And here’s one Big Bang’s Sheldon Cooper missed so we’ll fill in the gaps… it’s the updated story of Scotland’s flag.
Because the history of our Saltire is being brought up to date.
Sixty years after we started telling people about it in the region where it was spawned, the village of Athelstaneford in East Lothian, 22 miles west of Edinburgh.
And nearly 1,200 years after King Angus mac Fergus designed the drape.
Or rather somebody far higher than even a Picts and Scots monarch did.
Fearing defeat to a much larger Northumbrian army, Angus prayed for help.
And took solace in the vision of a white cross against the blue sky, which spurred his army to victory.
God’s own country
Now cynics would prosaically say that Angus was suffering from pareidolia.
The perception of apparently significant patterns in random arrangements of shapes and lines.
Us Scots though, prefer to think that God is looking after us so we’ll stick to our story.
And besides the Saltire has travelled the world as Scots have spread their wings far and wide.
Flagging up our Saltire
It’s recognition of that diaspora which our Scottish Government is aiming to promote Scotland with the multi-million investment in a new enhanced site.
At the Flag Heritage Centre and Saltire Memorial.
The centrepiece of which is a proposed monument featuring a world map, set in coloured stone.
Linking Scotland to the many Saltire and St Andrew’s societies worldwide.
And we dare say that Tenerife will get a mention too as it shares the same flag as our very own which we know you know from our Fun With Flags.
Catch the pigeon
Visitors to Athelstaneford now will find that the story of our flag is housed in an atypical building.
A 16th-century dovecot (doo’cot), a traditional cylindrical dwelling place for pigeons or doo’s.
And which the inventive heritage people back in the day decided would give a certain piquancy to an audio-visual presentation.
The Flag Heritage Centre and Saltire Memorial is signposted out of our backyard here in North Berwick.
MEET YOU IN THE DOVECOT
