November 22, 2019

On Nov. 22, 1869, 150 years ago today, the clipper ship Cutty Sark was launched in Dumbarton, Scotland. Clipper ships were fast, slender sailing vessels. One of the fastest sailing ships ever launched, Cutty Sark was also one of the last in regular service. At the time Cutty Sark was launched, most ships were converting to steam power, ending the age of sail that began in the 1500′s.

The clipper ship Cutty Sark was launched 150 years ago today on Nov. 22, 1869. Credit: State Library Victoria

Cutty Sark was named after Cutty-sark, the nickname of the witch Nannie Dee in the Robert Burns poem “Tam o’ Shanter.” Designed to carry tea from China, Cutty Sark was built on the River Clyde, at Dumbarton. Cutty Sark measured 212 feet (64.5 meters) in length and 36 feet (11 meters) in width. It had a sail area of 32,292 square feet (3,000 square meters), a large area in proportion to its size. Cutty Sark had a maximum speed of 19 miles (31 kilometers) per hour, or 17 knots, a good rate for a sailing ship of the time.

During the years it was employed in the tea trade, Cutty Sark proved exceptionally fast but could not match the speed of its rival, Thermopylae. Later, Cutty Sark became the fastest of the clippers in the Australian wool trade. In 1895, it became the Portuguese ship Ferreira. It returned to British ownership in 1922. In the following years, it was moored first at Falmouth, Cornwall, and then at Greenhithe, Kent, before being removed to Greenwich, in London. It was put on public exhibition in 1957.

In May 2007, a fire broke out on Cutty Sark, damaging parts of the ship’s decks and hold. The Cutty Sark Trust, a charity group that maintains the ship for public exhibition, had been restoring the ship. To make repairs, the group had removed parts of the ship, including the masts, much of the planking, and the coach house. As a result, these parts were spared from the fire. Restoration of the damaged parts was completed in 2012.

July 27, 2018

Last Friday, July 20, the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland hosted a cute and furry gathering to crown a short week celebrating the 150th anniversary of the creation of the golden retriever dog breed in 1868. Hundreds of dogs and their owners attended the “Guisachan Gathering,” named for the Highlands estate where the four-day anniversary event was held. It was at Guisachan that the first litter of golden retrievers was born from a cross of a tweed water spaniel and a yellow flat-coated retriever (also called a wavy-coated retriever).

The golden retriever dog breed was created in Scotland 150 years ago in 1868. Credit: © Micimakin/Shutterstock

Guisachan landowner Dudley Marjoribanks, later known as Lord Tweedmouth, crossed his water spaniel and flat-coated retriever in hopes of creating an ideal hunting companion. That first litter in 1868, kept within the Marjoribanks family, produced ideal companions for all endeavors, and subsequent litters found their way into other hands and, eventually, other lands. (Early golden retrievers were mated with dogs of their ancestors’ breeds as well as with the occasional Irish setter.) Detailed accounts have the first golden retrievers (then called yellow flat-coated retrievers) arriving in Texas in 1882, and in Canada in 1883. By 1925, registered “golden retrievers” were starring in Kennel Club dog shows and making friends and puppies as far away as India and New Zealand. Golden records have been lovingly kept by generations of dog owners, and numerous books detail the breed’s conquering of the pet world.

Events for the 2018 sesquicentennial began at Guisachan on July 16 with a special welcome to the golden retrievers and their fanciers who made the trek to the Scottish highlands. On July 17, a dog lecture and afternoon tea preceded a torchlight procession that ended with a heartfelt toast to Lord Tweedmouth. A seminar was followed by a gala dinner and dance on July 18, and outdoor games and food highlighted Guisachan events on July 19. On the last day of the gathering, photographers crowded the well-behaved field of 361 golden retrievers as they competed in the Breed Championship Show.

The golden retriever is a medium-sized dog. It has won recognition as an intelligent, hard-working hunting dog, as a therapy dog, and as a guide dog for the blind. The golden retriever stands 21 to 24 inches (55 to 61 centimeters) high at the shoulder and weighs from 55 to 75 pounds (25 to 34 kilograms). The dog has a thick, water-repellent double coat of flat, golden hair. It has a friendly, good-natured personality that makes it a popular pet.

January 31, 2018

Yesterday, January 30, people in Lerwick, Scotland, celebrated an annual Viking festival known as Up Helly Aa. Up Helly Aa is a variant of the Scottish Gaelic word Uphaliday, meaning end of holiday. Traditionally, the festival marks the end of the Yuletide (Christmas season), and its origins go back to the days of Viking rule in the Shetland Islands, the northernmost part of the United Kingdom. The festival is famous for its torch-lit procession and the ceremonial burning of a traditional Viking long ship (warship), referred to here as a galley.

