord Provosts of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow also act ex officio as lord-lieutenants and this is a unique right in the United Kingdom, all other lord-lieutenants are appointed by the monarch, rather than being elected politicians. The regions and districts were themselves superseded in 1995, but the lieutenancy areas remain the same, the Lord-Lieutenants Order 1975, Statutory Instrument 1975 No.428. The Lord-Lieutenants Order 1996, Statutory Instrument 1996 No.731, subdivisions of Scotland List of burghs in Scotland List of places in Scotland Media related to Maps of traditional counties of Scotland at Wikimedia Commons
11.
Countries of the United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom comprises four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Within the United Kingdom, a sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland. England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are not themselves listed in the International Organization for Standardization list of countries. However the ISO list of the subdivisions of the UK, compiled by British Standards, Northern Ireland, in contrast, is described as a province in the same lists. Each has separate governing bodies for sports and compete separately in many international sporting competitions. Northern Ireland also forms joint All-Island sporting bodies with the Republic of Ireland for most sports, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are dependencies of the Crown and are not part of the UK. Similarly, the British overseas territories, remnants of the British Empire, are not part of the UK, southern Ireland left the United Kingdom under the Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922. * Figures for GVA do not include oil and gas revenues generated beyond the UKs territorial waters, various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Wales was described as the country, principality, and dominion of Wales, outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed, the Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a part of a united kingdom of Great Britain The Acts of Union 1800 use part in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, the Interpretation Act 1978 provides statutory definitions of the terms England, Wales and the United Kingdom, but neither that Act nor any other current statute defines Scotland or Northern Ireland. Use of the first three terms in other legislation is interpreted following the definitions in the 1978 Act and this definition applies from 1 April 1974. United Kingdom means Great Britain and Northern Ireland and this definition applies from 12 April 1927. In 1996 these 8 new counties were redistributed into the current 22 unitary authorities, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regions in their own right while England has been divided into nine regions. The official term rest of the UK is used in Scotland, for example in export statistics and this term is also used in the context of potential Scottish independence to mean the UK without Scotland. The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts, the second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship. Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain, studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and it reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish
12.
Scotland
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Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
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United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
14.
Postcodes in the United Kingdom
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Postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the GPO, a full postcode is known as a postcode unit and designates an area with a number of addresses or a single major delivery point. For example, the postcode of the University of Roehampton in London is SW15 5PU, the postcode of GCHQ is GL51 0EX, where GL signifies the postal town of Gloucester. The postal town refers to an area and does not relate to a specific town. GL51 is one of the postcodes for the town of Cheltenham which is where GCHQ is located, the London post town covers 40% of Greater London. On inception it was divided into ten districts, EC, WC, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W. The S and NE sectors were later abolished and these divisions changed little, usually only changed for operational efficiency. Some older road signs in Hackney still indicate the North East sector/district, following the successful introduction of postal districts in London, the system was extended to other large towns and cities. Liverpool was divided into Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western districts in 1864/65, in 1917 Dublin – then still part of the United Kingdom – was divided into numbered postal districts. These continue in use in a form by An Post. In 1923 Glasgow was divided in a way to London. In January 1932 the Postmaster General approved the designation of some urban areas into numbered districts. In November 1934 the Post Office announced the introduction of numbered districts in every town in the United Kingdom large enough to justify it. Pamphlets were issued to each householder and business in ten areas notifying them of the number of the district in which their premises lay, the pamphlets included a map of the districts, and copies were made available at local head post offices. The public were invited to include the district number in the address at the head of letters. A publicity campaign in the following year encouraged the use of the district numbers, the slogan for the campaign was For speed and certainty always use a postal district number on your letters and notepaper. A poster was fixed to every box in the affected areas bearing the number of the district. Every post office in the district was also to display this information
15.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
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Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are administered by the UK governments Office of Communications. For this purpose Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, since 28 April 2001, almost all geographic numbers and most non-geographic numbers have 9 or 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code. All mobile telephone numbers have 10 national numbers after the 0 trunk code, regions with shorter area codes, typically large cities, permit the allocation of more telephone numbers as the local number portion has more digits. Local customer numbers are four to eight figures long, the total number of digits is ten, but in a very few areas the total may be nine digits. The area code is referred to as an STD or a dialling code in the UK. The code allocated to the largest population is for London, the code allocated to the largest area is for all of Northern Ireland. The UK Numbering Plan also applies to three British Crown dependencies—Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man—even though they are not part of the UK itself. Possible number formats for UK telephone numbers are as follows, Number ranges starting 01 can have NSN length as 10 or 9 digits, the 0800 range can have NSN length as 10,9 or 7 digits. The 0845 range can have NSN length as 10 or 7 digits, the 0500 range has NSN length as 9 digits only. There are no numbers in the UK with an NSN length of 8 digits. Geographic telephone numbers in the UK always have nine or ten digits, four-digit area codes have either six-digit subscriber numbers or a mix of five- and six-digit subscriber numbers. Xxxxxx This is the used by most areas. It has an area code and a six digit subscriber number. These area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995. Just short of 581 areas use this format, and the area range from 01200 to 01998. A small number of areas also have a few subscriber numbers that have only five digits. That is, almost all area codes now have only six digit local numbers, six of the four-digit area codes are known as mixed areas as they share those four digits with the twelve five-digit area codes. The numbers therefore have only nine digits after the initial zero trunk code and these area codes were changed by adding a 1 directly after the initial zero as a part of PhONEday in 1995
16.
