The 30th of November means that Saltires all over the world will be waving as Scots celebrate their patron saint’s day and all things Scottish.

In fact - the majority of people on earth will be using at least one Scottish invention today as part of their everyday lives!

Here’s a list of just some of the useful things the Scots have been responsible for creating, discovering and developing. What would you have done without us!!

The adhesive postage stamp, the hollow-pipe drainage system, the breech loading rifle,  reflecting telescope, Tarmacadam, the telephone, the Macintosh raincoat, threshing machine, the concept of logarithms and the decimal point, the Bank of England, the use of chloroform in anaesthetics, iron plough, the first steam powered marine engine, vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyres , patented the fountain pen and patented the steam traction engine,  the process of refining oil, kaleidoscopes, the vacuum flask, the reaping machine which led to the combine harvester, RADAR, the concept of latent heat and the discovery of Carbon Dioxide, the two-stroke Clerk Cycle Gas Engine, television, the use of tubular steel in construction, the percussion cap which later became the bullet, coal-gas lighting, blackboard and coloured chalk, Inventor of the ATM, World time zones, hypodermic needle, the process of criminal fingerprinting, ultrasound scanner, the Anderson Air Raid Shelter

And  did you know that……

• Saint Andrew is not only the patron saint of Scotland but is also the patron saint of Romania, Malta and Russia.
• He was Christ’s first disciple.
• He was born in Bethsaida in Galilee
• He was born and brought up as a Jew
• He spoke Aramaic
• Andrew’s Greek name was Andreas which means ‘manly’
• He was the elder brother of Saint Peter
• Andrew was a fisherman by trade
• He was the second person to be baptised by John the Baptist after Jesus
• Andrew was martyred for his faith in Patras
• Legend has it that some of St Andrew’s bones were taken to Scotland by St. Rule (also known as St Regulus) in Pictish times
• His bones once lay in St. Andrew’s Cathedral
• The first church in England to be dedicated to him was in Rochester
• His emblem is a cross Saltire
• The flag of Scotland, the Union Flag, the Arms and Flag of Scotia all feature a Saltire to commemorate St Andrew
• He is also patron of the Order of the Thistle, one of the highest ranks of chivalry in the world

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 11:17 am and is filed under Music and Fun, Blether. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.