Famous Scots

Do you know them? Did you know they were born in Scotland?

1. James Watt (19 January 1736 – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer who  improved the steam engine. This was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution which brough great changes to his native Great Britain and the rest of the world. He developed the concept of horsepower  and the SI unit of power, the watt, was named after him.

2. Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and  travel writer. His most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A literary celebrity during his lifetime, Stevenson now ranks among the 26 most translated authors in the world. Leading lighthouse engineer Thomas Stevenson was his father. He found it hard to go to school, mainly because he didn't make friends easily and he was often ill, so he had tutors at home. He had lots of twists and turns in his life. He married an American woman and his health issues took them to live on an island in Samoa where he died at the age of 44.

3. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (known as Tony Blair) was born 6 May 1953 in Edinburgh. He is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007.  He resigned from all political positions in June 2007.

3. Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 in Edinburgh - 31 Oct 2020 in the Bahamas). He was a Scottish actor and producer who  is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouachables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The Name of the Rose, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crucade, the Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart and The Rock. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery was polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". 

4.Ann "Annie" Lennox, was born 25 December 1954 in Aberdeen. She is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s , she and fellow musician David A. Stewart went on to achieve major international success in the 1980s as a group Eurythmics. Lennox is the most recognised female artist at the Brit Awards, winning a total of eight awards. Lennox embarked on a solo career in the 1990s with her debut album, Diva (1992), which produced several hit singles including "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass" To date, she has released five solo studio albums and a compilation album.



5.  Andrew Barron "Andy" Murray was born 15 May 1987 in Glasgow. He is a professional tennis player, ranked World No. 2,  Murray has been ranked as British No. 1 since 27 February 2006. 1. At the 2+12 US Open, he became the first British player since 1977, and the first British man since 1936, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets. At the 2012 Olympic Games, Murray defeated  Roger Federer in straight sets to win the gold medal in men's singles, becoming the first British champion in over 100 years. In 2013 he became the champion at Wimbledon. Murray attended Dunblane Primary School and  was present during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, when Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray took cover in a classroom. Murray married his long-term girlfriend Kim Sears in 2015. The couple own two Border Terriers.

6. Gordon James Ramsay was born 8 November 1966 in Johnstone, though grew up in England. As a teenager he was a keen footballer. He is a celebrity chef, television personality and restauranteur. He has been awarded 15 Michelin stars in total and currently holds 14.
Ramsay is known for presenting TV programmes about competitive cookery and food, such as the British series Hell's Kitchen, The F Word, Ramsay's Best Restaurant, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and several others. Ramsay's reputation is built upon his goal of culinary perfection. The chef has also become infamous for his fiery temper and use of strong language. Ramsay married Tana, a Montessori-trained schoolteacher, in 1996. The couple have four children.

7. Sir William Wallace(died 23 August 1305) was a  Scottish landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. In 1305, Wallace was captured in near Glasgow and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him summarily hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians. Since his death, Wallace has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. Wallace is also the subject of epic film Braveheart.

8. Alexander Graham Bell was born 3 March 1847 in Edinburgh. He was a scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.Bell's father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first US patent for the telephone in 1876. 





^{9. Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect.  He also wrote in standard English, and in these his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.} As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmany (the last day of the year), and  " Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country.