Police Scotland
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The Police Service of Scotland is the police force of Scotland. Although not formally absorbing it, the merger resulted in the winding up of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland. Police Scotland is the second-largest police force in the United Kingdom in terms of numbers. The Chief Constable is answerable to the Scottish Police Authority, Scotland is also policed by the Ministry of Defence Police, British Transport Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary within their specific jurisdictions. The National Crime Agency also has jurisdiction in Scotland. In 2016, the Scottish Government introduced legislation which will integrate the Scottish division of the British Transport Police into Police Scotland, after a consultation process, the Scottish Government confirmed on 8 September 2011 that a single police service would be created in Scotland. The Police and Fire Reform Bill was published in January 2012 and was approved on 27 June 2012 after scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament, the Bill received Royal Assent as the Police and Fire Reform Act 2012. In September 2012, Chief Constable Stephen House of Strathclyde Police was announced as the future first Chief Constable of Police Scotland and he was sworn into the post on 1 October 2012. The first chair of the Scottish Police Authority, Vic Emery, was appointed in August 2012, as the date of formation approached, it was widely reported that the new Chief Constable and the Scottish Police Authority were in disagreement over the control of backroom staff. In February 2013 it came to light that the previously announced logo for Police Scotland could not be used as the Force had failed to approval from the Court of the Lord Lyon. This new symbol, a stylised thistle upon a Scottish saltire shield, a permanent logo was not approved in time for 1 April 2013 creation of Police Scotland, but the pre-2013 crowned thistle emblem was finally introduced in July 2013. This emblem was designed for the former Dumfries Constabulary by Robert Dickie Cairns. With minor artistic variations, it was the logo used by all regional Scottish police forces before 1 April 2013. Police Scotland has previously denied setting stop and search performance targets for individual officers, also removed from the report were calls for a review of stop and search on children and for clarification of the policys primary aim. In October 2013, Police Scotland announced proposals to close 65 out of 215 police station public counters, the plans were condemned by some opposition MSPs. In November 2016, it emerged that 58 further stations could close as part of an estates review and it was also announced in October 2013 that the number of police control rooms in Scotland was under review, with the possibility of 7 out of 10 control rooms closing. Control rooms considered for closure include Aberdeen, Inverness and Dumfries, in 2014, the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh was opened. The Assistant Chief Constables salary depends on their previous experience and would fall between £90,000 and £106,000 a year
17.
Fire services in the United Kingdom
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The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty fire and rescue services, many FRS were previously known as brigades or county fire services, but almost all now use the standard terminology. They are distinct from and governed by an authority, which is the legislative, public and administrative body. Fire authorities in England and Wales, and therefore fire and rescue services, Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire and rescue services, and so their authorities are effectively committees of the devolved parliaments. The total budget for services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. The devolved government in Scotland has an agency, HMFSI Scotland. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain,1947, Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed entirely in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire,1959, Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act, it dealt with pensions, staffing arrangements and provision of services by other authorities. It was repealed in England and Wales along with the 1947 Act,1999, Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of fire strikes. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the action still ongoing. Bains report ultimately led to a change in the relating to firefighting. 2002, Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004, Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, generally only applying to England and it came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises,2006, The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on Fire, promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation. But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries, There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association. The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee, in June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report. For example, where FRSs were historically inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office, Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard evidence on the Fire Control project. Called to give evidence were Cllr Brian Coleman and Cllr James Pearson from the Local Government Association, also giving evidence Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union and John Bonney Chief Fire Officers Association
18.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
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The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013 and it thus became the largest fire brigade in the United Kingdom, surpassing the London Fire Brigade, and the fourth-largest in the world. After a consultation, the Scottish Government confirmed on 8 September 2011 that a single fire, following further consultation on the detailed operation of the service, the Police and Fire Reform Bill was published on 17 January 2012. After scrutiny and debate by the Scottish Parliament, the legislation was approved on 27 June 2012, the Bill duly received royal assent as the Police and Fire Reform Act 2012. This Act also created Police Scotland in place of the eight regional police forces. The mergers were effective from 1 April 2013, eight months after the consolidation, an internal report said the reorganisation had not negatively affected operational response. The service is headquartered are in Cambuslang, Glasgow, which houses a national training centre opened in January 2013. There are a further three service delivery centres in the east, west and north of the country, pat Watters, former president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, was also announced as chair of the service, an appointment to run for three years from September 2012. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service attended 25,002 fires in 2014/15, the service also delivers a preventative programme, with 65,343 free home fire safety visits conducted in 2015/16. As well as fighting fires, the service attends tens of thousands of specialist services such as traffic collisions, water rescues. In 2014/15 it attended 10,740 non-fire incidents, firefighters are routinely called out to water, flood and boat rescues. For example, during Storm Frank in December 2015 the SFRS received 350 flood related calls in the space of six days, in 2015 the SFRS were called out to 78 wildfire incidents in total, with over half of those taking place in the north of Scotland. As of March 2016, the SFRS operates 356 stations throughout Scotland, stations are split into three categories, Wholetime, A station with full-time firefighters. Retained, Part-time, on a basis and predominantly based in some of the more rural areas of Scotland. Volunteer, On a call-out basis and predominantly based in some of the remote villages. The most northerly station is Baltasound on the Shetland Islands, the most southerly is a volunteer station in the village of Drummore in Dumfries and Galloway. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service National Training Centre opened in January 2013, the facility in Cambuslang features a mock town with ultra-realistic motorways, railway tracks and buildings, including a multi-storey tenement structure. The number of control rooms handling 999 calls was reduced from eight to three
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Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom
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Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone, regardless of immigration or visitor status. The NHS commissions most emergency services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK. As with other services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers. This led to the formation of predominantly county based ambulance services, which gradually merged up and changed responsibilities until 2006, when there were 31 NHS ambulance trusts in England. Following further changes as part of the NHS foundation trust pathway, the commissioners in each region are responsible for contracting with a suitable organisation to provide ambulance services within their geographical territory. The primary contract for each area is held by a public NHS body, of which there are 11 in England. The service was operated before reorganisation in 1974 by the St Andrews’ Ambulance Association under contract to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was established in 1995 by parliamentary order, and serves the whole of Northern Ireland. The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust was established on 1 April 1998, there is a large market for private and voluntary ambulance services, with the sector being worth £800m to the UK economy in 2012. This places the voluntary providers in direct competition with private services, expenditure on private ambulances in England increased from £37m in 2011−12 to £67. 5m in 2013/4, rising in London from £796,000 to more than £8. 8m. In 2014−15, these 10 ambulance services spent £57.6 million on 333,329 callouts of private or voluntary services - an increase of 156% since 2010−11, in 2013, the CQC found 97% of private ambulance services to be providing good care. These private, registered services are represented by the Independent Ambulance Association, there are also a number of unregistered services operating, who do not provide ambulance transport, but only provide response on an event site. These firms are not regulated, and are not subject to the checks as the registered providers, although they may operate similar vehicles. There are a number of ambulance providers, sometimes known as Voluntary Aid Services or Voluntary Aid Societies, with the main ones being the British Red Cross. The history of the ambulance services pre-dates any government organised service. As they are in competition for work with the private ambulance providers. Voluntary organisations have also provided cover for the public when unionised NHS ambulance trust staff have taken industrial action, there are a number of smaller voluntary ambulance organisations, fulfilling specific purposes, such as Hatzola who provide emergency medical services to the orthodox Jewish community in some cities. These have however run into difficulties due to use of vehicles not legally recognised as ambulances, all emergency medical services in the UK are subject to a range of legal and regulatory requirements, and in many cases are also monitored for performance. This framework is largely statutory in nature, being mandated by government through a range of primary and secondary legislation and this requires all providers to register, to meet certain standards of quality, and to submit to inspection of those standards
20.
