Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the King! [more inside]
posted by Jakey on Jan 31, 2009 - 6 comments

A less glamorous anniversary passed with little fanfare yesterday: 50 years since the opening of the first stretch of the humble British motorway, the 8-mile two-lane Preston Bypass, which now forms part of the M6. The occasion was celebrated by the official opening of an 5.8 mile M6 extension, closing the "Cumberland Gap", allowing commuters to make the entire 400 mile journey between Glasgow and London by motorway. The total length of motorways in the UK totals around 2200 miles.
posted by HaloMan on Dec 6, 2008 - 34 comments

The Scots voice of the Spanish revolution [Embedded DivX video 1hr15m; also downloadable] Ethel MacDonald was a young working class Scots woman who hitch-hiked to Barcelona to do her part in the war. There she became the English-language voice of the anarchist movement as a radio station announcer. Newspapers at home dubbed her the "Scottish Scarlet Pimpernel" for her role in helping comrades escape the crackdown that followed the May Days. Her remarkable story is told in this recent drama-documentary.
posted by Abiezer on Feb 1, 2008 - 12 comments

Here is an incredibly detailed history of Glasgow in pictures. The site map is probably the best place to start. [more inside]
posted by winna on Nov 29, 2007 - 9 comments

Empty Cathedrals. Tenement closes. Glasgow artist Frank McNab documents the communal entrances sans nostalgia or sentimentality. Gets it just so damn right! His 'Thoughts' and 'Projects' need a little more work however.
posted by Wrick on Nov 17, 2007 - 11 comments

The car is on fire, and there's no driver at the wheel
posted by Flashman on Jun 30, 2007 - 178 comments

Bolt ya nugget. A send up of ned culture in Glasgow. [Single youtube link alert]
posted by ClanvidHorse on May 18, 2007 - 39 comments

"John Smith, Youngest, of Crutherland, was given the honorary degree of LL.D in 1840. In 1842 he announced the bequest to the University [of Glasgow] of his runs of publications from learned societies, and his volumes of ephemeral items. These came to the library on Smith’s death in 1849." Some examples: Playbill, Theatre Royal, York Street. Broadsheet account of an attempted prison break. Radical Party election ballad. See also: Glasgow Broadside Ballads: cheap print and popular song culture in nineteenth-century Scotland and Glasgow Broadside Ballads: The Murray Collection
posted by Len on Feb 3, 2007 - 7 comments

So you can sing along this evening. Happy New Year from Glasgow where our Hogmanay event has been cancelled due to storms.
posted by bobbyelliott on Dec 31, 2006 - 11 comments

A splash of urban colour! A dilapidated tower block in Glasgow was the setting for a riotous splash of colour this week as Sony followed up their previous Bravia tv campaign of the bouncing balls down the streets of San Francisco with a new advert using a disused towerblock in Glasgow. Some beautiful urban explosion pics here, here, here, here and here.
posted by ClanvidHorse on Jul 26, 2006 - 20 comments

3,000 photographs of Glaswegians taken by Glaswegians, between 1989 and 1992.
posted by jack_mo on Jul 13, 2006 - 27 comments

The Kingston Bridge, a neglected urban bridge in Glasgow was recently resurrected as a public work of art by Leni Schwendinger. Lighting was added under the bridge to highlight the architecture but it also reacted to use. The more traffic flowing on the roads above, the more red is displayed, as the tide rises, blues dominate, resulting in some pretty cool, ever-changing public art on a grand scale.
posted by mathowie on May 23, 2006 - 14 comments

Ivor Cutler, 1923-2006; poet, artist, musician, mensch; passed away on Friday. (previously)
posted by scruss on Mar 6, 2006 - 31 comments

The Subway Challenge! Can one man get off the Glasgow underground at one stop, race the train to the next and get back on the same train? Mebbes aye, mebbes naw. (What? Want more underground? Here are some great photographs from before and after its 1970s restoration)
posted by bonaldi on Jan 22, 2006 - 61 comments

