1.
Thistle
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Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and these are an adaptation that protects the plant from being eaten by herbivores. Typically, an involucre with a shape of a cup or urn subtends each of a thistles flowerheads. The term thistle is sometimes taken to mean exactly those plants in the tribe Cynareae, especially the genera Carduus, Cirsium, however, plants outside this tribe are sometimes called thistles, and if this is done thistles would form a polyphyletic group. Thistle is the emblem of Scotland and Lorraine, as well as the emblem of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Some species, although not intensely poisonous, do affect the health of animals that swallow more than small amounts of the material, similarly, some species of Silybum that occur as weeds, also are cultivated for seeds that yield vegetable oil and pharmaceutical compounds such as Silibinin. Other thistles that nominally are weeds are important honey plants, both as bee fodder in general, and as sources of luxury monofloral honey products, Thistle flowers are favourite nectar sources of the pearl-bordered fritillary, small pearl-bordered fritillary, high brown fritillary, and dark green fritillary butterflies. Some thistles, have been introduced outside their native range. The thistle has been the emblem of Scotland since the reign of Alexander III and was used on silver coins issued by James III in 1470. It is the symbol of the Order of the Thistle, a chivalric order of Scotland. It is found in many Scottish symbols and as the name of several Scottish football clubs, the thistle, crowned with the Scottish crown, was the symbol of seven of the eight former Scottish Police Services, the sole exception being the former Northern Constabulary. The thistle is also the emblem of Encyclopædia Britannica, which originated in Edinburgh and it is also used to symbolise connection with Scotland overseas. According to a legend, an invading Norse army was attempting to sneak up at night upon a Scottish armys encampment. During this operation one barefoot Norseman had the misfortune to step upon a thistle, causing him to cry out in pain, which species of thistle is referred to in the original legend is disputed. Other species, including dwarf thistle, musk thistle, and melancholy thistle have also been suggested, the thistle, and more precisely Onopordum acanthium, is one of the symbols of Lorraine, together with its coat of arms which displays three avalerions, and the Cross of Lorraine. Lorraine is a located in northeastern France, along the border with Luxembourg. Before the French Revolution, a part of the region formed the Duchy of Lorraine. In the Middle Ages, the thistle was an emblem of the Virgin Mary and it was later adopted as a personal symbol by René of Anjou, together with the Cross of Lorraine, then known as the Cross of Anjou
2.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
Scots Wha Hae
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Burns was aware that if he declared his Republican and Radical sympathies openly he could suffer the same fate. In the 1802 edition, the words and tune were restored. Scots Wha Hae is the party song of the Scottish National Party and it is sung at the close of their annual national conference each year. Bold, Alan, Rhymer Rab, An Anthology of Poems and Prose by Robert Burns, Black Swan, Transworld Publishers Ltd, London 1993, ISBN 0-552-99526-6 Mackay, the Complete Letters of Robert Burns, Ayr 1987. Digitised copy of Scots Wha Hae in James Johnsons Scots Musical Museum, printed between 1787 and 1803, from National Library of Scotland
6.
Scotland the Brave
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Scotland The Brave is a Scottish patriotic song. It was one of songs considered an unofficial national anthem of Scotland. The tune was first played probably about the beginning of the 20th century, the lyrics commonly used presently were written about 1950 by the Scottish journalist Cliff Hanley for the singer Robert Wilson as part of an arrangement by Marion McClurg. During 2006, it was adopted as the quick march of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The Scotland national football team used Scotland the Brave as its anthem for the 1982,1986 and 1990 FIFA World Cups, Flower of Scotland was subsequently adopted by the national football team, after its successful use by the Scotland national rugby union team. Scotland the Brave is a song for pipe bands to play in North American parades. During June 2006, the song rated second in a poll with more than 10,000 votes to determine the nations favourite unofficial anthem. The song was used to represent Scotland in the Commonwealth Games until it was replaced by Flower of Scotland from the 2010 games in Delhi onwards, hark when the night is falling Hear. Hear the pipes are calling, Loudly and proudly calling, Down thro the glen, there where the hills are sleeping, Now feel the blood a-leaping, High as the spirits of the old Highland men. High in the misty Highlands, Out by the purple islands, wild are the winds to meet you, Staunch are the friends that greet you, Kind as the love that shines from fair maidens eyes. Far off in places, Sad are the Scottish faces. Where tropic skies are beaming, Love sets the heart a-dreaming, Longing and dreaming for the homeland again, there was a significant anachronism in Kenneth Branaghs television movie Shackleton wherein some of the characters sang this song. The character Piper from the game Crossy Road plays it on his bagpipes, the song, played with actual bagpipes, is often played at New York Police Department funerals. Patton and his Seventh US Army were already there to meet him, after a short exchange between the rival commanders, Scotland the Brave is struck up again, but is then symbolically drowned out by the American bands rendition of The Stars and Stripes Forever. Scotland the Brave is sometimes used as a fight song by Macalester College. Additionally, a version is sung after a football victory. The Dropkick Murphys song Cadence to Arms off their debut album Do or Die is a reworking of Scotland the Braves melody, the song is among the entrance songs for professional wrestler Roddy Piper during his time in WWE. Dorothy the Dinosaur dances to this song in the Wiggles 1997 videotape Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas, a comic version by The Corries mixes humorous and topical lyrics
7.
Robert the Bruce
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Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce, was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation and he fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotlands place as an independent country and is today revered in Scotland as a national hero. As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his familys claim to the Scottish throne, after submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to the kings peace, Robert inherited his familys claim to the Scottish throne upon his fathers death. In February 1306, Robert the Bruce killed Comyn following an argument, Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306. Bruce defeated his other Scots enemies, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland. In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the Declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotlands status as an independent kingdom. In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, Robert I died in June 1329. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in Melrose Abbey. Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale, the first of the Bruce, or de Brus, line arrived in Scotland with David I in 1124 and was given the lands of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, from his mother, he inherited the Earldom of Carrick, and through his father, a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. The Bruces also held estates in Aberdeenshire, County Antrim, County Durham, Essex, Middlesex. Although Robert the Bruces date of birth is known, his place of birth is less certain, although it is most likely to have been Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, very little is known of his youth. Annandale was thoroughly feudalised and the form of Northern Middle English that would develop into the Scots language was spoken throughout the region. Robert the Bruce would most probably have become trilingual at an early age and he would have been schooled to speak, read and possibly write in the Anglo-Norman language of his Scots-Norman peers and his fathers family. He would also have both the Gaelic language of his Carrick birthplace and his mothers family, and the early Scots language. As the heir to an estate and a pious layman, Robert would also have been given working knowledge of Latin. This would have afforded Robert and his brothers access to education in the law, politics, scripture, saints Lives, philosophy, history and chivalric instruction. That Robert took personal pleasure in such learning and leisure is suggested in a number of ways, as king, Robert certainly commissioned verse to commemorate Bannockburn and his subjects military deeds
8.
Kingdom of England
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In the early 11th century the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, united by Æthelstan, became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The completion of the conquest of Wales by Edward I in 1284 put Wales under the control of the English crown, from the accession of James I in 1603, the Stuart dynasty ruled England in personal union with Scotland and Ireland. Under the Stuarts, the kingdom plunged into war, which culminated in the execution of Charles I in 1649. The monarchy returned in 1660, but the Civil War had established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of Parliament and this concept became legally established as part of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. From this time the kingdom of England, as well as its state the United Kingdom. On 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the Anglo-Saxons referred to themselves as the Engle or the Angelcynn, originally names of the Angles. They called their land Engla land, meaning land of the English, by Æthelweard Latinized Anglia, from an original Anglia vetus, the name Engla land became England by haplology during the Middle English period. The Latin name was Anglia or Anglorum terra, the Old French, by the 14th century, England was also used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain. The standard title for all monarchs from Æthelstan until the time of King John was Rex Anglorum, Canute the Great, a Dane, was the first king to call himself King of England. In the Norman period Rex Anglorum remained standard, with use of Rex Anglie. The Empress Matilda styled herself Domina Anglorum, from the time of King John onwards all other titles were eschewed in favour of Rex or Regina Anglie. In 1604 James VI and I, who had inherited the English throne the previous year, the English and Scottish parliaments, however, did not recognise this title until the Acts of Union of 1707. The kingdom of England emerged from the unification of the early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdoms known as the Heptarchy, East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, Kent, Essex, Sussex. The Viking invasions of the 9th century upset the balance of power between the English kingdoms, and native Anglo-Saxon life in general, the English lands were unified in the 10th century in a reconquest completed by King Æthelstan in 927 CE. During the Heptarchy, the most powerful king among the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms might become acknowledged as Bretwalda, the decline of Mercia allowed Wessex to become more powerful. It absorbed the kingdoms of Kent and Sussex in 825, the kings of Wessex became increasingly dominant over the other kingdoms of England during the 9th century. In 827, Northumbria submitted to Egbert of Wessex at Dore, in 886, Alfred the Great retook London, which he apparently regarded as a turning point in his reign. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that all of the English people not subject to the Danes submitted themselves to King Alfred, asser added that Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, restored the city of London splendidly
9.