Scottish Ambulance Service
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The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland, and serves all of Scotland. It is a health board funded directly by the Health. The service was known as the St Andrews and Red Cross Scottish Ambulance Service, the Red Cross withdrew from the service in 1967, the service was renamed the St Andrews Scottish Ambulance Service. In 1974 the service was taken over by the NHS, the title being shortened to the Scottish Ambulance Service, St. Andrews First Aid, which is the trading name of St. Andrews Ambulance Association, continues as a voluntary organisation. In 2003 there was a reorganisation of the control centres across Scotland. The original uniform for the service consisted of a blue shirt, black clip-on tie, navy blue sweater. These uniforms were an Irish green colour for Emergency staff and a blue shade for Patient Transport staff. In 2013/2014, the uniform was changed to mirror the NHS National Uniform standard. It is now supplied by Dimensions and is similar to all other Ambulance Services in the UK. All staff, including control centre staff, now wear the national uniform unless otherwise authorised, the national headquarters are in west side of Edinburgh and there are five divisions within the Service, namely, The Patient Transport Service carries almost 1.6 million patients every year. This service is provided to patients who are physically or medically unfit to travel to hospital out-patient appointments by any means can still make their appointments. The service also handles non-emergency admissions, discharges, transport of palliative care patients, Patient Transport Vehicles come in a variety of forms and are staffed by Ambulance Care Assistants, whom work either double or single crewed. They are trained to look after patients during the journey, the service has the only government-funded air ambulance service in the UK, operated under contract by Gama Aviation. In 2015/16, the air crews flew 3,849 missions. One helicopter and one King Air are based at a Gama Aviation facility at Glasgow Airport, the other operating bases are Inverness Airport and Aberdeen Airport. The aircraft based in Glasgow are regularly used by the UKs only Emergency Medical Retrieval Service, the air ambulance service was occasionally featured as part of the popular Channel 5 television documentary series Highland Emergency. In late 2012 a charity was founded to provide an air ambulance, based at Perth Airport. Scotlands Charity Air Ambulance commenced operations in May 2013 with a Bolkow 105 airframe, since November 2015, SCAA operates a Eurocopter EC-135 helicopter
21.
Scotland (European Parliament constituency)
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Scotland constitutes a single constituency of the European Parliament. In 2014 it elected six MEPs, using the method of party-list proportional representation. The constituencys boundaries are the same as those of Scotland, one of the four countries of the United Kingdom, the constituency was formed as a result of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were Glasgow, Highlands and Islands, Lothians, Mid Scotland and Fife, North East Scotland, South of Scotland, Strathclyde East, the number of MEPs returned by the constituency was eight in 1999, seven in 2004, and six in 2009 and 2014. Elected candidates are listed in bold, brackets indicate the number of votes per seat won. Elections in Scotland Scottish Elections Between 1997 and present
22.
Scottish Parliament
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The Scottish Parliament, is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the city, Edinburgh. The most recent general election to the Parliament was held on 5 May 2016, as a consequence, both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England ceased to exist, and the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London was formed. The Act delineates the legislative competence of the Parliament – the areas in which it can make laws – by explicitly specifying powers that are reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate in all areas that are not explicitly reserved to Westminster, the British Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on 12 May 1999, initial Scottish proposals in the negotiation over the Union suggested a devolved Parliament be retained in Scotland, but this was not accepted by the English negotiators. Suggestions for a devolved Parliament were made before 1914, but were shelved due to the outbreak of the First World War, one of the principal objectives of the commission was to examine ways of enabling more self-government for Scotland, within the unitary state of the United Kingdom. Kilbrandon published his report in 1973 recommending the establishment of a directly elected Scottish Assembly to legislate for the majority of domestic Scottish affairs, the party argued that the revenues from the oil were not benefitting Scotland as much as they should. The combined effect of events led to Prime Minister Wilson committing his government to some form of devolved legislature in 1974. However, it was not until 1978 that final legislative proposals for a Scottish Assembly were passed by the United Kingdom Parliament, publishing its blueprint for devolution in 1995, the Convention provided much of the basis for the structure of the Parliament. Devolution continued to be part of the platform of the Labour Party which, in May 1997, an election was held on 6 May 1999, and on 1 July of that year power was transferred from Westminster to the new Parliament. Since September 2004, the home of the Scottish Parliament has been a new Scottish Parliament Building. The Scottish Parliament building was designed by Spanish architect Enric Miralles in partnership with local Edinburgh Architecture firm RMJM which was led by Design Principal Tony Kettle. Some of the features of the complex include leaf-shaped buildings. Throughout the building there are many repeated motifs, such as based on Raeburns Skating Minister. Crow-stepped gables and the upturned boat skylights of the Garden Lobby, Queen Elizabeth II opened the new building on 9 October 2004. In March 2006, one of the Holyrood buildings roof beams slipped out of its support and was left dangling above the back benches during a debate, the debating chamber was subsequently closed, and MSPs moved to The Hub for one week, whilst inspections were carried out. During repairs, all business was conducted in the Parliaments committee room two
23.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
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Dornoch Cathedral
