Annabel Carothers - Kilcaraig

The Picts do not get much of a mention so I'm going to go into detail of the known history of them. There are no written records, what is known is that they inhabited the north-east and north of Scotland during the Dark Ages and Early Medieval periods. Everything apart from their list of kings is solid speculation. Venerable Bede a monk knew more than anyone on the subject, he writes that they came from Scythia to Ireland, great seafarers, and when they got to Ireland they asked the Irish for land, the Irish gave them access to Scotland, only bargaining with them they should take Irish wives in payment, and forever onwards their kingship shall trace through the female line. It is called matrilineal succession, and the list of kings of the Picts that survives clearly details that the king is traced from the female lineage.

H.May Poynter - A Fair Jacobite

How could one not reflect on the most sensational enigma in the highlands, the Loch Ness monster. The Picts first knew of it, it is not a new ordeal. The Picts believed in magical beings and had druids that used power (most likely sheer intelligence). Columba the Irish monk was the first non-Pict to see the monster and scared it away when it accosted him. Columba then fought the head druids of The Picts with magic to convert the Picts to Christianity. The Picts were set into the seven kingdoms, all named after the children of the king Cruithne. The seven kingdoms were Cait, Ce, Circinn, Fib, Fidach, Fotla and Fortriu.

M.C. Beaton - Death Of An Outsider

Consider it lucky that any information on the highlanders still exists. Longshanks the king of England made sure he destroyed key texts in a cleansing of the people. There was no recorded history of the Picts for a start. The people of the highlands faced oppression with the outlawing of carrying weapons called the disarmament act (even though weaponry is a key part of their cultural dress). They were massacred and the chiefs were replaced with landlords who drove the highlanders off their land for farming sheep. Spread to the far corners where they lived away from their homelands, denied the right to speak their own language and learn about their rich history. Systematic oppression actually tried to destroy their history and turn it into pseudo-history. It is outrageous that a country that was once split in two between the highlands and the lowlands population-wise has been reduced to a barren wasteland.

Queen Victoria - More Leaves From The Journal Of A Life In The Highlands

Robert Bruce, known as the "Outlaw King'' was loved and loathed in his day. He murdered one of his rivals John Comyn in a church and lived his life on the run. His army gathered clans and fought a guerilla war in the highlands, culminating in the victory at Bannockburn. The English thought they could just waltz into Scotland and take it and treat the citizens like they treated the Britons and the Angles. For Bruce, the law went out the window, when you are dealing with the fact that you are fighting for an oppressed people who are being treated like second class citizens. Bruce could back up his bravado with tremendous ability in battle, decapitating knights that would duel with him. A hitherto hero for Scotland, with statues aplenty throughout the country, immortalised in song and prose.

Alison Plowden - Danger To Elizabeth

I visited Edinburgh and went on a Mercat tour of the Royal Mile. It was fabulous and I learned many things like how the streets of Edinburgh were soaked in effluent thrown out by the citizens, and the rich people would charge others to carry them through the streets on little chairs called a sedan chair. Scotland should also be known for its inventions including the steam engine, steam train, television, the telephone and things like penicillin. Scotland also produced one of the richest men to ever live with inflation, Mr Andrew Carnegie who was a railroad tycoon who owned Skibo Castle in the far north of Scotland. Carnegie although possessing massive wealth was known for his philanthropy and donated millions upon millions to charities.

Ian Rankin - Let It Bleed

One thing that is certain is that Lord George Murray had a tremendous ability in warfare that pitted the Jacobites to be a tremendous force to be reckoned with. He was a Protestant and his father actually fought for William of Orange alarmingly. The Duke of Atholl is the title given to the head of Clan Murray, and this was George's father John. He single-handedly won the battle of Prestonpans because he found a guide who knew of a secret path to flank the government forces. George would lead the flank of the Jacobite army personally and with resurgence post-Culloden, where an army gathered to fight, an army bigger than the force at Culloden, but they had no general and the organisation was not there to lead the army, something Lord George Murray would be suited to, it is amazing to think how history would differ given if Murray could have led the second force.

Moray McLaren - Bonnie Prince Charlie

It is incredible to imagine that once the mighty backdrop of the Scottish Highlands was home to the same amount of people in the Highlands than there was in the Lowlands. Of course, now it is quite the barren and isolated environment. Bonnie Prince Charlie gave his most loyal chiefs special Medusa head targe shields and these are quite rare as there is only a small number in existence. Another peculiarity of the Highlanders is that they charged into battle and shed their plaid to become naked. They were really like the wild barbarians of the highlands, depicted in many drawings of the Picts. Of course, a plaid and kilt are big enough to wrap around a person and keep them warm in the desolate conditions of the Scottish Highlands.

Ian Rankin - Resurrection Men

The remarkable case of Scotland, ghost armies sending a rightful king back home after invading England; cannon fire shooting down the messenger to give the highland charge; an ethnic cleansing followed by outlawing of a culture and way of life. Then there was a tricky task of controlling the highlands, a place, not even the Roman Empire could control. The Darien Scheme was an attempt at securing trade in the Americas and it was an absolute failure. But with no money, the best option was to cede with Great Britain. But Scotland being colonised by the English still kept some things that other colonies did not have including their own bank, the Bank of Scotland. They still pressed their own money, and if you visit Scotland you will find people using Scottish notes, that cannot be used anywhere else in the world.

John McKendrick - Darien: A Journey In Search Of Empire

One peculiarity about Scotland is that the sailor who brought football to Brazil was in fact Scottish. The game as we know it now would be much different without a Scottish influence. The Scotland team of the fifties was right at the cutting-edge, and they developed a type of game that would later dominate European teams with the Italian style of ''pass and move football''. The revolution of Celtic winning the nineteen-sixty-seven European Cup ushered in a whole new era of British teams dominating the European Cup, where it had up until that time dominated by Italian clubs. Celtic and Rangers both of Glasgow are the two most successful domestic clubs in world football (well Rangers were up until their capitulation). There was a whole generation of Scottish players playing in England during the seventies and Alex Ferguson would later go onto to become the greatest ever coach with Manchester United. Scotland in the modern era has not qualified for a major tournament for more than twenty years, but when the new generation emerges it will be in interesting with the likes of Karamoko Dembele.