Edward II of England
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Edward II, also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the following the death of his older brother Alphonso. Beginning in 1300, Edward accompanied his father on campaigns to pacify Scotland, Edward succeeded to the throne in 1307, following his fathers death. In 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of the powerful King Philip IV, Edward had a close and controversial relationship with Piers Gaveston, who had joined his household in 1300. The precise nature of Edward and Gavestons relationship is uncertain, they may have been friends, Gavestons arrogance and power as Edwards favourite provoked discontent both among the barons and the French royal family, and Edward was forced to exile him. On Gavestons return, the barons pressured the King into agreeing to wide-ranging reforms called the Ordinances of 1311, the newly empowered barons banished Gaveston, to which Edward responded by revoking the reforms and recalling his favourite. Led by Edwards cousin, the Earl of Lancaster, a group of the barons seized and executed Gaveston in 1312, English forces were pushed back in Scotland, where Edward was decisively defeated by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Widespread famine followed, and criticism of the Kings reign mounted, in response, Edward led a short military campaign, capturing and executing Lancaster. Edward and the Despensers strengthened their grip on power, revoking the 1311 reforms, executing their enemies, unable to make progress in Scotland, Edward finally signed a truce with Robert. Opposition to the regime grew, and when Isabella was sent to France to negotiate a treaty in 1325, she turned against Edward. Isabella allied herself with the exiled Roger Mortimer, and invaded England with an army in 1326. Edwards regime collapsed and he fled into Wales, where he was captured in November, Edwards relationship with Gaveston inspired Christopher Marlowes 1592 play Edward II, along with other plays, films, novels and media. Many of these have focused on the sexual relationship between the two men. Debate has continued into the 21st century as to whether Edward was a lazy and incompetent king, or simply a reluctant, Edward II was the fourth son of Edward I and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile. His father was the King of England, and had also inherited Gascony in south-western France, which he held as the vassal of the King of France. His mother was from the Castilian royal family, and held the County of Ponthieu in northern France, Edward I proved to be a successful military leader, leading the suppression of the baronial revolts in the 1260s, and joining the Ninth Crusade. During the 1280s he conquered North Wales, removing the native Welsh princes from power and he was considered an extremely successful ruler by his contemporaries, largely able to control the powerful earls that formed the senior ranks of the English nobility. The historian Michael Prestwich describes Edward I as a king to inspire fear and respect, despite his successes, when Edward I died in 1307 he left a range of challenges for his son to resolve
10.
Battle of Bannockburn
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The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence, and a landmark in Scottish history. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress, occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army, the English king, Edward II, assembled a formidable force to relieve it. This attempt failed, and his army was defeated in a battle by a smaller army commanded by the King of Scots. The removal of John Balliol from the Scottish throne also contributed to the English success, the Scots had been victorious in defeating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, however this was countered by Edward Is victory at the Battle of Falkirk. By 1304 Scotland had been conquered, but in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne, Stirling Castle was one of the most important castles that was held by the English as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by Robert the Bruces brother, Edward Bruce, the Scottish army probably numbered between 7,000 and 10,000 men, of whom no more than 500 would have been mounted. Unlike the heavily armoured English cavalry, the Scottish cavalry would have been light horsemen who were good for skirmishing, the Scottish infantry would have had axes, swords and pikes, with few bowmen among them. The English appear to have advanced in four divisions whereas the Scots were in three divisions, known as schiltrons which were strong defensive circles of men bristling with pikes and his brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward and these archers played little part in the battle. There is firsthand evidence in a poem by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, written just after the battle, most medieval battles were short-lived, lasting only a few hours, therefore the Battle of Bannockburn is unusual in that it lasted for two days. On 23 June 1314 two of the English cavalry formations advanced, the first commanded by the Earl of Gloucester and they encountered a body of Scots, among them Robert the Bruce himself. A celebrated single combat then took place between Bruce and Henry de Bohun who was the nephew of the Earl of Hereford, Bohun charged at Bruce and when the two passed side by side, Bruce split Bohuns head with his axe. The Scots then rushed upon the English under Gloucester and Hereford who struggled back over the Bannockburn, so saying he spurred in between Beaumont and Sir William Deyncourt, and charged into the thick of the enemy. Under nightfall the English forces crossed the stream that is known as the Bannock Burn, establishing their position on the plain beyond it. A Scottish knight, Alexander Seton, who was fighting in the service of Edward II of England, deserted the English camp and told Bruce of the low English morale, in the morning the Scots then advanced from New Park. Not long after daybreak, the Scots spearmen began to move towards the English, Edward was surprised to see Roberts army emerge from the cover of the woods. As Bruces army drew nearer, they paused and knelt in prayer, Edward is supposed to have said in surprise They pray for mercy. For mercy, yes, one of his attendants replied, But from God and these men will conquer or die
11.
Scotland national rugby union team
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The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union, the team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years. As of 27 February 2017, Scotland are fifth in the World Rugby Rankings, the Scottish rugby team dates back to 1871, where they beat England in the first international rugby union match at Raeburn Place. Scotland competed in the Five Nations from the tournament in 1883. In 2000 the competition accepted a sixth competitor, Italy, thus forming the Six Nations, since this change, Scotland have yet to win the competition. Their best finish came in 1991, where they lost to the All Blacks in the third place play-off, Scotland have a strong rivalry with the English national team. They both annually compete for the Calcutta Cup, each year, this fixture is played out as part of the Six Nations, and Scotland last won it in 2008. In December 1870 a group of Scots players issued a letter of challenge in The Scotsman and in Bells Life in London, in front of around 4000 spectators, the Scots won the encounter by a try and a goal to a solitary try scored by England. England later got revenge by winning the match at the Kennington Oval. The Calcutta Cup was donated to the Rugby Football Union in 1878 by the members of the short-lived Calcutta Rugby Club, the members had decided to disband, the cup was crafted from melted-down silver rupees which became available when the Clubs funds were withdrawn from the bank. The Cup is unique in that it is competed for only by England and Scotland. The first Calcutta Cup match was played in 1879 and, since that time, in 1882 the Home Nations Championship, the fore-runner of the modern Six Nations Championship was founded with Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland taking part. Further Triple Crowns wins for Scotland followed in 1901,1903 and 1907, however, Scotlands triumph in 1907 would be the last for eighteen years as the First World War and Englands dominance afterwards would deny them glory. In 1897 land was purchased, by the SFU, at Inverleith, thus the SFU became the first of the Home Unions to own its own ground. The first visitors were Ireland, on 18 February 1899, international rugby was played at Inverleith until 1925. The SFU bought some land and built the first Murrayfield Stadium which was opened on 21 March 1925, in 1925 Scotland already had victories over France at Inverleith, Wales in Swansea and Ireland in Dublin. England, the Grand Slam champions of the two seasons were the first visitors to Murrayfield. 70,000 spectators saw the lead change three times before Scotland secured a 14–11 victory which gave them their first-ever Five Nations Grand Slam
12.