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Dornoch Cathedral is a parish church in the Church of Scotland, serving the small Sutherland town of Dornoch, in the Scottish Highlands. It was built in the 13th century, in the reign of King Alexander II, as a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the church is not technically a cathedral, in spite of its name. In 1570 the Cathedral was burnt down during local feuding, full repairs were not carried out until the early 19th century, by the Countess of Sutherland. Among the improvements carried out, the ruined but still largely intact aisled medieval nave was demolished, the interior was reordered in the 1920s by Rev. Charles Donald Bentinck, with the removal of Victorian plasterwork to reveal the stonework. The site of the high altar was raised and converted into a burial area for the Sutherland family. The previous minister was the Very Rev Dr James Simpson, who was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1994. The current minister is the Rev Susan Brown, who officiated at the wedding of Madonna, the Cathedrals churchyard is adjoined by Dornoch Castle, the somewhat reconstructed remains of the medieval palace of the Bishops of Caithness. In 2010 billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and actress Talulah Riley married at Dornoch Cathedral
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Seaside resort
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A seaside resort is a resort town or resort hotel, located on the coast. Sometimes it is also an officially accredited title, that is awarded to a town when the requirements are met. Where a beach is the focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort. The coast has always been a recreational environment, although until the mid-nineteenth century, even in Roman times, the town of Baiae, by the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy, was a resort for those who were sufficiently prosperous. Mersea Island, in Essex, England was a holiday destination for wealthy Romans living in Colchester. The development of the beach as a leisure resort from the mid-19th century was the first manifestation of what is now the global tourist industry. The first seaside resorts were opened in the 18th century for the aristocracy, the first rolling bathing machines were introduced by 1735. In 1793, Heiligendamm in Mecklenburg, Germany was founded as the first seaside resort of the European continent and this trend was praised and artistically elevated by the new romantic ideal of the picturesque landscape, Jane Austens unfinished novel Sanditon is an example of that. The extension of this form of leisure to the middle and working class began with the development of the railways in the 1840s, in particular, the completion of a branch line to the small seaside town Blackpool from Poulton led to a sustained economic and demographic boom. The growth was intensified by the practice among the Lancashire cotton mill owners of closing the factories for an every year to service. These became known as wakes weeks, each towns mills would close for a different week, allowing Blackpool to manage a steady and reliable stream of visitors over a prolonged period in the summer. A prominent feature of the resort was the promenade and the pleasure piers, in 1863, the North Pier in Blackpool was completed, rapidly becoming a centre of attraction for elite visitors. Central Pier was completed in 1868, with a theatre and a large dance floor. Many popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines because even the all-covering beachwear of the period was considered immodest, by the end of the century the English coastline had over 100 large resort towns, some with populations exceeding 50,000. The development of the seaside resort abroad was stimulated by the well developed English love of the beach, the French Riviera alongside the Mediterranean had already become a popular destination for the British upper class by the end of the 18th century. In 1864, the first railway to Nice was completed, making the Riviera accessible to visitors all over Europe. By 1874, residents of foreign enclaves in Nice, most of whom were British, the coastline became renowned for attracting the royalty of Europe, including Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Continental European attitudes towards gambling and nudity tended to be more lax than in Britain, the place was renamed Monte Carlo
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Royal burgh
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A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in law in 1975, the term is used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were created by the Crown, or upgraded from another status. As discrete classes of burgh emerged, the royal burghs—originally distinctive because they were on royal lands—acquired a monopoly of foreign trade, an important document for each burgh was its burgh charter, creating the burgh or confirming the rights of the burgh as laid down by a previous monarch. Each royal burgh was represented in the Parliament of Scotland and could appoint bailies with wide powers in civil, by 1707 there were 70 royal burghs. The Royal Burghs Act 1833 reformed the election of the councils that governed royal burghs. Those qualified to vote in elections under the Reform Act 1832 were now entitled to elect burgh councillors. Before the reign of David I Scotland had no towns, the closest thing to towns were the larger than average population concentrations around large monasteries, such as Dunkeld and St Andrews, and regionally significant fortifications. Scotland, outside Lothian at least, was populated by scattered hamlets, David I established the first burghs in Scotland, initially only in Middle-English-speaking Lothian. The earliest burghs, founded by 1124, were Berwick and Roxburgh, however, by 1130, David had established burghs in Gaelic areas, Stirling, Dunfermline, Perth and Scone, as well as Edinburgh. The conquest of Moray in that year led to the establishment of burghs at Elgin. Before David was dead, St Andrews, Montrose, and Aberdeen were also burghs. In the reigns of Máel Coluim IV and William, burghs were added at Inverness, Banff, Cullen, Auldearn, Nairn, Inverurie, Kintore, Brechin, Forfar, Arbroath, Dundee, Lanark, Dumfries and Ayr. New Lothian burghs also came into existence, at Haddington and Peebles, by 1210, there were 40 burghs in the Scottish kingdom. Rosemarkie, Dingwall and Cromarty were also burghs by the Scottish Wars of Independence, David I established the first burghs, and their charters and Leges Burgorum were copied almost verbatim from the customs of Newcastle upon Tyne. He essentially imported the burgh into his Scottish dominions from his English ones, Burghs were for the most part populated by foreigners, rather than native Scots or even Lothianers. The predominant ethnic group were the Flemings, but early burgesses were also English, French and German. The burghs vocabulary was composed totally of either Germanic terms such as croft, rood, gild, gait and wynd, or French ones such as provost, bailie, vennel, port, the councils that governed individual burghs were individually known as lie doussane, meaning the dozen
27.
