Roald Dahl

Famous Scots

Do you know them? Did you know they were born in Scotland?

1. James Watt (19 January 1736 – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer who  improved the steam engine. This was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution which brough great changes to his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. He developed the concept of horsepower  and the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him.

2. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and  travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A literary celebrity during his lifetime, Stevenson now ranks among the 26 most translated authors in the world. Leading lighthouse engineer Thomas Stevenson was his father. He found it hard to go to school, mainly because he didn't make friends easily and he was often ill, so he had tutors at home. He had lots of twists and turns in his life. He married an American woman and his health issues took them to live on an island in Samoa where he died at the age of 44.

3. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (known as Tony Blair) was born 6 May 1953 in Edinburgh. He is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007.  He resigned from all political positions in June 2007.

3. Sir Thomas Sean Connery was born 25 August 1930 in Edinburgh. He is a Scottish actor and producer who  is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouachables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The Name of the Rose, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crucade, the Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart and The Rock. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". In 1989, he was proclaimed "The Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "The Sexiest Man of the Century".

4.Ann "Annie" Lennox, was born 25 December 1954 in Aberdeen. She is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s , she and fellow musician David A. Stewart went on to achieve major international success in the 1980s as a group Eurythmics. Lennox is the most recognised female artist at the Brit Awards, winning a total of eight awards. Lennox embarked on a solo career in the 1990s with her debut album, Diva (1992), which produced several hit singles including "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass" To date, she has released five solo studio albums and a compilation album.



5.  Andrew Barron "Andy" Murray was born 15 May 1987 in Glasgow. He is a professional tennis player, ranked World No. 2,  Murray has been ranked as British No. 1 since 27 February 2006. 1. At the 2+12 US Open, he became the first British player since 1977, and the first British man since 1936, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets. At the 2012 Olympic Games, Murray defeated  Roger Federer in straight sets to win the gold medal in men's singles, becoming the first British champion in over 100 years. In 2013 he became the champion at Wimbledon. Murray attended Dunblane Primary School and  was present during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, when Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray took cover in a classroom. Murray married his long-term girlfriend Kim Sears in 2015. The couple own two Border Terriers.

6. Gordon James Ramsay was born 8 November 1966 in Johnstone, though grew up in England. As a teenager he was a keen footballer. He is a celebrity chef, television personality and restauranteur. He has been awarded 15 Michelin stars in total and currently holds 14.
Ramsay is known for presenting TV programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as the British series Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, Ramsay's Best Restaurant, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and several others. Ramsay's reputation is built upon his goal of culinary perfection. The chef has also become infamous for his fiery temper and use of strong language. Ramsay married Tana, a Montessori-trained schoolteacher, in 1996. The couple have four children.

7. Sir William Wallace(died 23 August 1305) was a  Scottish landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. In 1305, Wallace was captured in near Glasgow and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him summarily hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians. Since his death, Wallace has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. Wallace is also the subject of epic film Braveheart.

8. Alexander Graham Bell was born 3 March 1847 in Edinburgh. He was a scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first US patent for the telephone in 1876. 





^{9. Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect.  He also wrote in standard English, and in these his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.} As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmany (the last day of the year), and  " Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.

Scotland

Scotland from lucystardust

Concert Halls, Theatres

Wembley Stadium in London

It opened in 2007 and was built on the site of the earlier Wembley Stadium which was demolished in 2003. With 90,000 seats it is the 2nd largest stadium in Europe and the largest stadium in the UK. In international football, the stadium hosted the Gold medal matches at the  2012 Olympic Games, and will host both the semi-finals and final of EEFA Euro 2020. Record attendance took place 17 May 2008 in a football match between Portsmouth and Cardiff City, though most of the music concerts have been very close to total sell out.