British and Irish Lions
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The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for any of the Home Nations – the national sides of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Lions are a Test side, and generally select international players, the side tours every four years, with these rotating among Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The 2009 Test series was lost 2–1 to South Africa, while the 2013 Test series was won 2–1 over Australia, from 1888 onwards combined rugby sides from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland toured the Southern Hemisphere. The first tour was a venture, and was undertaken without official backing. The six subsequent visits enjoyed a degree of support from the authorities, before the 1910 South Africa tour. In 1949 the four Home Unions formally created a Tours Committee and for the first time, the 1950s tours saw high win rates in provincial games, but the Test series were typically lost or drawn. The winning series in 1971 and 1974 changed this pattern, the last tour of the amateur age took place in 1993. The multi-nation team that is named the British and Irish Lions first came into existence in 1888 as the Shaw & Shrewsbury Team. It was then primarily English in composition but also contained players from Scotland, later the name British Isles became associated with the team. When the team first emerged in the century, it represented the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The team continued to exist after the Irish war of independence and civil war, from the 2001 tour of Australia, the official name British and Irish Lions has been used. The team is referred to simply as the Lions. As the Lions represent two states, they do not have a national anthem. For more than half a century, the Lions have been synonymous with the red jersey that sports the amalgamated crests of the four unions, however, prior to 1950 the strip went through a number of significantly different formats. In 1888, the promoter of the first expedition to Australia and New Zealand, Arthur Shrewsbury, demanded something that would be good material, the result was a jersey in thick red, white and blue hoops, worn above white shorts and dark socks. The tours to South Africa in 1891 and 1896 retained the red, white and blue theme but this time as red and white hooped jerseys and dark blue shorts and socks. The 1899 trip to Australia saw a reversion to red, white and blue jerseys, but with the used in thick hoops. The shorts remained blue, as did the socks although a white flash was added to the latter, in 1903, the South Africa tour followed on from the 1896 tour, with red and white hooped jerseys
13.
England national rugby union team
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The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and they are ranked second in the world by the International Rugby Board as of 20 June 2016. England were the first, and to date, the team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup. They were also runners-up in 1991 and 2007, the history of the team extends back to 1871 when the English rugby team played their first official Test match, losing to Scotland by one goal. England dominated the early Home Nations Championship which started in 1883, following the schism of rugby football in 1895, England did not win the Championship again until 1910. England first played against New Zealand in 1905, South Africa in 1906, England was one of the teams invited to take part in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 and went on to appear in the final in the second tournament in 1991, losing 12–6 to Australia. Following their 2003 Six Nations Championship Grand Slam, they went on to win the 2003 Rugby World Cup – defeating Australia 20–17 in extra time and they again contested the final in 2007, losing 15–6 to South Africa. England players traditionally wear a shirt with a Rose embroidered on the chest, white shorts. Their home ground is Twickenham Stadium where they first played in 1910, the team is administered by the Rugby Football Union. Four former players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, Englands first international match was against Scotland on Monday 27 March 1871. Not only was this match Englands first, but it proved to be the first ever rugby union international. Scotland won the match by a goal and a try to a try, in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh. A subsequent international took place at the Oval in London on 5 February 1872 which saw England defeat Scotland by a goal, in those early days there was no points system, it was only after 1890 that a format allowing the introduction of a points system was provided. Up until 1875 international rugby matches were decided by the number of goals scored, in 1875, England played their first game against the Irish at the Oval, winning by one goal, one drop goal and one try to nil, the match was Irelands first ever Test. England defeated Scotland in 1880 to become the first winners of the Calcutta Cup and their first match against Wales was played on 19 February 1881 at Richardsons Field in Blackheath. England recorded their largest victory, defeating the Welsh by seven goals, six tries, in 1889, England played their first match against a non-home nations team when they defeated the New Zealand Natives by one goal and four tries to nil at Rectory Field in Blackheath. In 1890 England shared the Home Nations trophy with Scotland, England first played New Zealand in 1905. The All Blacks scored five tries, worth three points at this time, to win 15–0, England first played France in 1905, and Australia in 1909 when they were defeated 9–3
14.
Scottish Football Association
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Members of the SFA include clubs in Scotland, affiliated national associations as well as local associations. It was formed in 1873, making it the second oldest national football association in the world and it is not to be confused with the Scottish Football Union, which is the name that the SRU was known by until the 1920s. The Scottish Football Association sits on the International Football Association Board which is responsible for the laws of the game, the SFA is also a member of FIFA and founder member of UEFA. It is based at Hampden Park in Glasgow, in addition, the Scottish Football Museum is located there. Furthermore, Kilmarnock sent a letter stating their willingness to join, one of the most prominent roles of the chief executive is to hire and dismiss Scotland national football team managers. There was also a team, but this was disbanded in 2008. In womens football, there is the full Scotland womens national team, under-19. The Scottish Football Association encourages quality of governance in football clubs through a system of club licence awards, all SFA member clubs are assessed annually in four areas and, if appropriate, awarded a licence at gold, silver, bronze or entry level. As of January 2015, gold-level licences have been awarded to two clubs, Celtic and Hibernian. All clubs in the Scottish Professional Football League are required to be licensed at entry level or above, this has been extended to the Highland Football League and Lowland Football League
15.
Scotland at the Commonwealth Games
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Scotland is one of only six countries to have competed in every Commonwealth Games since the first Empire Games in 1930. The others are Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland has hosted the Commonwealth Games three times, Edinburgh in 1970 and 1986, and Glasgow in 2014. The inaugural Commonwealth Youth Games were held in Edinburgh in 2000, Scotland sent a team of 207 athletes and 85 officials to the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, and won 30 medals. After the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, Scotland was seventh in the tally of medals. Scotland’s most successful Commonwealth medallist is shooter Alister Allan, with 3 Gold,3 Silver and 4 Bronze medals from 1974 to 1994, other successful medallists include athlete Allan Wells and Peter Heatly. Lawn bowler Willie Wood is the first competitor to have competed in seven Commonwealth Games, from 1974 to 2002, host country The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland is the national sporting organisation responsible for entering a Scottish team in the Commonwealth Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games. It is also responsible for organising bids for hosting the Commonwealth Games, the CGCS headquarters is at the Gannochy Sports Centre, on the campus of the University of Stirling. This flag is common for all sporting teams that represent Scotland as an entity distinct from the United Kingdom, from 2010 onwards, Scotland will use Flower of Scotland as the victory anthem. This replaces Scotland the Brave which was used at previous between 1958 and 2006, prior to 1958, Scots Wha Hae was used. The new anthem was chosen in January 2010 by athletes that had selected to participate in the 2010 games. The shortlist of anthems also included Scotland the Brave, Loch Lomond and Highland Cathedral
16.
Commonwealth Games
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The Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, the games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation, which also controls the sporting programme and selects the host cities. A host city is selected for each edition,18 cities in seven countries have hosted the event. Apart from many Olympic sports, the also include some sports that are played predominantly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls. Although there are 52 members of the Commonwealth of Nations,70 teams participate in the Commonwealth Games, the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—also send separate teams. Only six countries have attended every Commonwealth Games, Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, Australia has been the highest achieving team for twelve games, England for seven, and Canada for one. The John Astley Cooper Committees worldwide helped Pierre de Coubertin to get his international Olympic Games off the ground, in 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held at The Crystal Palace in London to celebrate the coronation of George V. In 1928, Melville Marks Robinson of Canada was asked to organise the first British Empire Games, eleven national teams and four hundred competitors took part in six sports. Women competed in the events only. The opening and closing ceremonies as well as took place at Civic Stadium. The 1934 Games had originally been awarded to Johannesburg, but were given to London instead because of the potential for prejudiced treatment of black, seventeen national teams took part, including the Irish Free State. Once again, only six sports were featured in these particular Games, athletics took place at White City and three sports took place at Wembley, at the well established venue of the Empire Pool in Wembley Park, which later became Wembley Arena. The Empire Games flag was donated in 1931 by the British Empire Games Association of Canada, the year and location of subsequent games were added until the 1950 games. The name of the event was changed to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. The first edition of the event was the 1930 British Empire Games in which 11 nations participated, the quadrennial schedule of the games was interrupted by the Second World War and the 1942 Games and the 1946 Games were abandoned. The games were revived in 1950 and underwent a name change four years later with the first British Empire, over 1,000 athletes participated in the 1958 Games as over thirty teams took part for the first time. The 1978 Games in Edmonton marked a new high as almost 1,500 athletes from 46 countries took part, the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia saw the sporting programme grow from 10 to 15 sports as team sports were allowed for the first time. Participation also reached new levels as over 3500 athletes represented 70 teams at the event, at the Games in Melbourne in 2006, over 4000 athletes took part in sporting competitions
17.