Shires of Scotland
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The counties or shires of Scotland are geographic subdivisions of Scotland established in the Middle Ages. They ceased to be used for government purposes after 1975 under the Local Government Act 1973. Today, local government in Scotland is based upon council areas, which sometimes incorporate county names, counties continue to be used for the purpose of lieutenancy and land registration purposes, though the lieutenancy areas are not entirely identical. Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing previous forms of government with Norman feudal structures and this policy was continued by Edgar, Alexander I, and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms, the earliest sheriffdom south of the Forth which we know of for certain is Haddingtonshire, which is named in a charters of 1139 as Hadintunschira and in another of 1141 as Hadintunshire. Stirlingshire appears in a charter of 1150 under the name Striuelinschire, the shires of the Highlands were completed only in the reign of King Charles I. In 1305 Edward I of England, who had deposed John Balliol issued an Ordinance for the Government of Scotland, the document listed the twenty-three shires then existing and either appointed new sheriffs or continued heritable sheriffs in office. ^Note a, Gospatric was mentioned as sheriff in a number of charters of Earl David, the shire was one of those surrendered to Edward III of England in 1334. The remaining shires were formed either by the expansion of the Kingdom of Scotland. Many of the new shires had highly irregular boundaries or detached parts as they united the various possessions of the heritable sheriffs, C.1326, Argyll, lordship subdued by Alexander II in 1222. Norwegian claims over the area ended in 1266. First record of appointment of sheriff dates from 1326,1369, Kirkcudbright formed when area between Rivers Nith and Cree granted to Archibald the Grim. Archibald appointed a steward to administer the area, hence it became a stewartry, the islands formed part of Kintyre district of Argyll. A heritable sheriff was appointed to the shire in 1388,1402, Renfrew, separated from the Shire of Lanark by Robert III. 1503, Ross formed from part of Argyll by act of 1503, the Barony of Tarbert was annexed to Cromarty in 1685, but later returned. 1503, Caithness, Separated from the Shire of Inverness by act of 1503 during the reign of James IV. Under the legislation the sheriff of Caithness was to sit at Dornoch and Wick,1581, Orkney was erected into a lordship with the right of sheriffship. It was annexed to the Crown in 1612, although the term continued to be applied to the area
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Scottish Highlands
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The Highlands are a historic region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, the term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands, the Scottish Gaelic name of A Ghàidhealtachd literally means the place of the Gaels and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands. The area is sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region. At 9.1 per km2 in 2012, the density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotlands as a whole, comparable with that of Bolivia, Chad. The Highland Council is the body for much of the Highlands. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth & Kinross, Stirling. The Scottish highlands is the area in the British Isles to have the Taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest. Between the 15th century and the 20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent, historically, the Highland line distinguished the two Scottish cultures. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided, there was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Tartan had largely abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. The period of the Napoleonic wars brought prosperity, optimism, the economy grew thanks to wages paid in industries such as kelping, fisheries, and weaving, as well as large-scale infrastructure spending such as the Caledonian Canal project. On the East Coast, farmlands were improved, and high prices for cattle brought money to the area, Service in the Army was also attractive to young men from the Highlands, who sent pay home and retired there with their army pensions. This prosperity ended after 1815, and long-term negative factors began to undermine the position of the poor tenant farmers, who typically rented a few acres
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Dornoch Firth
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The Dornoch Firth is a firth on the east coast of Highland, in northern Scotland. It forms part of the boundary between Ross and Cromarty, to the south, and Sutherland, to the north, together with Loch Fleet it is a designated as a Special Protection Area for wildlife conservation purposes. Additionally, together with Morrich More, it has the designation of Special Area of Conservation, the total SPA hosts significant populations of the following birds, Breeding season, osprey Overwintering, bar-tailed godwit, greylag goose, wigeon, curlew, dunlin, oystercatcher and teal. On 16 August 1809 the firth was the scene of the Meikle Ferry disaster when an over-laden ferryboat sank with the loss of 99 lives, description from Gazetteer of Scotland SPA designation SAC designation Series of photographs
30.
Moray Firth
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The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland. Therefore, three areas have Moray Firth coastline, Highland to the west and north of the Moray Firth and Highland, Moray. The firth has more than 800 kilometres of coastline, much of which is cliff, a number of rivers flow into the Moray Firth, including the River Ness, the River Findhorn and the River Spey. Various smaller firths and bays are inlets of the firth, including the Cromarty Firth, the Pentland Firth has its eastern mouth at the Moray Firths northern boundary. The name Firth of Inverness is rarely found on modern maps, the Moray Firth is visible for considerable distances, including a long range view from as far to the east as Longman Hill. From Buckie, on a day it is possible to see Wick in the far north of Scotland more than 80 km away. From Lossiemouth it is possible to see the hills of Caithness and the hills are easily identified, one being Morven, the Channel went from the entrance of Munlochy Bay to the Meikle Mee Starboard Hand Mark, but was not maintained and filled in very quickly. Basically, the Moray Firth is of tectonic origin, related to the Great Glen Fault, for some time during the glaciation, the whole of nowadays Moray firth was a huge glacier. Nevertheless, the inner Part and its side-inlets, Cromarty Firth, though there is a reasonable tide with mean tide ranges of about three metres, only part of the rivers draining into the bay have estuaries. Masses of sediment from the adjacent mountains have formed spits around several mouths and those of River Ness and River Carron have significantly narrowed the fjords they enter. The Moray Firth is one of the most important places on the British coast for observing dolphins, the most common species are the Bottlenose Dolphin and the Harbour Porpoise. With occasional sightings of Common dolphin and Minke Whale, the popular wildlife viewing area located at Chanonry Point host some spectacular displays of dolphins within the inner Moray Firth. There are also visitor centres at Spey Bay and North Kessock run by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society where dolphins and it is also an important oil field and fishing grounds. The Beatrice oil field in the Outer Moray Firth is the closest of the North Sea oil fields, much of the fishing industry focuses on scallops and Norway lobsters. The Inner Moray Firth is designated as a Special Protection Area for wildlife conservation purposes, the Moray Firth contains a Special Area of Conservation designated under the EU Habitats Directive, which is one of the largest Marine Protection Areas in Europe. The SAC protects the waters of the Moray Firth, from a line between Lossiemouth and Helmsdale westwards
31.
Local government in Scotland
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Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authorities designated as Councils which consist of councillors elected every five years by registered voters in each of the council areas. Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, AEF consists of three parts, Revenue Support Grants, Non-Domestic Rates, and Income and Specific Grants. Councils obtain additional income through the Council Tax, that the council itself sets, Scottish councils co-operate through, and are represented collectively by, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. The history of Scottish local government mainly surrounds involves the counties of Scotland, the counties have their origins in the sheriffdoms or shires over which a sheriff exercised jurisdiction. Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing native Celtic forms of government with Anglo Saxon and this was continued by his sons Edgar, Alexander I and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms, from the seventeenth century the shires started to be used for local administration apart from judicial functions. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each sheriffdom to collect the land tax, the commissioners eventually assumed other duties in the county. In 1858 police forces were established in each county under the Police Act 1857, as a result of the dual system of local government, burghs often had a high degree of autonomy. Between 1890 and 1975 local government in Scotland was organised with county councils and this system was further refined by the passing of the Local Government Act 1947. The only exceptions to this were the three Island Councils, Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney which had the powers of Regions. The Conservative government of John Major decided to abolish this system, the changes took effect in 1996 with shadow councillors elected in 1995 to oversee the smooth transition of control. The power vested in local authorities is administered by elected councillors, there are currently 1,222, each paid a part-time salary for the undertaking of their duties. In total, there are 32 unitary authorities, the largest being the City of Glasgow with more than 600,000 inhabitants, councillors are subject to a Code of Conduct instituted by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. Act 2000 and enforced by the Standards Commission for Scotland, if a person believes that a councillor has broken the code of conduct they make a complaint to the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. The Commissioner makes a determination on whether there is a need for an investigation, each council elects a Convener and Depute Convener to chair meetings of the Council and to act as a figurehead for the area. Most councils use the term Provost, the office of Provost or Convener is roughly equivalent to that of a Mayor in other parts of the United Kingdom. Traditionally these roles are ceremonial and have no significant administrative functions, Lord Provosts in the four city councils have the additional duty of acting as Lord Lieutenant for their respective city. The Leader of the Council is elected as the leader of the largest political grouping of councillors, the Leader of the Council has no executive or administrative powers designated by statute, but the position is salaried
32.
