A Scottish Miscellany Trivia Quiz

Answer: A creamy fish soup

The name Cullen Skink refers to the town of Cullen in the north of Scotland where it is a specialty. The recipe includes smoked haddock, onions and potatoes, often cooked in milk. It is a delicious soup which visitors to the country should not miss.

Answer: Lewis Grassic Gibbon

The other two books in the series "A Scots Quair" are Cloud Howe and Grey Granite. Between them they tell the story of the life of Christine Guthrie but what makes them special is their depiction of the lives of ordinary people in the area.

Lewis Grassic Gibbon was a pen name taken by the writer whose real name was James Leslie Mitchell.

"Quair" is a Scots word that can mean either a book or a quire of paper (24 sheets).

Answer: Dr Finlay

Dr Finlay was the young doctor who was the protegee of the long serving Dr Cameron in the TV series "Dr Finlay's Casebook". The highly popular series ran from 1962-1971 on BBC television and starred Bill Simpson in the title role with the fine Scots character actor Andrew Cruickshank as Cameron and Barbara Mullen as the housekeeper Janet.

A later series in the 1990s was called simply Doctor Finlay but it failed to achieve the popularity of the original.

Answer: Arran

The nickname refers to the fact that Arran has both Highland and Lowland parts being mountainous in the north but with low lying land to the south though the whole island is only 56 miles round the coast. This is because the Highland fault line which divides Scotland runs across the island as well.

There are many attractions on the island from Brodick Castle and country park to Goat Fell. Outdoor activities are in plenty - sailing or canoeing, hill walking, golf, whatever. I went there with a scout troop and the lads had a ball.

Answer: Duke of Rothesay

The title Duke of Rothesay goes back to the late fourteenth century and was held by the heir apparent to the Scottish throne until the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Thereafter the title fell into disuse until Queen Victoria decided it should be used instead of the English title of Duke of Cornwall when the heir was in Scotland and the practice has continued since. Rothesay is a town on the Isle of Bute but the title does not carry any land rights there.

Though used less often the heir also has the Scottish title Lord of the Isles which was once used by the MacDonald clan to show their virtual independence from the Crown.

Answer: Arbroath

Arbroath smokies are haddock which are smoked over beech and oak wood in a whisky barrel which has been cut in half.

Answer: Spey

The Spey is also renowned as the river along whose valley are many distilleries producing malt whisky and it is very popular with anglers. Its flow is so fast as its catchment area includes parts of the Cairngorm mountains so both rainfall and snow melt fuel its flow.

Answer: Hibernian

Though they were not champions of Scotland Hibernian accepted an invitation to play and after defeating Rot-Weiss Essen of West Germany and Djurgardens of Sweden they lost to Stade de Reims of France. Real Madrid beat the French side 4-3 in the final to become the first club to hold the trophy. The competition changed its name to the Champions' League in 1992.

Answer: Barley

Along with mutton which provides the protein, barley is one of the main ingredients, with onion, carrots and split peas. Oats provide the cereal in the making of the other signature Scottish dish - the haggis.

Answer: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Published between 1768 and 1771, the first edition contained three volumes though later editions grew to many more. Chambers also began in Edinburgh but nearly 100 years later. The Scottish National Dictionary was first published in 1976 but Roget was not a Scottish publication.

Answer: Tony Blair

The band was formed in Oxford in the 1970s but it disbanded after only playing in public half a dozen times.

Answer: Betty Burke

He pretended to be Flora MacDonald's servant. Despite a huge price on his head, Charles was never betrayed by his supporters and escaped to the continent. But he never returned to pursue his claim.

Answer: James VI

James (also called James I of Great Britain) published several other books including his thoughts on how to be a good monarch. Pity his son Charles I didn't take sufficient notice or he might have avoided being beheaded.

Answer: Scapa Flow

Following the signing of the armistice in November 1918 the German High Seas fleet was interned at the British naval base of Scapa Flow. The following summer Admiral Reuter believed Britain intended to take over his ships and add them to the British navy. To prevent this from happening he ordered the whole fleet to be scuttled.

They still lie where they sank and can be visited by divers.

Answer: River mouth

So Inverness is at the mouth of the river Ness. A town with a fortress or castle might have a name starting with Dun or Dum. For example, Dumbarton means "stronghold of the Britons" and is a corruption of Dunbritton.

Answer: Royal Troon

The sixth hole at Royal Troon - actually called Turnberry after the course further down the Ayrshire coast - is the longest at 601 yards. The most famous, though, is the eighth - called the Postage Stamp because of its very narrow green - which is only 123 yards long but which has caused grief to many great golfers.

Answer: Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson is one of the most popular of all authors of children's books. Probably the most famous of all her books is "The Gruffalo" but there are many other entrancing books including "Room on the Broom", "What the Ladybird Heard" and "Charlie Cook's Favourite Book".

Answer: David Tennant

Peter Capaldi has also played Doctor Who but Tennant has starred in very diverse roles including the famous Italian lover and the troubled police officer Hardy in "Broadchurch".

Answer: Penicillin

Fleming returned to his lab after an absence of a few weeks to discover a mould had begun to grow on a culture he had left. This mould had killed some of the bacteria in the culture so he investigated further and realised after further experiments that he had discovered an antibiotic, the first to be found.

After his discovery was used to save many lives during World War II he shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945.

Answer: Average White Band

Formed in Dundee in 1972 the band became well known when it was one of the support acts at an Eric Clapton concert the following year. Pick up the Pieces was by far their biggest single hit, reaching number six in the UK as well as topping the US chart. Always more successful in the States than back home, they had three top ten albums there with "AWB" (also known as the "White Album") making the top spot.