2010 Commonwealth Games
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The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events and it was also the largest international multi-sport event to be staged in Delhi and India, eclipsing the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and it was the first time that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the second time they were held in Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998. It was also the time a Commonwealth Republic hosted the games. The official mascot of the Games was Shera and the song of the Games. The President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said that India had made a foundation for a future Olympics bid. Commonwealth games Federation chief Mike Fennell stated that Delhi delivered a fantastic Games, some observers accused sections of the media of bias, unfair expectations, and negative reporting. The final medal tally was led by Australia, the host nation India achieved its best performance ever at the Games, finishing second overall. This was Indias first successful bid for the Games, the bid was Canadas attempt to hold the games for the fifth time. Indias bid motto was New Frontiers and Friendships, the successful 2003 Afro-Asian Games held in Hyderabad was also seen as having shown that India has the resources, infrastructure and technical know-how to stage a big sporting event. Such actions are worthy of emulation by all concerned in Pakistan, I have no doubt that if both sides continue to live by such ideals, one day, sooner than later our generations to come will reap the benefits of and be grateful to those making such contributions. You would certainly be such person, the Indian government stated that it would underwrite the total cost of the Games. In spite of delays and the corruption cases levied on the organisors, commentators stated that they were confident that India will successfully host the games, the BCI was formed to both market the Games and promote Indian business interests internationally. The initial total budget estimated by the Indian Olympic Association in 2003 for hosting the Games was ₹16.2 billion, in 2010, however, the official total budget soon escalated to an estimated ₹115 billion, a figure which excluded non-sports-related infrastructure development. Business Today magazine estimated that the Games cost ₹700 billion, the 2010 Commonwealth Games are reportedly the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever. In response to concerns over the number of trains that pass by the Delhi metropolitan region daily. To expand road infrastructure, flyovers, cloverleaf flyovers, and bridges were built to improve links for the Games, road-widening projects were finished with an emphasis being placed on expanding national highways. To improve traffic flow on existing roads, plans were made to both the inner and outer Ring roads signal free
18.
2014 Commonwealth Games
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It took place in Glasgow, Scotland, from 23 July to 3 August 2014. Glasgow was selected as the host city on 9 November 2007 during CGF General Assembly in Colombo, Sri Lanka, defeating Abuja, england finished top of the medal table for the first time since the 1986 Commonwealth Games, also held in Scotland. Kiribati also won its first ever medal at a Commonwealth Games, Scotland was the first country to consider hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games in 2004, with Scottish cities being invited by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland to consider making a bid. In September 2004, Glasgow was announced as the Scottish candidate city over Edinburgh following an analysis by the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland. In October 2006, the first voting delegates arrived in Glasgow, to inspect the citys existing, Glasgow announced on 16 January 2007, the 17 sports to be included should its bid be successful. Halifax later withdrew its bid on 8 March 2007, following the withdrawal of funding from the municipal government. That left Abuja and Glasgow as the remaining bidders, with Abuja seen as a likely favourite due to the basis of its campaign that an African nation has never hosted the Commonwealth Games. The deadline for submission of bids to the Commonwealth Games Federation. This put Glasgow ahead in terms of the technical comprehensiveness of its bid, each bid city made a presentation to the General Assembly, the order of which was determined by drawing lots. The presentation also included a film narrated by Sean Connery. Abujas delegation was led by General Yakubu Gowon, head of the Abuja 2014 Commonwealth Games bid team, the CGF members later voted for their preferred candidate in a secret ballot. As there were two bids, the winner was announced by the CGF President, Mike Fennel, after the first round of voting. These venues hosted the Badminton as well as Track cycling, the Road cycling and Cycling Time-trial events started and finished at Glasgow Green. Glasgow Green was the venue for Field hockey and saw the construction of a new Glasgow Green Hockey Centre, tollcross International Swimming Centre, was the venue for Swimming events. It already had one Olympic standard 50 metre swimming pool, which was upgraded. The existing permanent seating capacity was increased by 1,000, combined with additional temporary seating there was over 5,000 seats for the Games. Ibrox Stadium, in the South Side, was the venue for the Rugby Sevens tournament, mountain biking was held on the Cathkin Braes in Rutherglen, the Royal Burgh neighbouring the City. The Marathon began and ended at Hampden Park in the South Side, the Clyde Auditorium hosted Weightlifting, whilst the new SSE Hydro was used for the Gymnastics and Netball events
19.
Northumbrian smallpipes
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The Northumbrian smallpipes are bellows-blown bagpipes from Northeastern England, particularly Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. The instrument consists of one chanter and usually four drones, there is no overblowing employed to get this two octave range, so the keys are therefore necessary, together with the length of the chanter, for obtaining the two octaves. The Northumbrian smallpipes chanter having a closed end, combined with the unusually tight fingering style means that traditional Northumbrian piping is staccato in style. Because the bores are so narrow, the sound is far quieter than most other bagpipes and this is now out of print, however. Another description, by Mike Nelson, is currently available and these two accounts differ rather in their objectives, as Cocks and Bryan was based on descriptions of existing sets, notably by Robert Reid, Nelson being a description of his own design. The earliest known description of such an instrument in Britain is in the Talbot manuscript from about 1695, the three drones were in unison with the lowest note, G, of the chanter, the D a fourth below it, and G, an octave below. It has been argued that such instruments were derived from mouth-blown German three-drone bagpipes, the first of these were probably made by John Dunn, and the design was subsequently developed further by Robert Reid and his son James. In practice, beginning players find that the seven key chanter, chanters with more keys permit the playing of tunes with a wider range or with more chromatic notes, and allow access to much of the fiddle repertoire. The chanter has a reed, similar in construction to an oboe reed. This leads to a sound, rich in higher harmonics. As the bore is cylindrical, the odd harmonics are greatly predominant, traditionally, the chanter has been pitched somewhere between F and F sharp, older instruments often being close to modern F sharp. Several modern makers prefer to produce pipes pitched at what Northumbrian pipers refer to as F+, pipes with a tonic of F# are used for solo performance by several pipers now, being brighter in tone than those in F+, without being squeaky. There are usually four drones on a set of Northumbrian pipes and these are tunable, and three will usually be tuned to the tonic, dominant and octave tonic, the other one being shut off. Like the chanter, these have a cylindrical bore. Unlike the chanter, though, the reeds have a blade, they are either cut from a single tube of cane. Sets with five or even six drones have been made since the 19th century, however these are not common, only three drones are usually sounded at once, tuned for instance to G, D and g if the tonic of the tune is G. Sets sometimes have thumb-operated drone switches, allowing players to change key without stopping playing. Occasionally, though rarely, other tunings have been used, for example Tom Clough recommended G, c, g, suitable for tunes in C major, or D, A, d, a, for some tunes in D major
20.
Ewan McGregor
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Ewan Gordon McGregor OBE is a Scottish actor. His first professional role was in 1993, when he won a role in the Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar. Camerlengo Father Patrick McKenna in Angels and Demons, Dr. Alfred Jones in the romantic comedy-drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, and Lumière in an adaptation of Beauty. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for both Moulin Rouge, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. McGregor has also starred in productions of Guys and Dolls. He was ranked number 36 on Empire magazines The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list in 1997, in a 2004 poll for the BBC, McGregor was named the fourth most influential person in British culture. He has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004, in 2016, he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. McGregor was born in Perth, Scotland and brought up in Crieff and his mother, Carol Diane, is a retired teacher of Crieff High School and latterly deputy head teacher of Kingspark School in Dundee. His father, James Charles Stewart Jim McGregor, is a physical education teacher and careers master of Morrisons Academy. He has a brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force. He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and actress Sheila Gish, McGregor attended the independent Morrisons Academy in Crieff. In 1993, six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, the same year, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyths Being Human. In 1994, McGregor performed in the thriller Shallow Grave, for which he won an Empire Award, and his international breakthrough followed in 1996 with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyles Trainspotting, an adaptation of Irvine Welshs novel of the same name. McGregor played the romantic lead role in the 1998 British film Little Voice. While the prequels received criticism from Star Wars fans, McGregors performance was widely acclaimed and his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy. In 2001, he starred in Moulin Rouge, as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman. McGregor reprised his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequel Star Wars, in 2003, he starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down With Love. He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the acclaimed film Big Fish alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman
21.
