Lothians Trivia Quiz

Answer: Edinburgh

Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, was part of Midlothian until 1975, when a combined Lothian Region was formed. When the three Lothian counties reappeared in their own right in 1996, Edinburgh became a unitary authority, no longer part of the Lothians (in terms of local government at least).

Answer: Haddington

East Lothian had the alternative name of Haddingtonshire at one time. Haddington's economy revolved around the clothing industry for many years, but in the early 21st century service industries predominate.

Answer: Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots, was born in Linlithgow Palace, in 1542, the daughter of King James V; he died when she was only six days old and she became monarch.
Linlithgow itself was the county town of West Lothian prior to 1975, with the county itself also referred to as Linlithgowshire.

Answer: Livingston

Livingston is the only one of Scotland's "new towns" located in West Lothian. Designated in 1962, it is located around 15 miles from Edinburgh and 30 miles from Glasgow, and, with the busy M8 motorway running along its northern border, it is very much a commuter town.

Answer: Dalkeith

Dalkeith is situated on the banks of the River Esk, a few miles south of Edinburgh. The town has its own "palace", a large country house that was once the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch.

Answer: Northern gannet

The Bass Rock is an island in the Firth of Forth, around three miles from the town of North Berwick. With an area of around seven acres, it is home to around 150,000 gannets. Privately owned, the rock has solar powered cameras which relay the activities of the birds to the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick.

Answer: Pentland Hills

The Pentland Hills stretch from the outskirts of Edinburgh through Midlothian and a small part of West Lothian, and on southwestward to the Borders and South Lanarkshire. The highest peak, at 1,900 feet, is Scald Law in Midlothian. The hills are home to the Midlothian Snowsports Centre in the village of Hillend.

Answer: The Da Vinci Code

The village of Roslin, a few miles south of Edinburgh, is the site of the 15th century Rosslyn Chapel, and has been rumoured to have connections with Christ's Holy Grail. Dan Brown set part of his bestselling 2003 novel "The Da Vinci Code" there. Roslin was also formerly the home of the Roslin Institute, where the world's first cloned animal, Dolly the Sheep, was born.

The intitute moved to new premises in Edinburgh in 2011.

Answer: Aviation

The National Museum of Flight opened in 1975 on the site of a disused World War 2 airfield, RAF East Fortune. Aircraft from over 100 years of aviation are included in the collection, including Concorde and both British and German planes from the Second World War.

Answer: Musselburgh

East Lothian is fertile golfing country, and all the towns in the options have a long connection with the sport. Gullane is home to Muirfield, a multi-time host of the Open Championship. Musselburgh Links hosted the event six times in the 19th century but is only a nine-hole course, so is unsuitable for the modern tournament.

The course is located in the middle of the town's racecourse, which hosts both flat and national hunt racing.