Scotland Memoir

This work offers a cross section of murder cases ranging from the quest for Scotland’s independence in the 14th century right up to the late 1970’s and a serial killer who perpetrated five murders in less than a year. Each set of circumstances is challenging and evokes the history of the nation with cases which involve royalty, the heart-breaking loss of an entire family and the role of culpable homicide in the Scottish legal system in the early 20th century.

The lives of the Scottish queens, both those who ruled in their own right and the consorts, have largely been neglected in conventional history books. One of the earliest known Scottish queens was none other than the notorious Lady Macbeth. Was she really the wicked woman depicted in Shakespeare's famous play? Was St. Margaret a demure and obedient wife? Rosalind K. Marshall delves into these questions and more in this entertaining, impeccably researched book.

The Voyage of The Aegre is a dramatic true account of how a plan to sail a little fishing boat from the Highlands of Scotland down the coast to England turned into a trans-oceanic odyssey for Nick and Julie Grainger. It was the 1970s and their simple wooden boat was equipped with none of the aids modern yachts enjoy. Navigation was by sextant and compass, food cooked on a Primus, and weather forecasting by guesswork.

A Croft in the Hills captures, in simple, moving descriptions, what it was really like trying to make a living out of a hill croft near Loch Ness fifty years ago. A couple and their young daughter, fresh from city life, immerse themselves in the practicalities of looking after sheep, cattle and hens, mending fences, baking bread, and surviving the worst that Scottish winters can throw at them. Their neighbors are few, but among them they find the generosity and community spirit that has survived in the Highlands for generations.

Few women in history have stood the test of time, but the true story surrounding the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots has ensured that her story lives on to intrigue and fascinate. Who was this 16th-century lady and what role did she play in the history of Great Britain? Piece together the Queen of Scots’ turbulent relationship with her cousin Elizabeth I of England, which ultimately proved to be her downfall. When the Queen of England signed Mary’s death warrant, the Queen of Scots, dressed in blood red, played out her final act under the executioner’s axe.

Born in Edinburgh, Naomi Mitchison spent most of the Second World War in the fishing village of Carradale on Kintyre, her home until her death aged 101. Her life was crowded with incident, and her attitudes to events predictably forceful, original and honest. Throughout the war she kept a diary at the request of the research organisation Mass Observation, in which she recorded both the momentous events of the time, and also how one family and their friends lived, what they hoped for and what actually happened. Her diaries developed far beyond the confines of a social document.

All his life, "Johnnyboy" Steele has been running. First from an abusive father, then from the rigors of an approved school and a young offenders jail, and finally, from the harshness of adult prison. This book details how the Steele brothers staged the most daring breakout that Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison had ever seen and recounts what happened when their younger brother, Joseph, was falsely accused of the greatest mass murder in Scottish legal history.

The county of East Lothian, previously known as Haddingtonshire, is an often-overlooked gem nestled in Scotland's central lowlands. Its boundaries include the Scottish Borders to the south, Edinburgh to the west, and Midlothian to the south-west. The central administrative hub is the Royal Burgh of Haddington, which can trace its heritage back 900 years.

As a young man in Glasgow’s underworld, Ian "Blink" MacDonald earned a reputation for fighting and stabbing his enemies. After refusing to work for Arthur "The Godfather" Thompson, he attempted to steal £6 million in a high-risk armed bank robbery. While serving 16 years, Blink met the torture-gang boss Eddie Richardson, the serial killer Archie Hall, notorious lifer Charles Bronson and members of the Krays.

His humble beginnings are found in Alloa and 18th-century Scotland, where a highwayman would be better off robbing himself. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite rebellion is just around the corner, and so too is the Industrial Revolution. Volcanos, gin wars, and large-scale bankruptcies also play their part in the fortunes of a canny man. But John Jameson's marriage to Peggie Haig, an Alloa tobacconist's daughter, holds the key to his success.

A biography of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587). She was also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland and reigned over Scotland from December 14, 1542 to July 24, 1567. The author seeks to present an unbiased view of the tragic queen.

Exactly 100 years ago, a sensitive woman naturalist, nature lover, and accomplished artist began to chronicle all that she encountered while walking and cycling around the countryside of her native England and neighboring Scotland.

"Did I not tell you this would happen? I knew they would never allow me to live, I was too great an obstacle to their religion." - Mary, Queen of Scots The position in history of Mary Queen of Scots is a paradoxical one. Her fame as a monarch lies less in her personality or achievements than in her position within the dynastic maneuvers and political-religious upheavals taking place in northwest Europe in the 16th century. Most monarchs spend their early years learning in preparation to rule and then spend the latter part of their lives wielding power and status.

La reina María Estuardo fue una de las más amadas y controversiales mujeres en la historia de Escocia. Nieta del rey James IV y su esposa Margaret Tudor, con un estatus de heredera aparente al trono inglés junto con la violencia de la Reforma Protestante Escocesa dio lugar a una de las vidas más dramáticas y poco entendidas del siglo XVI.

Discover the fascinating lives of the iconic figures that have shaped Scotland from the early 19th century to the present day. Explore the rich history of Scotland's cultural, social and political landscape, with more than 100 obituaries carefully curated from The Times archive.

From their very beginnings, England and Scotland fought each other. Emerging as unified nations from the early medieval period, their shared border and related aristocracy created endless causes of conflict. Every century from the 11th to the 16th was colored by such violence, and there were periods when not a decade went by without some act of violence marring the peace. Out of all of this, the most bitterly remembered conflict is Edward I's invasion during the late 13th century.

There is a common misconception that if a body can’t be found, then no one can be brought to trial for murder. That isn’t true, as one Scottish man discovered. Twice!

Before David Wilson became the UK's pre-eminent criminologist, he was just a young boy growing up in the Scottish town of Carluke. As a child, the brutal murder of a young woman rocked this small community, but very quickly a man was arrested for the crime, convicted and put behind bars. For most, life slowly carried on - case closed.

This is the true story of a murder that took place in Scotland in 1968. It attracted huge media attention at the time: The crowds of people waiting for seats at the trial were so large that the police were forced to erect crush barriers. No wonder - this case had a beautiful woman accused of murder, bizarre sex, money, and a very odd love rectangle. Strangely, this case has since been largely forgotten.

In the summer of 1913, under the cover of London’s perpetual smoggy dusk, two brilliant minds are pitted against each other - a celebrated gentleman thief and a talented Scotland Yard detective - in the greatest jewel heist of the new century. An exquisite strand of pale pink pearls, worth more than the Hope Diamond, has been bought by a Hatton Garden broker. Word of the “Mona Lisa of Pearls” spreads around the world, captivating jewelers as well as thieves.