A9 road (Scotland)
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The A9 is a major road running from the Falkirk council area in central Scotland to Scrabster Harbour, Thurso in the far north, via Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Perth and Inverness. At 273 miles, it is the longest road in Scotland, historically it was the main road between Edinburgh and John o Groats, and has been called the spine of Scotland. The roads origins lie in the military roads building programme of the 18th century, the A9 route was formally designated in 1923, and originally ran from Edinburgh to Inverness. The route was extended north from Inverness up to John OGroats. By the 1970s the route was hampered by severe congestion. Between Falkirk and Bridge of Allan, the A9 survives as a more or less parallel road to the M9, the link between the M9 and the A9, by Bridge of Allan, is the Keir Roundabout. The A9s origins lie in the military roads building programme carried out by General Wade in the 18th century to allow deployment of forces in key locations within the Highlands. At this time there was already a road between Perth and Dunkeld, and between 1727 and 1730 a roadway was constructed between Dunkeld in Perthshire and Inverness. However, Wade had still to bridge the River Tay at Aberfeldy, construction began in 1733 to a design by William Adam. The bridge was completed within the year, but Wade wrote The Bridge of Tay. was a work of great difficulty, at a cost of over £4000, the bridge became the most expensive item on Wades road building programme. For most of its length between Perth and Inverness, the route was identical to the A9 prior to the commencement of the upgrading works in the 1970s. In 1802, Thomas Telford was requested by the Lords of the Treasury to carry out a survey of the interior of the Scottish Highlands, in his report, he highlighted the inadequacy of the old military roads to meet the requirements of the general population. In particular, he noted the difficulties caused by the absence of bridges over some of the principal rivers, as part of the improvements to the road system that were carried out in the following years, a bridge was built at Dunkeld, designed by Telford. The original cost estimate was £15,000 with costs to be split between the Government and the landowner, the 4th Duke of Atholl, however, costs spiralled up to around £40,000. The Government refused to increase their contribution, so the Duke of Atholl had to finance the extra cost. As a result, tolls were placed on the bridge to recoup costs. The realigned road north out of Dunkeld would evolve eventually into the A9, the formal scheme of classification of roads in Great Britain was first published on 1 April 1923. The original route of the designated A9 began in Edinburgh at the Corstorphine junction in the west of the city, the route went through Kirkliston and onwards to Polmont and Falkirk
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A949 road
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The A949 is a major road in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland. It has staggered junctions with the A9, from the A949 the A9 runs generally north to Thurso and generally south to Tain, Inverness, Perth, Stirling and Falkirk. From the A9, just north of Tain and the Dornoch Firth, the junctions are about 1 mile apart. The section of the A949 between Bonar Bridge and the first junction on the A9 on the side of the Dornoch Firth was part of the A9 until the opening of the Dornoch Firth Bridge in 1991. Bonar Bridge is about 10 miles west of the A9, at the neck of the Kyle of Sutherland, Dornoch is about 2 miles east, at the mouth of the Dornoch Firth. Within Dornoch the A949 has a junction with the B9168, the A949 road goes west of the A9 road at a roundabout, merging into Zone 8 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme. It is one of the few Zone 9 roads to go west of the A9, A9 junctions, For Bonar Bridge, Ordnance Survey grid reference NH751895 For Dornoch, grid reference NH768905 Bonar Bridge and A836 junction, NH610915 Dornoch and B9168 junction, NH792898
34.
Dornoch Castle
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Dornoch Castle is situated opposite Dornoch Cathedral in the village of Dornoch, in Sutherland, Scotland, a little over 40 miles north of Inverness. Dornoch Castle was built around 1500 as the home of the bishops of Caithness, bishop Robert Stewart gifted the castle to John Gordon, 11th Earl of Sutherland in 1557. In 1570 the castle was set alight in a feud between the McKays and Murrays, the rebuilding which followed included the addition of the upper part of the tower. The castle decayed during the 18th century, but was restored in 1813–1814 to serve as a school, in 1859-60 it became a court house, and was made the headquarters of the Sheriff of Sutherland with extensive remodelling by William Fowler. Further alterations were made around 1880, including the heightening of the south-west block, following the restoration the castle became a hunting lodge for visiting sportsmen. In 1947 it became a hotel, the Dornoch Castle Hotel has 24 rooms, including suites, and garden rooms, which were built in the 1970s. In addition, there are several personalized rooms and a restaurant, the castle is a category B listed building. The Castle is believed to have been haunted by the ghost of Andrew McCornish who was hanged for sheep stealing
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Golf course
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A golf course is the grounds where the game of golf is played. It comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a ground, a fairway, the rough and other hazards. A standard round of golf consists of 18 holes, most courses contain 18 holes, some share fairways or greens, and a subset has nine holes, played twice per round. Par-3 courses consist of nine or 18 holes all of which have a par of three strokes, many older courses are links, often coastal. Courses are private, public, and municipally owned, and typically feature a pro shop, many private courses are found at country clubs. Although a specialty within landscape design or landscape architecture, golf course architecture is considered a field of study. While golf courses often follow the landscape, some modification is unavoidable. This is increasingly the case as new courses are likely to be sited on less optimal land. Bunkers and sand traps are almost always artificial, although other hazards may be natural, the layout of a fairway follows certain traditional principles, such as the number of holes, their par values, and the number of holes of each par value per course. It is also preferable to arrange greens to be close to the tee box of the next hole, to minimize travel distance while playing a round. Combined with the need to all the fairways within what is frequently a compact square or rectangular plot of land. In complex areas, two holes may share the same tee box, fairway, or even green and it is also common for separate tee-off points to be positioned for men, women, and amateurs, each one respectively lying closer to the green. Eighteen-hole courses are traditionally broken down into a front 9 and a back 9. On older courses, the holes may be out in one long loop, beginning and ending at the clubhouse, and thus the front 9 is referred to on the scorecard as out. More recent courses tend to be designed with the front 9, a successful design is as visually pleasing as it is playable. Most golf courses have only par-3, -4, and -5 holes, typical distances for the various holes from standard tees are as follows. Terrain can also be a factor, so that a long downhill hole might be rated par 4 and this compensates for the generally longer distance pro players can put on tee and fairway shots as compared to the average bogey golfer. The game of golf is played in what is called a round and this consists of playing a set number of holes in an order predetermined by the course
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Golf Digest