Magadan
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Magadan is a port town and the administrative center of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the Sea of Okhotsk in Nagayevo Bay in Taui Bay and serving as a gateway to the Kolyma region. Magadan was founded in 1930 in the Magadan River valley, near the settlement of Nagayevo, during the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit center for prisoners sent to labor camps. From 1932 to 1953, it was the center of the Dalstroy organization—a vast and brutal forced-labor gold-mining operation. The town later served as a port for exporting gold and other metals mined in the Kolyma region and its size and population grew quickly as facilities were rapidly developed for the expanding mining activities in the area. Town status was granted to it on July 14,1939, Magadan was visited by U. S. Vice-President Henry Wallace in May 1944. He took an instant liking to his secret policeman host, admired handiwork done by prisoners, Magadan is the administrative center of the oblast. As a municipal division, the town of oblast significance of Magadan is incorporated as Magadan Urban Okrug, ship building and fishing are the major industries. The town has a seaport and an international airport, Sokol Airport. There is also an airport nearby, Magadan 13. The unpaved Kolyma Highway leads from Magadan to the rich gold-mining region of the upper Kolyma River and then on to Yakutsk. The nearest major city available by road is Yakutsk,2,000 kilometers away via a road which is best used in the winter. The principal sources of income for the economy are gold mining. Fishing production, although improving from year to year, is well below the allocated quotas. Other local industries include pasta and sausage plants and a distillery, although farming is difficult owing to the harsh climate, there are many public and private farming enterprises. The town has a number of institutions including the Regional Museum of Anthropology, a geological museum, a regional library. The Church of the Nativity is actually a part of the diocese of Anchorage, Alaska and it is staffed by several priests and nuns. The climate of Magadan is subarctic, winters are prolonged and very cold, with up to six months of sub-zero high temperatures, so that the soil remains permanently frozen. Permafrost and tundra cover most of the region, the growing season is only one hundred days long
22.
Long Way Round
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Long Way Round is a British television series, DVD set and book documenting the 19, 000-mile journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York City on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska, the series aired on Sky 1 from 18 October 2004 –1 February 2005. The riders took their BMW motorcycles through deep and swollen rivers, many without functioning bridges, the summer runoff from the icemelt was in full flow and the bikes eventually had to be loaded onto passing trucks to be ferried across a few of the deepest rivers. The team stayed mainly in hotels while in Europe, North America, and the populated parts of Russia. They visited various sights and landmarks en route, including the Church of Bones in the Czech Republic, the Mask of Sorrow monument in Magadan, and Mount Rushmore in the USA. They arrived in New York on schedule, and rode into the city accompanied by a phalanx of bikers including McGregors father Jim and the Orange County Choppers crew. In addition to McGregor, Boorman, and von Planta, the team had a crew of producers David Alexanian and Russ Malkin. For the journey through Asia they were accompanied by security advisor Sergey. The crew travelled in two Mitsubishi off-road vehicles — a red L200 Animal LWB 4x4 pick-up and a black Shogun Warrior DI-D automatic estate, additional vehicles such as a Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant 4x4 van were also used by the support crew during the Russian/East Asia segment. The vehicles generally followed about a day behind the bikers, meeting them at border crossings, before setting off from London, McGregor and Boorman received specialist training to prepare for the expedition. Operating within hostile and dangerous environments was covered by ex-SAS Major Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, training also covered off-road riding, the Russian language, and motorbike maintenance. They took advice from experts and embassy officials about the more remote countries they were to visit, during the first aid training, McGregor decided they would take a doctor with them on the Siberian part of the trip, where they would be far from medical help. Researchers, dubbed Ewan and Charleys Angels, helped get the team on the road, Claudio von Plantas mother had personally to deliver a new passport from Switzerland for her son, as Claudio did not have enough space in his for all the visa stamps. After off-road tests on KTM and BMW machines, McGregor agreed to go for KTMs, BMW then contributed three BMW R1150GS Adventure all-terrain motorcycles, which were modified to help the team achieve and document their mission. They were also equipped with cameras, microphones and display/viewfinder screens mounted on the dashboards, a customised GPS with specially mapped waypoints in Mongolia and Siberia was crucial in areas with no roads or signposts. When the team crossed from the Czech Republic into Slovakia, they realised that they hadnt received a stamp on their carnet when entering the Czech Republic and this could have led to seizure of their cameras, but a bribe was paid and the team allowed to continue. A similar problem occurred when crossing into Ukraine, border officials insisted on seeing original copies of the vehicle registration certificates, after waiting around twelve hours, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted the checkpoint and insisted that the team be let through. The police in Kazakhstan often insisted on escorting them through the country, the journey became a local news story and the police would bring them to impromptu welcoming parties, usually featuring a television news crew and offerings of fermented milk
23.
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
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The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotlands national symphony orchestra. The orchestra has performed full-time since 1950, when it took the name Scottish National Orchestra and it was awarded royal patronage in 1977. It continued to use the name Scottish National Orchestra until 1991 when it used the title Royal Scottish Orchestra before changing to its present name. It is based in Glasgow and supported by the Scottish Government, formed in 1843 to accompany the Glasgow Choral Union and recognised formally in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra. This was consolidated in the tenure of Neeme Järvi, who led the orchestra through its first complete Gustav Mahler cycle. The second Scot to lead the orchestra, Bryden Thomson, maintained the Nordic link with a cycle of Nielsen symphonies, the RSNOs base is at the purpose-built RSNO Centre. From 1977 to 2015 the RSNOs base was at Henry Wood Hall in Glasgow, the RSNO also performs throughout Scotland, at such venues as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Usher Hall, Caird Hall, Aberdeen Music Hall, Perth Concert Hall and Eden Court Inverness. The orchestra had a recording contract with Chandos Records in the 1980s and 1990s which has recently been re-established. In May 2007, the RSNO made their first recordings with Stéphane Denève, of music of Albert Roussel, the first recording received the Diapason dOr de lannée for Symphonic Music. The second disc in the series was released in 2008, the RSNO Chorus evolved from a choir formed in 1843 to sing the first full performance of Handels Messiah in Scotland, in April 1844. The RSNO Chorus performs in six different programmes in up to twenty concerts across Scotland with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra each year in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen. In addition to its commitment to the RSNO, the Chorus performs independently and has toured worldwide, the current chorus director is Gregory Batsleer. The RSNO Junior Chorus was formed in 1978 by Jean Kidd, since 1994 it has been directed by RSNO Junior Chorus Director, Christopher Bell. The RSNO Junior Chorus has a membership of around 400 singers, the members are taught to sing using the Zoltán Kodály method of training. The RSNOs music director from 2005-2012 was Stéphane Denève, in April 2007, his contract was initially extended through 2011, and in March 2010, further extended 1 year through the 2011–2012 season, after which time his tenure is scheduled to conclude. In January 2011, the RSNO announced the appointment of Peter Oundjian as its music director, as of the 2012–2013 season. Past principal guest conductors, in addition to Alsop, have included Garry Walker, in October 2011, Thomas Søndergård was named the RSNOs next principal guest conductor, as of the 2012–2013 season, with an initial contract of 3 years for 3 programmes per year. The RSNOs current assistant conductor is Holly Mathieson, since September 2016, playing for Scotland, History of the Royal Scottish Orchestra, author Conrad Wilson, published by Collins,1993
24.