Some of the concerts

• On 16–17 June 2007, Muse became the first artist to sell out the new Wembley Stadium
• On 11 September 2008, Madonna performed
• U2 performed to a record 82,000 fans each night on 14 and 15 August 2009. The U2 360° Tour stage was designed to cater for fans positioned behind the stage.
• Eminem became the first rapper to headline at Wembley Stadium
• One Direction performed at the stadium as part of their Where We Are Tour on 6, 7 and 8 June 2014

O2 Arena

The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of  The O2, a large entertainment complex in Greenwich in London. It is named after its main sponsor, the telecommunications company O2. The O2 Arena has the second-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the UK, behind the Manchester Arena, but in 2011 took the crown of the world's busiest music arena. It has  seats for 20,000 visitors. It took 4 years to build it and was completed by June 2007. Concerts take place weekly, in addition to international and national tennis tournaments, basketball, darts, boxing,  even skating and horse shows, to mention a few. 

One of many  West End theatres

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of "Theatreland" in and near the West End of London. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London. In 2013 ticket sales were 14,587,276. There are about 40 venues in West End. 

Musical Wicked

The longest-running musical in West End history is Les Miserables ("Hüljatud"). It overtook Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, which closed in 2002 after running for 8,949 performances and 21 years.

Prince Albert Memorial

The Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, directly to the north of the Royal Albert Hall. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert   who died of  typhoid in 1861. The memorial is 54 m tall and took over ten years to complete

The Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall  best known for holding The Proms concerts annually each summer since 1941. It has a capacity of up to 5,272 seats. Since its opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from several performance genres have appeared on its stage and it has become one of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings. Each year it hosts more than 350 events including classical concerts, rock and pop, ballet and opera, sports, award ceremonies, school and community events, charity performances and banquets.

The BBC Promenade Concerts, known as "The Proms", is a popular annual eight-week summer season of daily classical music concerts and other events at the Hall. Founded in 1895, each season currently consists of more than 70 concerts in the Albert Hall. Many people's perception of the Proms is taken from the Last Night, although this concert is very different from the others. It usually takes place on the second Saturday in September, and is broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 3 and TV channels BBC 2 and BBC1.  The concert is traditionally in a lighter with popular classics being followed by a series of British patriotic pieces in the second half of the concert. People often wave Union Jacks and wear patriotic clothing or symbols.

The Royal Albert Hall before classical musical concert

Shakespeare's Globe

The first permanent public playhouse, known simply as The Theatre was constructed in 1576. It was soon joined by The Curtain. Both are known to have been used by William Shakespeare's company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to South London where it was used in building the Globe Theatre. 14 years after it was opened, it was destroyed by fire. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately  230 m from the site of the original theatre. It has no roof and only Shakespeare plays are performed from April till September there. It is open to tourists a year round. 

Photos taken by teacher Evelyn

Shopping in London

Harrods at night

Harrods is an upmarket department store in London. It is one of the biggest (and most expensive) department stores in the world and the biggest in Europe. The Harrods motto is: All Things for All People, Everywhere. They claim that every customer's wish will be granted.

A 25-year old Charles Henry Harrod started his first business in 1824. In 1883, his store had expanded and was very successful but it burnt down. Remarkably, Charles Harrod fulfilled all of his commitments to his customers to make Christmas deliveries that year—and made a record profit in the process. In short order, a new building was built on the same site.He knew how to value each customer indeed!

Food store is world-famous.

£200,000 and the bed is yours!

Who can't ride a real horse, can buy a life-size toy.

Today Harrods is always busy. Some people go there just to visit as a tourist attraction, some people do their everyday shopping, some people buy for things they can't get in other stores. In the darkness its 11,500 light bulbs are lit. Every day about 300 bulbs need replacing. 

 

Bath that is covered with real pearls, £199,000

Shopkeeper operating tills in the food hall

Old olympic stuff for sale

A Saturday morning on Portobello Road in January

 Portobello Road is in west London. Every Satruday there is a big market, famous for antiques, bric-a-brac,  second-hand goods. It is the largest antiques market in the UK. On weekdays people can buy food and fruit. The main market area is about 1km long, but there are several stalls in more quiet areas in the neighbourhood.

Spices and pickles

A street in Chinatown

Soho - many cafes, theatres, restaurants and shops

Midnight on Regents Street