King James II of Scotland was killed by an exploding cannon on August 3, 1460, during the siege of Roxburgh Castle. The 29-year-old monarch, known for his love of artillery, was standing near one of his own cannons—specifically, a piece named "the Lion" or a similar bombard—when it failed and shattered, causing fatal injuries.
On 3rd August James was laying siege to the English-held Roxburgh Castle. A canon used in the siege exploded and James was killed. His son James III succeeded as king. Video: A history of Scotland: Language is Power.
In 1460, James II had Mons Meg hauled 80km (50 miles) to the siege of Roxburgh Castle. This was no small task: even a team of oxen couldn't move her more than 5km (3 miles) a day. But the unlucky king was killed there when another of his cannons exploded.
On February 12, 1771, King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died after eating a massive meal that ended with 14 semla buns soaked in hot milk. The official cause was digestive complications from overindulgence. His death marked more than a royal tragedy — it changed Swedish history.
Unfortunately less than half of the £42,000 required was raised in a public appeal, and only 12 columns were finished, leading to the monument's nickname a 'National Disgrace'.
Arthur's Seat is an extinct volcano, which erupted around 340 million years ago. At that time, Scotland was a very different place, located close to the equator.
Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her. In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her in Lochleven Castle; she never saw her son again.
Once used to set maritime clocks by ships in the Firth of Forth, the gun is still fired everyday at 1pm from Edinburgh Castle, with the exception of Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day.
America's first national park sits on top of a supervolcano. Its last massive eruption was 631,000 years ago, causing speculators to wonder, is another big one coming? The answer (relievingly for me who still lives near the caldera) is no, an eruption in the next hundred years is not likely.
Castle Rock, a volcanic plug formed in the Carboniferous period (340 million years), towers above Edinburgh's Old Town and West Princes Street Gardens giving it a clear defensive advantage.
The city is nicknamed Auld Reekie, Scots for Old Smoky, for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. A note in a collection of the works of the poet Allan Ramsay explains, "Auld Reeky...A name the country people give Edinburgh, from the cloud of smoke or reek that is always impending over it."
George Square opened in 1787 and was named after King George III. There was going to be a statue of him in the centre of the square, but after America declared independence from Britain in 1776, and Glasgow's tobacco trade was lost, the plan was quietly dropped.
Kind Adolf Frederick of Sweden was a mediocre monarch. To the extent he is remembered nowadays, it is mostly as the gluttonous king who ate himself to death, overindulging in a massive meal, followed by a desert comprised of fourteen servings of semla - a Swedish sweet roll topped by whipped cream.
