OUR LATEST
BOOK
We are the authors of Scottish History Strange but True. An enjoyable romp through Scottish History. Factual and fun.
Click buttons or scroll down for information on a few of the stories in the book. To get the full story buy the book or come to one of our events.
Page Title
The model for the image of Britannia which has featured on British medals and coins since the seventeenth century was Frances Stewart from Blantyre. She was the (unrequited) loves of King Charles II.
Visit the authors' website for Strange but True Stories, interactive story map and shop. John Napier, 17th century mathematician, commemorated in Napier University, did little to dispel rumours that he was a wizard. He wore a long black cloak, had a long black beard and kept a black rooster as a 'familiar'.
Campbells from Argyll launched an attack on Cawdor Castle near Nairn to capture a young girl. During their retreat they were overtaken. A band of Campbells fought to the death to defend an upturned cooking pot. Under the pot was nothing. The baby was long gone!
When James V went hunting in Ettrick Forest they killed no deer. only a couple of dozen Borderers.
In 1954 gangs of children armed with pointed sticks and kitchen knives swarmed into Glasgow's Southern Necropolis to take down a vampire which had already killed two children.
James VI was keen on the idea of 'plantation'. He supported the occupation of Virginia, Ulster and Bermuda. He also authorised the invasion of the Isle of Lewis by men from Fife.
In 1828 Mary MacIntosh was put up for auction in the Edinburgh's Grassmarket. Appalled women started a riot!
2013 was the first year since then the 1930s that there was not a single sighting of the Loch Ness Monster. Was this the end of Nessie?
Around 1350 a Scottish lord followed a donkey in search of a site for a new castle. The donkey eventually lay down under a thorn tree. The lord built the castle around the tree. The tree died - but it is still there!
Contents
Prologue
Who do we think we are?
Drifting continents – The concept of Scotland – Three Nations – What sort of Celt – Who are the Picts – The Irish Scots - Romans and walls – The Anglish – The Vikings and what they left behind – The Normans – Immigrants – The Irish again – The largest minority.
From Bones to Books
The oldest toilet and other inventions - Scottish Frankenstein – Myths and Legends – Hero in the mountains – An epic fake – The Welsh Scots – King Arthur is Scottish – The Lord of the Isles – Scots in America – King Haakon’s death – Authenticity of the Annals – the two hundred foot woman.
In the Middle of Things
Castles – A donkey decides – First war – The Saltire – Contenders – The Bruce’s portrait – His heart wasn’t in it – His heart is here – Which disease – A Telling tale – Bad for your health – The Battle of the Pot – The Lady’s Rock – The bird man – An island experiment - The Stone of Destiny – The Auld Alliance – The Scottish drink – The Water of Life and Al Capone – Haggis is English.
“It Will Pass with a Lass”
James V gets it wrong – Mary, Queen of Ghosts - Free murder – A Borders hunting party –– a magic cockerel– Witch hunting – The last witches – The Fife adventure.
“A Stony Couch for a Feather Bed”
VI & I – Scots in Ulster – The most successful clan – Ulster-English – The Scottish Britannia – Rule Britannia - A crown in her undies – Scottish pearls - Taken by the Fairies.
“Yer Fauts I Maun Proclaim”
A bonny Prince – His Dad – Told not to come – Ruined and betrayed – Cross dressing – Shut the gate – Laughing his head off – The Bute tsunami – Lamancha – A Spanish troubadour – The great scam – Naval hero – Mungo Park.
An Age of Change
The Great Alarm – Grave robbers who weren’t – A doctor’s comeuppance - Buried alive – Glasgow man galvinised – The case of the canary – Buying a wife – The Orcadian head hunter – Fisherwomen – The tall and the short of it – Lighthouses – William Brodie and Mr. Hyde – The architect who wasn’t.
Freedom!
Glasgow’s slave streets – Petitions – Nae Slavery – Africa’s first freedom fighter – A Cherokee chief – A Scot in India – Scots in Africa.
“A Dangerous Master”
Television, socks and Jam – A Naval disaster – The Glasgow Vampire – The UFO capital – The Livingstone encounter – Nessie is dead – Or maybe not.
Hear us read a sample story
Mary, Queen of Ghosts
Haggis
Laughing his Head Off!
EVENTS
John and Noreen are available to come to a venue near you to tell stories from the book and beyond.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Peebles Arts Festival - September
Edinburgh History Festival - November
Details to follow.
Stanley recommends the book
At the Scottish Storytelling Centre
Our fabulous illustrator
Noreen in the Storytelling Chair