Reporting Scotland
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Reporting Scotland is BBC Scotlands national television news programme. The programme first aired on 1 April 1968, with three main presenters based in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen - the best known being Mary Marquis. The programme has gone through a variety of combinations, but since 2008 it has been anchored by one presenter most evenings. Reporting Scotlands current editor is Andrew Browne, ITV Borders news service is shown in southern Scotland and Cumbria. 05pm on weekdays and a sports results programme on Saturdays. The BBC was keen to launch the Scottish News Summary ahead of its new rival in the central belt, Scottish Television. As it turned out, STV began broadcasting the day after the launch of what was the BBCs first regional TV news bulletin. Reporting Scotland was launched on 1 April 1968 - for much of its earlier history, as with the other parts of the UK, the Reporting Scotland news team often contributed reports to the Nationwide programme. When Nationwide ended in 1983, Reporting Scotland was briefly replaced by Scotland Sixty Minutes as part of the news programme, Sixty Minutes. Since that time, the name Reporting Scotland has also used as the on-screen identity for all of BBC Scotlands television news bulletins. Arguably the most famous of the presenters was Mary Marquis. Regular co-presenters included John Milne, who remained with the BBC for many years, Jackie Bird has now presented the programme on a regular basis since 1989, making her the longest-serving presenter. Her 25 years on-air were marked in October 2014, the viewing figures for the main evening programme averaged between 500,000 and 600,000 and have reached a million. The main transmitters for the programme are those at Durris near Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, BBC Scotland moved to BBC Pacific Quay in 2007. Reporting Scotlands first transmission from the new studios was a breakfast bulletin presented by Rob Matheson, the studio backdrop features the live view from cameras mounted on the roof of BBC Scotlands new headquarters on the southern banks of the Clyde. When it opened, the new building at Pacific Quay was one of the most up to date digital broadcasting facilities in the world, Reporting Scotlands on-air look was most recently updated when a new set was built in Studio C at BBC Scotlands Pacific Quay studios. This new look reflects the design of the BBCs network news programmes and it was first seen on screen on 27 January 2014. The programme can also be watched in any part of the UK via the BBC UK regional TV on satellite service transmitted from the Astra satellite at 28, Reporting Scotland at BBC Online BBC Scotland News at BBC Online
25.
Alestorm
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Alestorm is a heavy metal band originally from Perth, Scotland. Their music is characterised by a theme, and as a result they have been dubbed a pirate metal band by many critics. The band formed under the name Battleheart in 2004, after releasing two demos, they were signed by Napalm Records in 2007 and renamed themselves Alestorm. Their debut album was released on 25 January 2008, the bands third album, Back Through Time, was released in June 2011, and their latest record Sunset on the Golden Age was released in August 2014. The new album No Grave But the Sea will be released in May 26,2017, when Battleheart was founded in 2004, they were briefly a six-piece with the line-up, Graham Motion, Stuart Finnie, Tom Mitchell, Gavin Harper, Christopher Bowes, Robin Hellier. Battleheart recorded an independent demo in early 2006, Battleheart played their first live show only five days after the members had met for the first time. Terror on the High Seas, their demo, was recorded the same year. Later in the year, the song Set Sail And Conquer from the demo was featured on Metal Hammers Battle Metal V CD with other bands as Týr, Firewind, HammerFall. In 2006, before recording their demo, a few line-up changes were made. Robin Hellier quit being the lead vocalist, and Christopher Bowes took over this position, bassist Jason Heeny quit from the band and was replaced by Dani Evans. Original drummer Graham Motion died after falling from the Queens Bridge in Perth, Scotland and its unknown if that was an accident or suicide. He was only 20 years old, after Graham Motions death, he was replaced by Doug Swierczek, who quit from the band a year later and was in turn replaced by Ian Wilson. After being signed by Napalm Records, the changed their name to Alestorm. The name change was due to the name Battleheart not fitting the bands style accurately and their debut album, Captain Morgans Revenge, was released in early 2008. The song Captain Morgans Revenge was also featured on Metal Hammers Battle Metal VI, in April 2008, the single Heavy Metal Pirates was released as a digital download. Ian Wilson left Alestorm temporarily in June of that year because he was unable to commit to the band. He was temporarily replaced by German Alex Tabisz, before rejoining the band in late August, by September 2008, guitarist Gavin Harper had left the band. Tim Shaw was Harpers replacement, but after a period of touring, was fired from the band
26.
The Real McKenzies
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The Real McKenzies is a Canadian Celtic punk band founded in 1992 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are one of the founders of the Celtic punk movement, in addition to writing and performing original music, Real McKenzies perform traditional Scottish songs, giving them a new punk-influenced sound. They have shared stages with other bands including Rancid, Shane MacGowan, DragStrip Riot, NOFX, Flogging Molly, Xcrosscheckx, The Misfits, Metallica. Founding member Paul McKenzie has been the only consistent member of the band since its inception, McKenzie claims as many as 100 different musicians have performed as members of the band. Of considerable note is piper Alan Raven MacLeod, of the pioneering Scottish folk band The Tannahill Weavers and Bourne, McKenzie said in 2014 that he fired all the Americans in the band and returned to full Canadian lineup. Despite that claim, Aspy Luison is from Cambre, Galicia, in September 2014 the band announced they would be recording their next album for Fat Wreck Chords at Motor Studio in San Francisco. Michael Fat Mike Burkett will be producing the album, on April 7,2015 Fat Wreck Chords released The Real McKenzies 11th album, Rats in the Burlap. Their previous album, Westwinds, was released on March 27,2012 with Fat Wreck Chords, a biography of the band, written by Chris Walter and titled Under the Kilt, The Real McKenzies Exposed, was released in early 2015. In the 1990s, the Real McKenzies music was used by InBev to promote Kokanee beer and their song Tae the Battle appeared in the 2008 British-Canadian film Stone of Destiny. Live From Europe, Deconstruction Tour 2003
27.
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
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The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games took place on the evening of Friday 27 July in the Olympic Stadium, London. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal opening of this international sporting event with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nations culture. The 2012 Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II, the spectacle was entitled Isles of Wonder and directed by Academy Award-winning British film director Danny Boyle. Prior to London 2012 there had been considerable apprehension about Britains ability to stage a ceremony that could reach the standard set at the Beijing Summer Games of 2008. The 2008 ceremony had been noted for its scale, extravagance and expense, hailed as the greatest ever, in contrast, London spent an estimated £27m, which was nevertheless about twice the original budget. Nonetheless, the London opening ceremony was seen as a tremendous success, widely praised as a masterpiece. The ceremony began at 21,00 BST and lasted almost four hours and it was watched by an estimated worldwide television audience of 900 million, becoming the most-viewed Olympic opening ceremony in both the UK and US. The content had largely been kept secret before the performance, despite involving thousands of volunteers, two shorter sections drew particular comment, involving a filmed cameo appearance of the Queen, and a live performance by the London Symphony Orchestra joined by comedian Rowan Atkinson. These were widely ascribed to Britains sense of humour, the ceremony featured children and young people in most of its segments, reflecting the inspire a generation aspiration of Londons original bid for the Games. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games approached Danny Boyle to be the director of the ceremony in June 2010 and he said it felt weirdly more like a. civic or national responsibility to take the job. He said. obviously Im not going to try and build on Beijing and we cant, and you wouldnt want to, so were going back to the beginning. Were going to try and give the impression that were rethinking and restarting, theyve tried to top themselves each time and you cant do that after Beijing. Beijings budget had been £65m, whereas Londons final budget was £27m, the London stadium had the same number of seats as Beijings, but was half the size, this intimacy of scale meant that Boyle felt he could achieve something personal and connecting. K. Chesterton aphorism, The world shall not for lack of wonders. In July 2010 Boyle started brainstorming ideas with designer Mark Tildesley, writer Frank Cottrell Boyce and they considered what was essentially British, with the non-British Larlarb able to offer a view of what the world thought Britain meant. Cottrell Boyce had given Boyle a copy of Pandaemonium, by Humphrey Jennings and it had become traditional during the opening ceremony to produce the Olympic rings in a spectacular manner. Boyle decided that the journey from the pastoral to the industrial, at the same time the team moved to the Three Mills studio complex in east London, where a 4x4 metre scale model of the stadium was built. For security reasons, a single CGI-assisted version of the ceremony was kept on editor Sascha Dhillons laptop, the cast included professional performers and 7,500 volunteers
28.
