GLasgow Underground train

10 fascinating facts about Glasgow

Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city – and the fourth-largest by population in the UK.

The Dear Green Place is packed with history, and here we present 10 fascinating trivial facts about Glasgow.

The world’s first long distance TV pictures were transmitted by John Logie Baird to a room in the Grand Central Hotel on 24 May 1927.

Hitler’s second-in-command, Rudolf Hess, was held in Maryhill Barracks after his famous 1941 ‘peace flight’, when his plane crashed in Eaglesham.

In 1939, Glasgow had 114 cinemas, with more seats per head than any other UK city. The average Glaswegian saw 51 films a year.

In 1952 a midget submarine XE14, commanded by Lt. W. Ricketts, negotiated the canal from the Clyde to the Forth.

Charles Macintosh created his first waterproof coat in a Glasgow textiles factory in 1823.

Glasgow’s subway system is the third oldest in the world behind London’s Tube and Budapest’s Metro.

The first international football match was Scotland-England in 1872 in Partick.

There are only five Clyde-built sailing ships afloat: the Glenlee Tall Ship in Glasgow is the only one in the UK.

Cineworld Glasgow is the tallest cinema in the world, standing at an impressive 62 metres high.

Glasgow’s first restaurant was Sloans, which opened in 1797.

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