Glasgow School of Arts Degree Show 2005, Gets into the ring with the Edinburgh Art College Degree Show 2005. Is this Tyson versus Bruno all over again ?
posted by sgt.serenity on Jun 18, 2005 - 15 comments

Best laid schemes? Back in 1945 the Bruce Plan [click on images for video footage] was a radical proposal to knock down, and then rebuild, the Victorian centre of the city of Glasgow. The city’s slums* would be cleared; new towns* would be established; Glasgow would rise again, triumphant, once again the second city of the Empire*. In 1971*, there were grand visions of the Glasgow of the future; the Glasgow of tomorrow would be a bright, shining new city, and the Clyde* would once again be something to be proud of. A fascinating film archive of the Glasgow of the 20th century. *All links contain embedded video goodness.
posted by Len on May 17, 2005 - 13 comments

Ivor Cutler - poet, musician, Glaswegian. I first enjoyed Cutler's touching, funny, and often surreal performances on the John Peel Show; and so I was delighted to find a small group of Cutler fans dedicated to spreading the Word of Ivor online. There's some audio links here, including Questionnaire, Little Black Buzzer, and Good Morning How Are You Shut Up. For Ivor fans, there's much more over at Yahoo Group's ivor-list.
posted by carter on Apr 20, 2005 - 16 comments

A Most Curious Murder - the Madeleine Smith Story. 'Thursday, 9th July 1857 - The atmosphere outside the High Court in Edinburgh was charged to fever pitch as the crowd awaited the verdict at the end of the most sensational trial of the century. Hanging in the balance was the life of Madeleine Smith, attractive 22 year old daughter of a prosperous Glasgow architect ... '
The site includes, amongst other things, this 1787 directory of Glasgow manufacturers and traders.
posted by plep on Jan 2, 2005 - 14 comments

Hurl snowballs at windows in Glasgow Turn your speakers up for genuine ethnic responses
posted by terrymiles on Dec 27, 2004 - 12 comments

I was wandering around the internets looking for early twentieth century ephemera and look what I found. Digital Dada Library “This page provides links to some of the major Dada-era publications in the International Dada Archive. These books, pamphlets, and periodicals are housed in the Special Collections Department of the University of Iowa Libraries. …Each document has been scanned in its entirety.” EphemeraNow “is a family-friendly Web site dedicated to the commercial art of mid-century America.” The Ephemera Society “is a non-profit body concerned with the collection, preservation, study and educational uses of printed and handwritten ephemera.” and more! For those of you who have complained that this place is getting too “US politics-filter” I give you Glasgow Digital Library Collections which has all sorts of stuff including a great history of the labour movement in Glasgow 1910-1932
posted by Grod on Oct 26, 2004 - 10 comments

pure dead brilliant. Not as good as Edinburgh , probably more horrendous than goatse , my fellow metafilterians , i give you - Glasgow.
posted by sgt.serenity on Dec 12, 2003 - 32 comments

Glasgow University Library Exhibitions. Some nice online exhibits : nineteenth century views of Glasgow, sixteenth and seventeenth century anatomical illustration, British bookbindings, Glasgow Cathedral windows, rare Spanish books, music books, flower illustration, etc.
posted by plep on Sep 23, 2003 - 2 comments

Come all ye lads of high renown, / That love to drink good ale that's brown and peruse a collection of Broadside Ballads from Glasgow. There are many other sites pertaining to broadside ballads, but none with such a wealth of scanned reproductions. Also includes the full text of Hawkie: The Autobiography of a Gangrel.
posted by staggernation on Nov 25, 2002 - 3 comments

easyJet has introduced a £0 price as the standard lead-in fare for the majority of flights between Belfast International, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Any chance of a trans-atlantic service too...?
posted by scotty on Feb 24, 2002 - 8 comments

Celtic's Taliban? . Glasgow smeltic fans are a disgrace to Scotland
posted by hector on Oct 1, 2001 - 27 comments