Edinburgh Castle
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Edinburgh Castle is a historic fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position on the Castle Rock. Archaeologists have established human occupation of the rock since at least the Iron Age, there has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century the residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison. Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1100-year-old history, giving it a claim to having been the most besieged place in Great Britain, few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The castle also houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial, the British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative. Some of the buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation as a tourist attraction. The castle, in the care of Historic Scotland, is Scotlands most-visited paid tourist attraction, the castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano, which is estimated to have risen about 350 million years ago during the lower Carboniferous period. The Castle Rock is the remains of a pipe, which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock before cooling to form very hard dolerite. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation. The summit of the Castle Rock is 130 metres above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south, west and north and this means that the only readily accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently. The defensive advantage of such a site is self-evident, but the geology of the rock also presents difficulties, archaeological investigation has yet to establish when the Castle Rock was first used as a place of human habitation. There is no record of any Roman interest in the location during General Agricolas invasion of northern Britain near the end of the 1st century AD. Ptolemys map of the 2nd century AD shows a settlement in the territory of the Votadini named Alauna, meaning rock place and this could, however, refer to another of the tribes hill forts in the area. The Orygynale Cronykil of Andrew of Wyntoun, a source for Scottish history, names Ebrawce. According to the chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Ebraucus had fifty children by his twenty wives, and was the founder of Kaerebrauc, Alclud. The 16th-century English writer John Stow, credited Ebraucus with building the Castell of Maidens called Edenbrough in 989 BC, the name Maidens Castle occurs frequently up until the 16th century. It appears in charters of David I and his successors, although the reason for it is not known. According to the 17th-century antiquarian Father Richard Hay, the maidens were a group of nuns, however, this story was considered apocryphal by the 19th-century antiquarian Daniel Wilson and has been ignored by historians since
29.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
30.
BBC Sport
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BBC Sport is a department of the BBC North division providing national sports coverage for BBC Television, radio and online. Results, analysis and coverage is also added to the BBC Sport Website, the BBC has broadcast sport for several decades under individual programme names and coverage titles. Grandstand was one of the more notable Sport programmes, broadcasting sport since the launch in 1958. This practice continued throughout the two decades. Upon the launch of the BBC News website in 1997, sport was included in the BBCs online presence for the first time, in May 2007, the BBC Trust approved plans for several BBC departments, including BBC Sport, to be moved to a new development in Salford. The new development at MediaCityUK marks a major decentralisation of BBC departments from London, the department moved into Quay House, MediaCityUK gradually in late 2011 and early 2012 with the first Sports bulletins being broadcast from the new BBC Sport Centre on 5 March 2012. The BBC shares the rights to the FIFA World Cup with ITV, a near equal split of group stage and knockout stage games are shown, including a semi final and the final is shown on both networks. The BBC shows highlights of the Premier League on Match of the Day which has been hosted by Gary Lineker since 1999, Match of the Day 2 and Match of the Day 2 Extra, are presented by Mark Chapman. Dan Walker hosts Football Focus every Saturday lunchtime before Jason Mohammad presents Final Score every Saturday afternoon, the BBC also broadcasts live coverage of the FA Cup and will do so until 2018. BBC Sport currently holds the rights to broadcast the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, the Wimbledon contract has been held by the BBC since 1937 and the current contract lasts until 2017 making it the longest such contract in the world. The BBC produce over 900 hours of footage that is distributed to broadcasters in 159 different countries, BBC Wimbledon coverage is presented by former British number one and 1976 French Open Champion Sue Barker. Matches are broadcast live on BBC One, BBC Two, the Red Button, highlights are also shown on the long-running Today at Wimbledon, presented by Clare Balding, who replaced John Inverdale in 2015. The same year, the programme was renamed Wimbledon 2day, with a new lighthearted magazine format, but after one year. Regular tournament weather updates are provided by Carol Kirkwood, the BBC also broadcasts two traditional Grass warm up events in the fortnight before the Wimbledon Championships. First is the AEGON Championships from Queens Club, which takes two weeks before Wimbledon. Coverage is led by Sue Barker with commentary by Andrew Castle, Andrew Cotter, the following week is the WTA AEGON International event from Eastbourne. In 2015, coverage was introduced by John Inverdale and Lee McKenzie with commentary from Andrew Cotter, Sam Smith, both events are primarily shown on BBC Two. The BBC also shares broadcasting coverage of the ATP World Tour Finals with Sky Sports, showing one afternoon match per day including one semi-final and the final which are usually shown on BBC Two
31.
The Herald (Glasgow)
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The Herald is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. The Herald is the longest running newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The newspaper was founded by an Edinburgh-born printer called John Mennons in January 1783 as a publication called the Glasgow Advertiser. Mennons first edition had a scoop, news of the treaties of Versailles. War had ended with the American colonies, he revealed, the Herald, therefore, is as old as the United States of America, give or take an hour or two. The story was, however, only carried on the back page, Mennons, using the larger of two fonts available to him, put it in the space reserved for late news. In 1802, Mennons sold the newspaper to Benjamin Mathie and Dr James McNayr, former owner of the Glasgow Courier, along with the Mercury, was one of two papers Mennons had come to Glasgow to challenge. Mennons son Thomas retained an interest in the company, the new owners changed the name to The Herald and Advertiser and Commercial Chronicle in 1803. In 1805 the name changed again, time to The Glasgow Herald when Thomas Mennons severed his ties to the paper, from 1836 to 1964 The Herald was owned by George Outram & Co. becoming the first daily newspaper in Scotland in 1858. The company took its name from the editor of 19 years, George Outram. Outram was an early Scottish nationalist, a member of the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, any man calling himself a Scotsman should enrol in the National Association, said The Herald. In 1895, the moved to a building in Mitchell Street designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. In 1980, the moved to offices in Albion Street in Glasgow into the former Scottish Daily Express building. It is now based at in a building in Renfield Street. One of the most traumatic episodes in the history of The Herald was the battle for control, millionaires Hugh Fraser and Roy Thomson, whose newspaper empire included The Heralds archrival, The Scotsman, fought for control of the title for 52 days. Sir Hugh Fraser was to win, the papers then editor James Holburn was a disapproving onlooker The Labour Party condemned the battle as big business at its worst. The newspaper changed its name to The Herald on 3 February 1992, dropping Glasgow from its title and that same year the title was bought by Caledonia Newspaper Publishing & Glasgow. In 1996 was purchased by Scottish Television, as of 2013 the newspaper along with its related publications, the Evening Times and Sunday Herald, were owned by the Newsquest media group
32.
National anthem
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The majority of national anthems are either marches or hymns in style. The countries of Latin America tend towards more operatic pieces, while a handful of countries use a simple fanfare, a national anthem is usually in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Amhrán na bhFiann, the anthem of the Republic of Ireland, was written in English, the current national anthem of South Africa is unique in that five of the countrys eleven official languages are used in the same anthem. One of the two national anthems of New Zealand, God Defend New Zealand, is commonly now sung with the first verse in Māori. The tune is the same but the words are not a translation of each other. God Bless Fiji has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other, although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events. There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their anthems, one of these is the Marcha Real, the anthem of Spain. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held, other anthems with no words include Inno Nazionale della Repubblica, the anthem of San Marino, and that of Kosovo, entitled Europe. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, the oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the Wilhelmus. It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt, but did not become the anthem until 1932. The Japanese anthem, Kimigayo, has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, in contrast, the music of Qaumi Taranah, Pakistans national anthem was composed in 1949, preceding its lyrics, which were written in 1952. The Philippine anthem Lupang Hinirang was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire, the Spanish poem Filipinas was written the following year to serve as the anthems lyrics, the current Tagalog version dates to 1962. Spains national anthem, the Marcha Real, written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast, in 1780, and La Marseillaise, Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – Rise up, Serbia. – in 1804. Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu, the anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifically commissioned. It was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963 to serve as the anthem after independence from the United Kingdom, National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a countrys anthem and these usually involve military honours, standing up/rising, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal, there may also be royal anthems, presidential anthems, state anthems etc. for special occasions
33.
Sovereign state
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A sovereign state is, in international law, a nonphysical juridical entity that is represented by one centralized government that has sovereignty over a geographic area. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defined territory, one government, and it is also normally understood that a sovereign state is neither dependent on nor subjected to any other power or state. The existence or disappearance of a state is a question of fact, States came into existence as people gradually transferred their allegiance from an individual sovereign to an intangible but territorial political entity, of the state. States are but one of political orders that emerged from feudal Europe, others being city states, leagues. Westphalian sovereignty is the concept of sovereignty based on territoriality. It is a system of states, multinational corporations. Sovereignty is a term that is frequently misused and that position was reflected and constituted in the notion that their sovereignty was either completely lacking, or at least of an inferior character when compared to that of civilised people. Lassa Oppenheim said There exists perhaps no conception the meaning of which is more controversial than that of sovereignty. It is a fact that this conception, from the moment when it was introduced into political science until the present day, has never had a meaning which was universally agreed upon. In the opinion of H. V. Evatt of the High Court of Australia, sovereignty is neither a question of fact, nor a question of law, but a question that does not arise at all. The right of nations to determine their own status and exercise permanent sovereignty within the limits of their territorial jurisdictions is widely recognized. The Westphalian model of sovereignty has increasingly come under fire from the non-west as a system imposed solely by Western Colonialism. What this model did was make religion a subordinate to politics and this system does not fit in the Islamic world because concepts such as separation of church and state and individual conscience are not recognised in the Islamic religion as social systems. Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, religion, language, origins, however, the adjectives national and international are frequently used to refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly sovereign states, as in national capital, international law. State refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory, State recognition signifies the decision of a sovereign state to treat another entity as also being a sovereign state. Recognition can be expressed or implied and is usually retroactive in its effects. It does not necessarily signify a desire to establish or maintain diplomatic relations, There is no definition that is binding on all the members of the community of nations on the criteria for statehood. In actual practice, the criteria are mainly political, not legal, in international law, however, there are several theories of when a state should be recognised as sovereign
34.
