81 Facts About Glasgow

Glasgow is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe.

Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become the largest seaport in Scotland, and tenth largest by tonnage in Britain.

Glasgow was the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Glasgow has the largest economy in Scotland and the third-highest GDP per capita of any city in the UK.

Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the first European Championships in 2018, and was one of the host cities for UEFA Euro 2020.

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Glasgow itself was reputed to have been founded by the Christian missionary Saint Mungo in the 6th century.

The first bridge over the River Clyde at Glasgow was recorded from around 1285, giving its name to the Briggait area of the city, forming the main north–south route over the river via Glasgow Cross.

Daniel Defoe visited the city in the early 18th century and famously opined in his book A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, that Glasgow was "the cleanest and beautifullest, and best built city in Britain, London excepted".

At the time, Glasgow held a commercial importance as the city participated in the trade of sugar, tobacco and later cotton.

Glasgow became one of the first cities in Europe to reach a population of one million.

Glasgow oversaw several improvements during his tenure, including a second aqueduct and further raising of water levels in Loch Katrine.

Coat of arms of the City of Glasgow was granted to the royal burgh by the Lord Lyon on 25 October 1866.

In 1450, John Stewart, the first Lord Provost of Glasgow, left an endowment so that a "St Mungo's Bell" could be made and tolled throughout the city so that the citizens would pray for his soul.

Glasgow wears a bishop's mitre and liturgical vestments and has his hand raised in "the act of benediction".

Glasgow is represented in both the House of Commons in London, and the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh.

In Holyrood, Glasgow is represented by sixteen Members of the Scottish Parliament, of whom nine are elected to represent individual constituencies once every four years using first-past-the-post, and seven are elected as additional regional members, by proportional representation.

Since the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, Glasgow is represented at Holyrood by9 Scottish National Party MSPs, 4 Labour MSPs, 2 Conservative MSPs and 1 Scottish Green MSP.

Since Glasgow is covered and operates under two separate central governments, the devolved Scottish Parliament and UK Government, they determine various matters that Glasgow City Council is not responsible for.

Since the 2019 snap election, Glasgow has been represented by 7 Scottish National Party MPs; the Glasgow North East constituency, was regained by Anne McLaughlin of the Scottish National Party, resulting in the same clean sweep as in 2015 general election.

Glasgow is located on the banks of the River Clyde, in West Central Scotland.

On older maps Glasgow is shown within the area of the pre-1975 county of Lanarkshire; from 1975 to 1996 it appears within Strathclyde Region; more recent maps generally show Glasgow as one of 32 Council Areas in Scotland.

Glasgow has been named as the rainiest city of the UK, having an average of 170 days of rain a year.

Since 2000 Glasgow has experienced few very cold, snowy and harsh winters where temperatures have fallen much below freezing.

Glasgow was then one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

Many Italian Scots settled in Glasgow, originating from provinces like Frosinone in Lazio and Lucca in north-west Tuscany at this time, many originally working as "Hokey Pokey" men.

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In 2005, Glasgow had the lowest life expectancy of any UK city at 72.

Glasgow Cross, situated at the junction of High Street, leading up to Glasgow Cathedral, Gallowgate, Trongate and Saltmarket was the original centre of the city, symbolised by its Mercat cross.

Glasgow Cross encompasses the Tolbooth Steeple, all that remains of the original Glasgow Tolbooth, which was demolished in 1921.

Merchant City is one centre of Glasgow's growing "cultural quarter", based on King Street, the Saltmarket and Trongate, and at the heart of the annual Merchant City Festival.

Spire of Sir George Gilbert Scott's Glasgow University main building is a major landmark, and can be seen from miles around, sitting atop Gilmorehill.

Glasgow is the home of the SECC, Great Britain's largest exhibition and conference centre.

North Glasgow extends out from the north of the city centre towards the affluent suburbs of Bearsden, Milngavie and Bishopbriggs in East Dunbartonshire and Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire.

Huge part of the economic life of Glasgow was once located in Springburn, where the Saracen Foundry, engineering works of firms like Charles Tennant and locomotive workshops employed many Glaswegians.

Today part of the Glasgow Works continues in use as a railway maintenance facility, all that is left of the industry in Springburn.

Glasgow has its own "Poet Laureate", a post created in 1999 for Edwin Morgan and occupied by Liz Lochhead from 2005 until 2011, when she stood down to take up the position of Scots Makar.

Glasgow is home to a variety of theatres including the King's Theatre, the Theatre Royal and the Citizens Theatre and is home to many museums and art galleries, the largest and most famous being the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Burrell Collection.

Glasgow has hosted the National Mod no less than twelve times since 1895.

In 2010, Glasgow was named the UK's fourth "most musical" city by PRS for Music.

Glasgow is the "most mentioned city in the UK" in song titles, outside London according, to a chart produced by PRS for music, with 119, ahead of closest rivals Edinburgh who received 95 mentions.

The city of Glasgow was appointed a UNESCO City of Music on 20 August 2008 as part of the Creative Cities Network.