Guizers (actors who perform in traditional plays) surround a traditional Viking long ship in the Shetland town of Lerwick during the Up Helly Aa festival. Credit: © Danny Lawson, PA/AP Photo

Lerwick is the main port of the Shetland Islands. Vikings from Norway conquered the islands in the A.D. 800’s. Scotland acquired the islands in 1469, but much Viking culture and tradition remained. Celebrations similar to Up Helly Aa have taken place in Lerwick and other parts of the Shetlands for hundreds of years. In the 1870′s, the hazardous festival practice of rolling burning tar barrels down town streets was banned, and Lerwegians (the people of Lerwick) introduced the official Up Helly Aa soon after. The burning of tar barrels was replaced by a torch-lit procession, and in 1882, the first burning of a Viking galley.

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Up Helly Aa takes place every January in Lerwick, the main port of Scotland’s far northern Shetland Islands. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

Up Helly Aa takes place every year on the last Tuesday of January. The holiday begins with a large breakfast and a march of some 1,000 guizers (actors who perform in traditional plays) in a variety of costumes led by the Guizer Jarl (chieftain) and his select “squad” of Vikings. The procession includes bands and a float carrying a Viking galley built by local tradespeople. Vikings pose for photos, and the town mayor officially gives possession of Lerwick to the Guizer Jarl. The Vikings visit the town’s schools, hospitals, senior citizen homes, and the Shetland Museum.

As night falls, a torch-lit procession illuminates the darkened but crowded streets of Lerwick. The guizers accompany the galley to the local King George V Park, where ceremonial rites precede the literal torching of the ship. After the flames die down, the guizers pass through a succession of halls (private parties) that host events such as dances, comedy acts, and music performances. Vikings and revelers also conquer and overflow local public establishments. The Wednesday after Up Helly Aa is a public holiday in Lerwick.

A competition of shop-window decorations accompanies the Viking festival each year, as does a Junior Up Helly Aa for boys complete with its own procession, galley, and galley burning. Women and girls participate in many Up Helly Aa activities, but they are not allowed to march in Lerwick’s official processions.

March 22, 2017

On Saturday, March 18, the Irish men’s national Rugby Union team defeated the English team 13-9 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The win was satisfying for Ireland and the majority of the 51,700 fans in attendance, but it was England that still came out on top, winning its second-straight Six Nations Championship title. The Six Nations is an annual tournament that also includes the national rugby teams of France, Italy, Scotland, and Wales. The popular rough-and-tumble tournament is one of the biggest outside the Rugby World Cup (last won by New Zealand—in England—in 2015). The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has sponsored the tournament—officially called the RBS 6 Nations—since 2003.

On March 18, 2017, England’s Anthony Watson (in white) and Jared Payne of Ireland compete for a high ball during Ireland’s 13-9 victory at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Credit: © Shaun Botterill, Getty Images

Ireland controlled the first half of Saturday’s match. The Irish players kept the ball in their hands 74 percent of the time, clamped down on England’s bruising offense, and scored the day’s only try (akin to a touchdown in American football) en route to a 10-3 halftime lead. Ireland held on during a grinding second half to secure the 13-9 win and second place in the tournament. Irish forward Peter O’Mahony—a last-minute starter because of an injury—won the man of the match award as the game’s outstanding player.

It was England, however, that dominated this year’s Six Nations, barely missing the so-called Grand Slam (an undefeated tournament). If Ireland had not happily stepped in the way, England would have won its second-straight Grand Slam, a difficult feat last accomplished by France in 1997 and 1998. Back then, it was only the Five Nations tournament (Italy joined the fray in 2000), so England’s back-to-back Grand Slam titles would have been the first in the modern Six Nations era. Alas, it was not to be. Saturday’s defeat also prevented England from setting a new record with its 19^th consecutive Test match victory. Test matches represent the highest level of international rugby competition. England instead remained tied with New Zealand’s powerful All Blacks for the all-time record of 18 straight Test wins.

The Six Nations tournament began as a competition among the British “Home Nations” of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in 1883. The 1910 addition of France made it a Five Nations Championship. France bowed out of the tournament in 1932, and the tournament halted altogether during World War II (1939-1945). But the competition returned—with France included—in 1947. Since the modern Six Nations format began in 2000, England has now won the tournament six times. France is second with five championships. Wales has four Six Nations titles, and Ireland has three. Scotland and Italy have yet to win the Six Nations.

Within the Six Nations tournament, other team awards—aside from the championship and Grand Slam—include the Triple Crown, which goes to any Home Nation team that defeats the other three in a given year. The worst team in the tournament “wins” the Wooden Spoon each year. Individual nations also swap annual trophies. The Calcutta Cup goes to the winner of the England-Scotland match. Scotland and Ireland play for the Centenary Quaich (a quaich «kwaykh» is a ceremonial drinking cup), while Ireland competes with England for the Millennium Cup. France and Italy play each year for the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy.

