I’ve only seen this in a few museums around the world, but it appears to be a marvellous idea. They’re seats which visitors to the museum can take to sit down wherever they choose, which must be a useful aid to those who can’t stand for long periods of time or those who just want a little rest…..
There was a video on Scottish politics showing at the National Museum of Scotland, covering primarily television coverage of major political events from over the last few decades. It seemed fair in its reporting, although it didn’t have all the politicians that I would have hoped it would have done.
It’d have been hard to make a video about Scottish politics without mentioning John Smith, one of the best respected politicians from the country who sadly died mid-career.
The community charge was introduced in Scotland in 1989 and in England and Wales in 1990. The idea to start the tax earlier in the country was at the behest of George Younger, the then Secretary of State for Scotland. Although the plan was more to trail-blaze the tax to show it worked, this didn’t prove to be the best of ideas…..
Donald Dewar, the first holder of the First Minister of Scotland role, and I’ll imagine he’ll go down in history as one of the fathers of the nation.
And Margaret Thatcher, when she gave a speech to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in May 1988. It was controversial to say the least, although that was probably its intention, and it sought to make the Christian case for capitalism and the importance of the market economy.
Another poor quality photo from Edinburgh, but I can’t keep typing that….. This item is in the collections of the National Museum of Scotland, although it doesn’t appear in their on-line database. Or at least it doesn’t for any search of “Trainspotting” or “McGregor”. Their database is one of the more challenging that I’ve used, most of the exhibits I’ve tried to hunt aren’t in it, although they clearly own them. Fortunately the museum has an entire separate page on their web-site about this script to confirm to me that they do actually own it.
Trainspotting is an iconic film and it was filmed in Edinburgh, with this script being donated by the actor Ewan McGregor. He also donated the poster at the same time in 2007, both of them being displayed in the Scotland : A Changing Nation exhibition at the museum.
The museum say about the book that the film was based on:
“Irvine Welsh’s debut novel, Trainspotting, was released in 1993 and depicts an Edinburgh far-removed from the quaint, historic, picture postcard image familiar around the world, with stories of drug-addiction, sex, violence and poverty. Written with phonetic vernacular dialogue and located around the then gritty port of Leith and the estates of Muirhouse, the book drew on critical acclaim and word of mouth to become both hugely successful and highly influential.”
Another poor quality photo (as apologised for elsewhere), but this is a Sinclair ZX80 in the museum’s science collection. I hadn’t realised, or at least given any thought to, that these computers were actually manufactured by Timex in their Dundee factories. Hence why, or at least I assume why, there’s one of these at the National Museum of Scotland.
The computer was manufactured in 1980 and was one of the first computers really designed for the home, with the sales of this and the ZX81 being substantial. The colour ZX81, later better known as the ZX Spectrum, was the first computer that I remember.
These photos are of a pretty dreadful quality unfortunately, I took them in December 2015 when I visited Edinburgh. A combination of an older phone and Google’s compression of the photos has rather limited any graphic impact which they might have once had.
This is part of a wrought iron girder from the first Tay Bridge which was later discovered built into a residential property in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee in Scotland. This is the bridge which collapsed during a storm in December 1879, unfortunately carrying a train over it when it fell. Around 75 people were killed in the disaster, destroying the reputation of its designer Sir Thomas Bouch.
Bouch had to make quick repairs to his other projects, including some changes at South Esk Viaduct. After he had finished making these amendments it was re-examined and it was decided that the whole thing should be knocked down and replaced. The girder on display at the museum still shows the damage caused to it when the structure collapsed on the night of the storm.
These chess pieces are part of a collection discovered in Lewis in 1831, dating from the twelfth century and being made from walrus ivory. There were 78 chess pieces, so enough for multiple sets, and it’s unknown how they managed to end up on the Outer Hebrides. The best guess it seems is that they were lost during transport from Norway to Ireland, so someone probably managed to lose them over the side of a ship.
Of the 78 pieces, 67 were purchased by the British Museum and 10 were purchased by Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, a Scottish antiquary. He was able to find another bishop piece and these 11 pieces were purchased by Lord Londesborough and later sold by him to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. The Society donated them to Royal Scottish Museum and they’re now on display here. In total there were enough for four chess sets, with all of the other pieces still being on display in the British Museum in London.
