The Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that style, there is now this regular update on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site including "Scottie's Photo Diary From Scotland".
To receive a text version of this newsletter as a reminder to look at these Web pages when they are published, just send an e-mail to Scottie@RampantScotland.com with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.
Portrait of a Nation
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Queen Street, Edinburgh opened in 1889 and underwent a major refurbishment from 2009 to 2011. The upgrade included improving a frieze which goes round the Main Hall of the Gallery, below the first-floor balustrade. The frieze depicts, in chronological order, 155 men and women deemed, in the late 19th century, as the most significant in Scottish history. Although we may quibble about the selection, it is useful to see the various historical figures with their contemporaries. Many are well known but others may have you doing a Web search to find out who they were! Although photography is not allowed in the rest of the National Portrait Gallery, it is permitted in the main hall. So I've been able to create a Web page in chronological sequence (running backwards in time) of the figures in the paintings. Their names are printed on the frieze but I've added below each picture a list of the characters and what made them famous. It's fascinating to see Adam Smith, the political economist and historian or philosopher David Hume, within touching distance, chronologically, of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites! See Portrait of a Nation
Places to Visit - Riverside Museum
The last newsletter featured graphics and a slide show of pictures from the new Riverside Museum in Glasgow. There are links to these in this latest addition to the "Places to Visit in Scotland" series giving a detailed description of what the new transport museum looks like. There have been criticisms of some aspects of the new facility (for example the "car wall" with the vehicles displayed on ledges high above the visitors) but overall I found the building and its enlarged number of exhibits on display a worthy addition to the city's many attractive museums and galleries. See Places to Visit - Riverside Museum.
Webcams Around Scotland
Periodically I check that the links on various pages on the Rampant Scotland site are still working. I recently found that some of the links to Webcam sites at locations around Scotland were no longer operating and in addition to removing these, I found a number of others to add to the collection. Although those who live abroad sometimes have to be careful about time differences between Scotland and your local time to avoid looking at night time in Scotland, webcams can provide a different view from still graphics - including a snapshot of what the weather is like! See Webcams Around Scotland
Scottish Place Names in Cape Town, South Africa
In the light of feedback and further research, Ian Kendall has updated his article on Scottish-related place names in Cape Town, South Africa. Of the names of the 882 suburbs and neighbourhoods that have been identified to date in Greater Cape Town, 115 (13.0%) can be found in Scotland or are based on Scottish family names or Scottish words. Of course, some of the names are used in other parts of the British Isles as well, but at least 60 of these (6.8%) appear to have a direct or indirect connection with Scotland. For all the background, see Scottish Place Names in Cape Town, South Africa
Next Newsletter
The next newsletter is scheduled for 18 February 2012.
Yours aye
Scottie
Previous editions of this Newsletter are available in an Archive. The Index to the other pages of the Rampant Scotland site is available here.
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