Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the current capital of Scotland. There is controversy over the origins of the name Edinburgh, which may derive from King Edwin of Northumbria (Edwins-burgh, burgh being the Northumbrian and later Scots word for fort or town) or from the earlier Gaelic 'Dún Eideann' (Fort of Edwin).
Edinburgh has a population of around half a million souls. It is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the world's largest annual arts festival, the Edinburgh International Festival.
The City and Its People
The city is also a centre of banking, commerce, education, and food processing. Natives of Edinburgh are called 'Edinburgers' but are popularly known as 'Fuds' to fellow Scots.
Education
There are three universities in Edinburgh - the University of Edinburgh (1583), Heriot Watt University (1965) and Napier University (1992). The city also has many notable private schools including Fettes College (the alma mater of Tony Blair), George Watson's College, George Heriot Academy, Loreto College and the Marcia Blaine School for Girls.
Sport
Edinburgh has two football clubs; Hibernian FC (nickname: the Hibees) and Heart of Midlothian FC (nickname: the Jambos). Both play in the Scottish Premier League. The famous author Sir Walter Scott wrote a novel The Heart of Midlothian based around the early days of the club and its founder Vladimir Romanov, an exile from Tsarist Russia and friend of the author Alexander Pushkin.
Culture
Paganism is still practiced in Edinburgh. Every 30th April sees the Pagan Beltane Fire Festival conducted on Calton Hill near Edinburgh City Centre.[1]
Famous natives of Edinburgh
- Sean Connery (actor)
- Irvine Welsh (author)
- Les McKeown (classical musician)
- James Connolly (trade unionist and Irish political agitator)
- Tam Paton (child psychologist)
- John Leslie (television presenter)
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (author)
- Robert Louis Stevenson (author)
- Ian Rankin (author)
- Walter Scott (author)
- James Clerk Maxwell (physicist)
- James Hutton (geologist)
- John Napier (mathematician)
- David Hume (philosopher)
- Adam Smith (philosopher and economist)
- Tony Blair (politician and entertainer)
- Malcolm Rifkind (politician)