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Golf Digest is a monthly golf magazine published by Condé Nast Publications in the United States. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and mens and womens competitive golf, Condé Nast Publications also publishes the more specialized Golf for Women, Golf World and Golf World Business. The magazine started in 1950, and was sold to The New York Times Company in 1969, the Times company sold their magazine division to Condé Nast in 2001. The headquarters of Golf Digest is in Des Moines, Iowa, Golf Digest produces a biennial ranking of the worlds best golf courses. The courses are voted on by a panel of several hundred golf experts, the magazine also produces lists of the best new courses, the best golf resorts and the best courses in each U. S. state. Before the Greatest rankings were introduced in 1985, Golf Digest produced lists called at different times Americas 100 Most Testing Courses and Americas 100 Greatest Tests of Golf. In this context, public means a course that is open to play by the public. The top ten on the 2007–08 list, also published in May 2007, was as follows, Pebble Beach Golf Links – Pebble Beach, in addition to its national rankings, Golf Digest also ranks courses at a state level. For example, in a 1998 survey of Connecticut Public Golf Courses, the magazine also compiles a list of the leading courses outside the United States. This is created using information from national golf associations, plus votes by the same panelists supplemented by some additional ones with international knowledge. In 2007, the most represented countries were Scotland with fourteen courses in the top 100, Canada with ten, England with ten, Canada with nine, the top 10 were, Royal County Down Golf Club – Newcastle, Northern Ireland Old Course at St Andrews – St. The top 10 were, Old Course at St Andrews – St, the move was particularly frustrating to LPGA golfers. LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan issued a statement echoing the concerns expressed by LPGA players, in the October 2014 edition, U. S. Womens Open winner Michelle Wie appeared on the cover. In May 2016, the magazine featured a female celebrity in the cover, Paige Spiranac. Courses ever ranked Official site for Golf Digest Golf Schools
37.
Witchcraft
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Witchcraft broadly means the practice of, and belief in, magical skills and abilities that are able to be exercised by individuals and certain social groups. Witchcraft often occupies a religious, divinatory or medicinal role, and is present within societies. The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have existed throughout recorded history and it posits a theosophical conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was generally evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. Christian views in the day are diverse and cover the gamut of views from intense belief and opposition to non-belief. From the mid-20th century, witchcraft – sometimes called contemporary witchcraft to clearly distinguish it from older beliefs – became the name of a branch of modern paganism and it is most notably practiced in the Wiccan and modern witchcraft traditions, and no longer practices in secrecy. The Western mainstream Christian view is far from the only societal perspective about witchcraft, Beliefs related to witchcraft and magic in these cultures were at times influenced by the prevailing Western concepts. Suspicion of modern medicine due to beliefs about illness being due to witchcraft also continues in countries to this day. HIV/AIDS and Ebola virus disease are two examples of infectious disease epidemics whose medical care and containment has been severely hampered by regional beliefs in witchcraft. Other severe medical conditions whose treatment is hampered in this way include tuberculosis, leprosy, epilepsy, the word witchcraft derives from the Old English wiccecræft, a compound of wicce and cræft. This definition was pioneered in a study of central African magical beliefs by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, European witchcraft is seen by historians and anthropologists as an ideology for explaining misfortune, however, this ideology has manifested in diverse ways, as described below. Some modern commentators believe the malefic nature of witchcraft is a Christian projection, many examples appear in early texts, such as those from ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Malicious magic users can become a cause for disease, sickness in animals, bad luck, sudden death, impotence. Witchcraft of a benign and socially acceptable sort may then be employed to turn the malevolence aside. The folk magic used to identify or protect against malicious magic users is often indistinguishable from that used by the witches themselves, there has also existed in popular belief the concept of white witches and white witchcraft, which is strictly benevolent. Many neopagan witches strongly identify with this concept, and profess ethical codes that prevent them from performing magic on a person without their request. Probably the most obvious characteristic of a witch was the ability to cast a spell, spell being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a set of words, a formula or verse, or a ritual action, or any combination of these. Strictly speaking, necromancy is the practice of conjuring the spirits of the dead for divination or prophecy – although the term has also applied to raising the dead for other purposes
38.
Donald Ross (golfer)
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Donald James Ross was a golf course designer. He was born in Dornoch, Scotland, but became a citizen of and he was involved in designing or redesigning around 400 courses from 1900–1948, laying the foundation for Americas golf industry. In 1900 he was appointed as the professional at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina. He had a playing career, winning three North and South Opens and two Massachusetts Opens, and finishing fifth in the 1903 U. S. Open and eighth in the 1910 Open Championship. As his fame grew, he began to teach and play less and to focus on golf course design, running a substantial practice with offices in Little Compton. At its height, Donald J. Ross and Associates, as his practice was known, however, Ross always kept up his professional golf standing. His brother Alec won the 1907 U. S. Open, rosss most famous designs are Pinehurst No. 2, Aronimink Golf Club, East Lake Golf Club, Seminole Golf Club, Oak Hill, Memphis Country Club, Inverness Club, some of his early work was in Virginia and includes Jefferson Lakeside Country Club and Sewells Point Golf Course. He also designed the Municipal Golf Course at Asheville, North Carolina in 1927 and he displayed great attention to detail. Often he created challenging courses with very little earth moving, according to Jack Nicklaus and he also designed a 9-hole course in northern New York, known as the Schroon Lake Municipal Golf Club in 1918. He designed the Hope Valley Country Club in Durham, North Carolina in 1927, Ross often created holes which invited run-up shots but had severe trouble at the back of the green, typically in the form of fallaway slopes. In the 1930s he revolutionized greenskeeping practices in the Southern United States when he oversaw the transition of the surfaces at Pinehurst No.2 from oiled sand to Bermuda grass. Ross also designed the course at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, currently, Sedgefield Country Club is the only regular Donald Ross design on the PGA Tour. Aronimink Golf Club, located in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, played host to the AT&T National in 2010 and 2011, Ross was a founding member and first president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, which was formed at Pinehurst in 1947. He was admitted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977, Ross died while completing his final design at Raleigh Country Club in North Carolina. Ross is buried in Newton Cemetery in Newton, Massachusetts, Ross played in the U. S. Open and The Open Championship
39.
