Five things you didn’t know about the city of Edinburgh

And with such a rich past to draw on there must be one or two weird and wonderful morsels of trivia that have sprung up over the years.

Here are five fascinating facts you may not know about Scotland’s capital city.

1. Greyfriar’s Bobby wasn’t one but two dogs. When the first Bobby died in 1867, a substitute dog was brought in. The statue at the corner of Candlemakers Row is of Bobby mark II.

2. In 1941 female conductors were introduced on Edinburgh’s buses. They were only allowed to work on single-decker vehicles so men couldn’t get an eyeful of their stockinged legs when going up the stairs.

3. Edinburgh folk in the 17th Century were convinced that rubbing the burnt ashes of dove’s droppings on their heads would cure baldness. It didn’t.

4. The gannet appears on the crest of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland because it was the first animal to be bought by Edinburgh Zoo for a whopping 18 pence!

5. Edinburgh was the first city in the world to have its own fire brigade.

READ MORE

Five things you didn’t know about the city of Glasgow