On 9 November 2014, Glasgow hosted the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards at The OVO Hydro, it was the second time Scotland hosted the show since 2003 in Edinburgh and overall the fifth time that the United Kingdom has hosted the show since 2011 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Television programs filmed in Glasgow include Rab C Nesbitt, Taggart, Tutti Frutti, High Times, River City, City Lights, Chewin' the Fat, Still Game, Limmy's Show and Lovesick.

STV Group is a Glasgow-based media conglomerate with interests in television, and publishing advertising.

STV Glasgow merged with STV Edinburgh to form STV2 in April 2017 which eventually closed in June 2018.

Glasgow has seven synagogues, including the Romanesque-revival Garnethill Synagogue in the city centre.

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Glasgow currently has the seventh largest Jewish population in the United Kingdom after London, Manchester, Leeds, Gateshead, Brighton and Bournemouth but once had a Jewish population second only to London, estimated at 20, 000 in the Gorbals alone.

Glasgow is Scotland's main locus of Gaelic language use outside the Highlands and Islands.

Glasgow generated immense wealth from trade and the industries that developed from the Industrial Revolution.

Glasgow has the largest economy in Scotland and is at the hub of the metropolitan area of West Central Scotland.

Glasgow has the third highest GDP Per capita of any city in the UK.

Glasgow was once one of the most significant cities in the UK for manufacturing, which generated a great deal of the city's wealth; the most prominent industry being shipbuilding based on the River Clyde.

Whilst manufacturing has declined, Glasgow's economy has seen significant relative growth of tertiary sector industries such as financial and business services, communications, biosciences, creative industries, healthcare, higher education, retail and tourism.

Glasgow is the second most popular foreign tourist destination in Scotland and offers Scotland's largest retail centre.

Glasgow is one of Europe's sixteen largest financial centres, with a growing number of Blue chip financial sector companies establishing significant operations or headquarters in the city.

Glasgow has a large urban transport system, mostly managed by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

Glasgow has the most extensive urban rail network in the UK outside London, with rail services travelling to a large part of the West of Scotland.

All trains running within Scotland, including the local Glasgow trains, are operated by ScotRail, which is owned by the Scottish Government.

Glasgow Central is the terminus for suburban services on the south side of Glasgow, Ayrshire and Inverclyde, as well as being served by the cross city link from Dalmuir to Motherwell.

City's suburban network is currently divided by the River Clyde and the Crossrail Glasgow initiative has been proposed to link them; it is currently awaiting funding from the Scottish Government.

Main operational dock within Glasgow operated by Clydeport is the King George V Dock, near Braehead.

Longer distant commercial sea shipping from Glasgow occurs regularly to many European destinations, including Mediterranean and Baltic ports via passage through the Sea of the Hebrides.

Glasgow is known for its tenements; the red and blond sandstone buildings are some of the most recognisable features of the city.

These were the most popular form of housing in 19th- and 20th-century Glasgow, and remain the most common form of dwelling in Glasgow today.

The Hyndland area of Glasgow became the first tenement conservation area in the UK and includes some tenement houses with as many as six bedrooms.

Glasgow is part of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.

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Glasgow was the first city to have had two football teams in European finals in the same season: in 1967, Celtic competed in the European Cup final with rivals Rangers competing in the Cup Winners' Cup final.

Glasgow has four professional football clubs, who all play in the SPFL: Celtic, Rangers, Partick Thistle, and Queen's Park.

The Scottish Football Association, the national governing body, and the Scottish Football Museum are based in Glasgow, as are the Scottish Professional Football League, Scottish Junior Football Association and Scottish Amateur Football Association.

The Glasgow Cup was a once popular tournament, which was competed for by Rangers, Celtic, Clyde, Partick Thistle and Queen's Park.

Currently, Glasgow City are the champions of the Scottish Women's Premier League.

Glasgow has a professional rugby union club, the Glasgow Warriors, which plays in the European Rugby Champions Cup and Pro14 alongside teams from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Italy and South Africa.

GHA was formed in 2002 with the merger of two of Glasgow's leading clubs at the time, Glasgow Southern RFC and Hutchesons Aloysians RFC.

Glasgow was home to one of the oldest rugby clubs in Scotland, West of Scotland F C, which was formed in 1865, and was a founding member of the Scottish Rugby Union.

Easterhouse Panthers based in the East End of Glasgow are a rugby league team who play in the Rugby League Conference Scotland Division.

City of Glasgow has a number of ice rinks, and a temporary one is set up in George Square in the Christmas period.

Since October 2010 a team called the Glasgow Clan based in the nearby Braehead Arena in Renfrewshire has played in the professional Elite Ice Hockey League alongside two other Scottish teams, the Fife Flyers and the Dundee Stars.

Glasgow is host to many cricket clubs including Clydesdale Cricket Club who have been title winners for the Scottish Cup many times.

The home club, Glasgow Tigers, compete in the SGB Championship, the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Britain.

Glasgow is one of five places in Scotland that hosts the final of the Scottish Cup of Shinty, better known as the Camanachd Cup.

Glasgow was the host of the 2018 European Sports Championships along with Berlin.

On 9 November 2007, Glasgow was selected to be the host city of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.