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H is for the HielanMan’s Umbrella
During the latter Highland clearances in the 19th century, around 30,000 Gaelic speaking displaced people arrived in Glasgow looking for work. They dispersed all over the city but, usually on...
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I is for Insults
No body does an insult like a Weegie. and to prove my point, try using the examples below next time you want to cut someone down a peg or two. WARNING: the following contains sweary words. Away n bile...
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J is for John Smeaton
On June 30th 2007, terrorists launched an attack at Glasgow airport. An explosives packed, burning jeep was driven into the entrance of the airport. An off-duty baggage handler heard the commotion and...
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L is for Lewis’s
I started my first Saturday job when I was 15. I washed dishes in the Golden Egg off Argyle Street in Glasgow. It was a horrid job. They expected me to wash ashtrays in the same water as the other...
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M is for Ming
I got my first dog when I was around ten years old. He was a Pekingese who was, because it was a Chinese breed, named Ming. This was an unfortunate name for a Gasgow dog as to ‘ming’ meant to smell. I...
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N is for Necropolis
With the passing of the 1832 Cemeteries Act allowing burial for profit, The Glasgow Necropolis was built on a hill to the east of St Mungo’s – Glasgow Cathedral. Around 50,000 people are interred there...
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O is for Grand Ole Opry
What is the first thing that springs to mind when you think about Glasgow? Gangs? Violence? Witty banter and a certain sense of style? I bet it isn’t country and western music but Glasgow, in common...
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P is for Panopticon
In 1857 Glasgow’s Trongate was no longer the wealthy and desirable locale built by the tobacco lords who had headed over to the west end of the city. Trongate was an area of dubious reputation with...
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Q is for Queenslie
As I mentioned in E is for Easterhouse, I grew up in the greater area of Easterhouse, but my particular wee part of hell was called Queenslie. Queenslie was a small scheme of only four streets built...
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R is for Rottenrow
Rottenrow is a street in Townhead which dates back to medieval times. There is some disagreement over the origins of its name. Some say it is because there was a ‘row’ of rat infested cottages there;...
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S is for Saint Mungo
Saint Mungo is the founder and patron saint of Glasgow. His early clerical life was spent as an evangelist in the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde under King Rhiderch Hael. He built his church beside the...
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T is for Train Stations
Glasgow has two main train stations: Queens Street, which has trains to Edinburgh (spit!) and the North, and Central Station which has trains to the south. Central Station is the larger of the two. It...
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U is for University
The University of Glasgow was founded by a Papal Bull from Pope Nicholas V in 1451 making it the 4th oldest university in the English speaking world. Instruction was first given in the chapterhouse of...
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V is for Variety
The Glasgow Empire Theatre is renowned as being the place where comedians went to die. In common with many cities, music hall and then variety were popular pastimes for working people. After a week of...
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W is for Windaes Twa Thoosand.
I can’t claim any credit for this one. But it makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope you enjoy it too. ***** Micro$aft ‘Windaes Twa Thoosan’ ® (‘Glesga Edishun’) Hoaw, by the way! Micro$oft wants...
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X is for Durty Fillums
First of all, I hope you all appreciate the amount of research I had to do for this post. My poor innocent soul will never be the same again. During the Bum-chicka-wow-wow heyday of the 1970s and...
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Y is for Young Nettie
I have wracked my brains and can’t think of anything Weegie beginning with Y. No doubt I’ll remember 27 of them as soon as I hit ‘publish’, but in place of anything vaguely interesting, here are some...
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Z is for ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz…
I was going to write this final post in the A to Z Challenge about Glasgow Zoo and the various small ‘zoos’ which existed all over the city in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but I am totally sick...
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