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ancient China. It arrived in Ireland before Scotland, first distilled by monks. The word derives from the Irish uisge beatha , from the Latin aqua vitae or ‘water of life’.
    The elaborate system of clan tartans is a complete myth stemming from the early nineteenth century. All Highland dress, including what tartan or plaid there was, was banned after the 1745 rebellion. The English garrison regiments started designing their own tartans as an affectation, and to mark the state visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. Queen Victoria encouraged the trend, and it soon became a Victorian craze.
    Hae’ing said a’ that, they’ve nae been idle, ye ken. Scots inventions and discoveries include adhesive stamps, the Bankof England, bicycle pedals, Bovril, the breech-loading rifle, the cell nucleus, chloroform, the cloud chamber, colour photography, cornflour, the cure for malaria, the decimal point, electro-magnetism, the Encyclopædia Britannica, finger-printing, the fountain pen, hypnosis, hypodermic syringes, insulin, the kaleidoscope, the Kelvin scale, the lawnmower, lime cordial, logarithms, lorries, marmalade, motor insurance, the MRI scanner, the paddle steamer, paraffin, piano pedals, pneumatic tyres, the postmark, radar, the raincoat, the reflecting telescope, savings banks, the screw propeller, the speedometer, the steam hammer, tarmac, the teleprinter, tubular steel, the typhoid vaccine, the ultrasound scanner, the United States Navy, Universal Standard Time, vacuum flasks, wave-powered electricity generators and wire rope

Where does Chicken Tikka Masala come from?
     
     
    Glasgow.
    Britain exports chicken tikka masala to India.
    Invented in Glasgow in the late 1960s, chicken tikka masala, or CTM, is Britain’s most popular dish. There is no standard recipe. In a recent survey, the Real Curry Guide tested forty-eight different versions and found the only common ingredient was chicken.
    Chicken tikka is a traditional Bangladeshi dish in which pieces of marinated chicken are cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor. This ancient style of cooking originated in the Middle East, the word deriving from the Babylonian tinuru, meaning ‘fire’.
    The first chicken tandoori on a British restaurant menu was at the Gaylord in Mortimer Street, London, in 1966 – the samerestaurant where Not the Nine O’Clock News was invented in 1979. The recipe reached Glasgow shortly afterwards and when, as the legend goes, a customer asked for some gravy to go with it, the chef improvised with tomato soup, spices and cream.
    Masala means a mixture of spices, and the usual CTM contains ginger and garlic, tomatoes, butter and cream, spiced with cardamom, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, mild red chilli powder and paprika, fenugreek and turmeric.
    It is the turmeric that it gives it the bright yellow colour, although the synthetic dye tartrazine is often substituted. (It is tartrazine, among other unpleasant things, that makes curry stains impossible to remove from clothing.) CTM doesn’t have a standard style or colour: it can be yellow, brown, red, or green and chilli hot; creamy and mild; or very smooth and sweet.
    In 2001, the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook declared that: ‘Chicken tikka masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences.’
    One in seven curries sold in the UK are CTMs – 23 million portions each year. Many of the schools and charities in the city of Sylhet in Bangladesh are funded by profits from the British chicken tikka masala boom.
    There are now 8,000 Indian restaurants in Britain, turning over in excess of £2 billion and employing 70,000 workers.
    JO Can I just say … I had a curry once on the Isle of Man, where I was doing a gig. It was served with a cup of tea and some bread and butter. Which I think is fantastic, don’t you?
     

Is French toast from France?
     
     
    Yes and no.