Greenskeeper
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A greenkeeper is a person responsible for the care and upkeep of a golf course or a sport turf playing surface. A professional who maintains a golf course or country clubs grounds and this includes all cultural practices along with setting of pins and marking of hazards for regular club play along with tournament play. Greenkeepers work under the direction of the Golf Course Superintendent or Director of Golf Course Operations, for a greenkeeper, it is more important to have experience and capability than formal education. Greenkeepers measure the speed of golf greens with a stimpmeter, the Stimpmeter is used to compare greenspeed within a facility to ensure consistency. Stimpmeter readings should not be used to one facility to another, many factors including design, undulation. The tool measures how fast a green allows the ball to travel. Setting pins and tee markers is the one part of the job that differ from the job of other groundskeepers, otherwise, most groundskeeping tasks are nearly the same. Many people who have played golf, know that the hole, when setting or moving the pins on greens, a greenkeeper must think about these factors all together, * The pin location will affect the golf course difficulty. Turf grass on the green wears and tears around the putting hole. A pin and hole cannot be placed at every place on the green. In most cases, the greenkeeper that sets the greens pins also moves, the tee markers are the pieces stuck in the ground that mark the line from which to tee-off or strike the golf ball. Almost every golf course is measured and rated according to yards / distance, because of this, it is wise to keep the accumulative yardage for daily play close to the rating for the course. There is no number of yards to guide greenkeepers for each days moving of the pins. Its a judgement call, an estimation, a course should be measured from the medal plate of the tee to the centre of the golf green following the center of the fairways. The actual distance of the hole may be longer, with a pin at the rear of the green. If a greenkeeper sets several golf green pins back behind the center of the green, its logical and reasonable to set some other greens pins in front of the green center, on the fairway side. In similar fashion – not in reference to yardage – some pins should be placed on the left of the green, some on the right, for general daily golf play, some pin placements should be easy, some medium and some hard. Interestingly, the closer the pin is to the fairway does not mean an easier shot, in that case, the rear of the green may be the easier pin placement even though the distance is greater
40.
Links (golf)
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A links is the oldest style of golf course, first developed in Britain. The word links comes via the Scots language from the Old English word hlinc, rising ground, ridge and it also retains this more general meaning in the Scottish English dialect. It can be treated as singular even though it has an s at the end and occurs in place names that precede the development of golf, for example Lundin Links, Fife. Links courses tend to be on, or at least very near to, a coast, although the term links is often considered synonymous with any golf course, few golf courses have all of the design elements of true links courses, including being built on linksland. The presence of a seaside location does not guarantee a links golf course, many famous courses that claim to be links do not have all of the necessary characteristics. On the other hand, some courses located hundreds of miles from a coast can have all of the characteristics of a seaside links except for proximity to water, Links courses remain most common in Ireland and Great Britain, especially in Scotland. The Open Championship is always played on courses, and this is one of the main features which differentiates it from the three major championships held in the United States. The first exception to this was the 2004 PGA Championship, which was played on a links course, Whistling Straits, located near Kohler. The 2015 U. S. Open was played at Chambers Bay, a British links-style course in University Place, Washington. I have never seen a seaside course possess such magnificent sand craters and this affects the style of play required, favouring players who are able to play low accurate shots. As a result, successful links golfers learn to control the trajectory of their shots by playing a lower ball flight. Greens on links courses tend to be free of fronting hazards, allowing golfers to bounce the ball into the green
41.
Dornoch Light Railway
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The Dornoch Light Railway was a branch railway in Scotland that ran from The Mound on the Far North Line to Dornoch, the county town of Sutherland. It opened in 1902, having been heavily subsidised by the fourth Duke of Sutherland and it was worked by the Highland Railway. Although it provided a link, the journey to Inverness was circuitous, and the development of road services for goods and passengers led to a steep decline. The Sutherland Railway opened its line to Golspie in 1868, part of a route that eventually connected Inverness to Thurso and Wick, operated as the Far North Line. The Dornoch Firth presented a natural barrier to the direct route of the line, although a crossing at Meikle Ferry would have been possible. However the Duke of Sutherland desired that the railway should come through Ardgay, the line made a wide westward sweep through Invershin and Lairg, and left Dornoch some considerable distance—7 miles—from the nearest station at The Mound. Passengers made their way to the line in an ancient mail coach. The passing of the Light Railways Act 1896 encouraged many local communities to consider whether they could provide a connection for themselves. The Act implied that less formal, low-cost operational and engineering arrangements would be possible, the Dornoch Light Railway Company was formed in early 1897 to build a branch line, it ran north-west to the station at The Mound, and it opened on 2 June 1902. It was the first light railway in the Highlands, and it cost £28,000 to construct, the fourth Duke of Sutherland was its chairman, and contributed £5,000, and gave much of the land free, he had a seat on the Highland Railway board. A prospectus was issued in November 1898, quoting the cost of the line at £30,000, Sutherland County Council offered to contribute £1,000, Dornoch Borough Council put in £500. The Treasury was asked for £9,000, the Highland Railway worked the line. This was not to be taken for granted, the HR wanted to be paid £1,000 for installing the junction at The Mound, although it relinquished the charge later. The guarantee period was reduced to 50 years. The Duke guaranteed the first 15 years and the HR softened its stance, the HR was to be paid the actual cost of working the line. Chisholm and Company of Dingwall contracted to build the line, for £11,573, in November 1900 Chisholms company went bankrupt and work was suspended, and after some delay, a new contractor, Roderick Fraser, took over in July 1901. There were stations at Cambusavie, Skelbo, Embo and Dornoch, a dedicated platform was provided at The Mound for branch trains. There was a ceremony on 2 June 1902, a special train hauled by the Duke of Sutherlands private locomotive Dunrobin
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