Himni i Flamurit
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Himni i Flamurit is the national anthem of Albania. The music of the anthem was adapted from a composition by the Romanian composer Ciprian Porumbescu. Whereas the words were written by the Albanian poet Asdreni, and are different from the original Romanian lyrics which Andrei Barseanu wrote for Porumbescus piece. The hymn was first published as a poem in Liri e Shqipërisë, the original title of the poem was Betimi mi flamur. It was later printed in a volume of poems by Drenova titled Ëndra e lotë and this is also explained by Porumbescus musical formation, since he had studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. The view has been shared by Albanian musicologist, Ramadan Sokoli, there are two versions of the anthem, a long and a short one. Below is the text for the long version, the second stanza is considered as refrain and is repeated at the end. The short version makes use of the first two stanzas only and repeats the last two verses of the 2nd stanza, usually, in sportive events among national teams, the short version is the one officially used. Himni Kombëtar i Republikës së Shqipërisë Albania, Himni i Flamurit - Audio of the anthem of Albania, with information
35.
El Gran Carlemany
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El Gran Carlemany is the national anthem of the Principality of Andorra. Enric Marfany Bons composed the music, while the lyrics were authored by Joan Benlloch i Vivó and it was adopted as the national anthem on September 8,1921, which is also the national day of Andorra. The lyrics make reference to several key aspects of Andorran culture and history, El Gran Carlemany was composed by Enric Marfany Bons, who was a priest. The lyrics to the song were penned by Juan Benlloch i Vivó and this position also made him an ex officio Co–Prince of Andorra. The song was designated as the countrys national anthem on September 8,1921. The day it was adopted – September 8 – is the National Day of Andorra and this coincides with the feast day of Our Lady of Meritxell, the countrys patron saint who is mentioned in the lyrics. The lyrics of El Gran Carlemany give an account of Andorras history in a first-person narrative. It formed part of the Marca Hispanica, a buffer zone formed by Charlemagne in order to protect his state, according to legend, he was responsible for restructuring the country, reintroducing Christianity to its people and overseeing the construction of monasteries. Because of these accomplishments, he was given an aura and is regarded as the founder of Andorra. Recording by the New Japan Philharmonic
36.
Mer Hayrenik
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Mer Hayrenik is the national anthem of the Republic of Armenia. Adopted on 1 July 1991, it was also the anthem of the First Republic of Armenia. The lyrics of the anthem are adapted from a version of Song of an Italian girl by Mikael Nalbandian, later set to music by composer Barsegh Kanachyan. Mer Hayrenik is based on the first, third, fourth and sixth stanzas of the original poem The Song of an Italian Girl. info, includes midi, lyrics, a music sheet
37.
Land der Berge, Land am Strome
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Land der Berge, Land am Strome is the national anthem of Austria. Nineteen days before his death on 5 December 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his last complete work, in parts of the printed edition of this cantata there appeared the song K. 623a Lasst uns mit geschlungnen Händen. To this melody the Austrian national anthem is sung, today, Mozarts authorship is regarded as dubious and the song is attributed to Johann Holzer. The lyrics were written by Paula von Preradović, one of the few women to have written lyrics for a national anthem, on 22 October 1946, it was declared Austrias official national anthem. On 1 January 2012, parts of the lyrics were changed to make the anthem gender-neutral, before the World War II Anschluss, Austrias anthem was Sei gesegnet ohne Ende, to the tune of Haydns Gott erhalte, the anthem of imperial Austria since 1797. The Lied der Deutschen uses the tune, but with different words. To avoid the association, and because singing it was banned for a time after the war, original lyrics had the line Heimat bist du großer Söhne instead of Heimat großer Töchter und Söhne on first verse as well as Brüderchören instead of Jubelchören on third verse. It is said that, the evening after von Preradović learned that her lyrics were chosen for the national anthem, her sons, Otto and Fritz Molden. According to Peter Diem, who graduated in 1955, then the first two of these lines in the Viennese schools were popular, since the 1990s, several attempts have been made to modify the lyrics to use more gender-neutral language. In 2005, Womens Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat from the Austrian Peoples Party stated her objection to the sons, fraternal and Fatherland in the lyrics. Her proposal met resistance by Austrias largest newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung, and failed to gain support from the then coalition partner. In January 2010 Austrian pop singer Christina Stürmer presented a pop version of the hymn Heimat bist du großer Söhne und Töchter as part of a campaign by the Austrian federal ministry of education, since 1 January 2012 a few words in the anthem are different from before. The line Heimat bist du großer Söhne was replaced by Heimat großer Töchter und Söhne, as a result, the anthem became gender-neutral. Also, the anthem was officially codified in the Bundesgesetz über die Bundeshymne der Republik Österreich, both the law and the notes can be seen here
38.
My Belarusy
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We Belarusy is the unofficial title of the national anthem of Belarus and the first line of its lyrics. Officially, My Belarusy is titled the State Anthem of the Republic of Belarus, the anthem was originally written and adopted in 1955 for use in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The music of the Byelorussian SSR anthem was composed by Niescier Sakałoŭski, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the music composed by Sakałoŭski was kept and the lyrics were discarded. New lyrics, which were written by Klimkovich and Uladzimir Karyzny, were adopted by a decree issued on July 2,2002. The lyrics of the anthem now sing of a friendly Belarus, honoring past military battles, the music was kept due to the historical connections it has to Belarus. My Belarusy was originally used as the anthem of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic starting from February 24,1955, the original anthem was composed by Sakałoŭski and the lyrics were written by Maxim Klimkovich. It was presented in front of a jury in 1944, soon after Belarus became an independent country, the national anthem was modified to drop the Communist-era lyrics. An attempt was made in 1995 to adopt Natalla Arsiennievas poem O God Almighty as the national anthem, the only legal mention of the national anthem before 2002 is in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. Section One, Article 19 of the states that The symbols of the Republic of Belarus as a sovereign state shall be its national flag, national emblem. While the constitution only mentioned the use of the flag, anthem and arms as national symbols, a law introducing an anthem was not enacted until Presidential Decree 350 took effect, on July 18,2002, the day before Belaruss independence day. The decrees main objective was to establish lyrics for the anthem, moreover, the decree designated when, where, and how the anthem was to be performed. However, the first performance took place on July 2 at a concert organized by the government as part of the Belarusian independence festivities. Belarus did not have an anthem before one was adopted in the Soviet-era, when Lukashenko issued his decree selecting a new national anthem, only slight changes were made to the Soviet-era hymn. The organization Freedom House commented on the adoption of the anthem in a report about the country, on page 125 of the Country Report of Belarus, Freedom House says that President Lukashenko has reintroduced the state symbols used by the old Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 2002, the president approved a version of the Soviet-era anthem My Belarusy. In 2003, Dr. Taras Kuzio wrote in Radio Free Europe that President Lukashenko is the quintessential Soviet Belarusian patriot who presides over a regime steeped in Soviet nostalgia, Kuzio said that the motives of Russia and Belarus in re-adopting Soviet-era symbols are part of restoring that nostalgia. The anthem must be performed in accordance with the lyrics and sheet music established by law, every day, state-owned Belarusian television and radio stations are required to play the national anthem upon signing on at 6 a. m. and again upon signing off. The anthem can also be performed on occasions, such as at government meetings, before sporting events
Scotland