September 19, 2014

Scotland will remain a part of the United Kingdom after yesterday’s referendum (vote) on Scottish independence (known as devolution in Britain).  Turnout for the referendum was very large, with 85 percent of the people of Scotland voting. Experts had expected the final tally to be close, but with 55 percent of the voters casting a ballot against independence and 45 percent voting in favor, it was actually a fairly decisive victory for the “no’s.”

Scotland’s beautiful castles and landscapes will remain a part of the United Kingdom after yesterday’s referendum. (© Marcin Ciesielski/Sylwia Cisek, Shutterstock)

The United Kingdom was formed in 1707 by the Acts of Union of the Scottish parliament in 1706 and the English parliament in 1707. The nations had already shared a monarch for more than 100 years, with the ascension in 1603 of the Scottish King James VI (the English James I) to the throne of England upon the death of his cousin Elizabeth I.

Despite the acts in the 1700′s, Scotland has a long history of trying to maintain autonomy (independence) from its larger neighbor to the south. The Scottish War of Independence fought in the 1200′s by the national hero William Wallace has fired Scottish pride for centuries. (Wallace was the subject of the 1995 film Braveheart.) In the early 1300′s, Scottish king Robert Bruce spent most of his reign trying to keep Scotland free of English rule.

In the late 1800′s and 1900′s, a number of movements attempted to secure either home rule or independence for Scotland. In the 1950′s, a petition requesting Scottish independence—the Scottish Covenant—acquired 2 million signatures but was not acted upon. In the 1970′s, growing Scottish nationalism and the discovery of oil in the North Sea off Scotland’s eastern coast made the idea of Scottish devolution still more popular. In 1979, a Scottish referendum on independence narrowly won by 52 percent to 48 percent, but the vote did not count because turnout for the election had not been high enough. A second winning vote on devolution in 1997 led to the formation of Scotland’s current parliament.

Before the bid for Scottish independence had been defeated, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron had pledged to increase the amount of autonomy enjoyed by the Scottish parliament if Scotland stayed in the Union.

Additional World Book articles:

• Scotland, History of
• United Kingdom (1976—a Back in time article)
• United Kingdom (1978—a Back in time article)
• United Kingdom (1979—a Back in time article)

July 18, 2012

Mummies created over several hundred years from the body parts of different individuals have upended archaeologists’ ideas about the treatment of the dead in prehistoric Britain. The mummies, which are at least 3,000 years old, were discovered beneath the foundations of a prehistoric house on South Uist, an island off the western coast of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. The two bodies are the first direct evidence of mummification in the ancient Old World outside of Egypt.

Archaeologists found the mummies in 2001 while excavating a village, known as Cladh Hallan, that was inhabited from 2200 to 800 B.C. Workers had already discovered the skeletons of a teenaged girl and a 3-year-old child when they came upon two unusual-looking skeletons. These remains–those of an adult man and an adult woman–were curled in a tight fetal position similar to that found in Inca “mummy bundles” from prehistoric South America. Such bundles consist of a body and personal effects wrapped in layers of colorful cloth. Changes in the mineral composition of the outer layers of the bones indicated that the bodies had been intentionally preserved, likely in the acidic environment of a peat bog, for at least one year. Soil and water conditions in a peat bog greatly slow the decay of organic (biological) matter. No intentionally mummified bodies had ever been found before in prehistoric Europe. Since then, archaeologists have found two additional human mummies in England. Holes drilled in the long bones of the arms and legs suggest that the skeletons of these mummies had been strung together.

The ancient settlement of Cladh Hallan, where the composite mummies were found, probably looked similar to Skara Brae (above), a 5,000-year-old village found in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. (Scottish Tourist Board)

While examining the adult skeletons from Cladh Hallan, archaeologists were extremely suprised to discover that the bones actually came from different individuals. The female skeleton consists of a lower jaw from one person; an upper arm bone from another; and a thighbone from a third. The male skeleton consists of a torso and limbs from one person; a skull and neck from a second; and a lower jaw from a third. A DNA analysis of the bones confirmed this finding. Moreover, the skeletons had been assembled over a period of several hundred years–from 1260 to 1440 B.C. and from 1130 to 1310 B.C.

Archaeologist Mike Parker-Pearson of the University of Sheffield, who led the excavation, speculated that the composite skeletons may have been assembled for ceremonial reasons. Another possibility is that they could represent “the merging of different families and their lines of descent,” at a time when ownership of the land was communal rather than private.

Additional World Book articles:

• Bog bodies
• Scotland (Prehistoric Scotland)
• Medical Tales from the Crypt (a Special Report)
• Archaeology 1985 (a Back in Time article)