Interesting Facts about Scotland

-Scotland was the first country in the world to pass a law which said that every part of Scotland must have a school.
-The new Scottish parliament in Edinburgh is very flamboyant and daring-it doesn't look like a government building at all.
-Many of the houses in Charlotte Square in Edinburgh have little upside-down cones attached to the wall. These were called link extinguishers and were used by boys whose job was to escort people home in the dark by the light of a flaming torch. They would plunge the torch into the cone to extinguish it.
- The Scottish national dish, Haggis, is religiously eaten on Burns Night, 25th January.Every year, the birthday of the 18th- century poet, Robert Burns, is celebrated by the eating of a haggis. Burns wrote a poem about this dish ( in his days it was a peasant food and he was extremely fond of it) and it is customary for someone to read the poem aloud before suddenly plunging a knife into the haggis in a very dramatic fashion.
- For most of the month of August, Edinburgh holds a huge arts festival. Some of the acts can be very peculiar and funny: once a comedian did a show in his red Ford Escort car- four people only!
- Before James Bond became the world’s greatest secret agent, he went to school in Edinburgh. James Bond is a fictional character, but the school-Fettes College-is real. Originally Bond was sent to school in England but was expelled and sent to Fettes College instead.
- There is another Bond connection with Fettes College. Sean Connery, who played James Bond in many of the movies, was- among many other things- a milkman before he became a famous actor. And Fettes College was on his milk round.


Interesting facts about Scotland