What makes the Ultimate Scot? Is it the ability to identify a tartan pattern from 50 yards? Maybe it’s being able to recite the two forgotten verses of ‘Auld Lang Syne’? Or perhaps it’s knowing your single malt from a double malt? The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish examines in hilarious detail the history, politics and traditions that make Scots great. Exploring the best of Scottish culture, this book focuses on the celebrations that Scots have made their own, from Hogmanay to the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Mixing fact and practical hints (like the ideal recipe for boiled sheep’s head) with witty banter, The Ultimate Guide to Being Scottish is perfect for injecting Scotland’s unique and beloved brand of merriment into the year.

This annual celebration of the life and works of the poet Robert Burns is held in Scotland and across the globe around the anniversary of the poet's birthday in the form of a convivial dinner with particular, some may say peculiar, ritual traditions. Robert Burns: Scotland's national poet. Burns Supper: the celebration of the life and poetry of Robert Burns, on or around his birthday on 25 January every year. When the Reverend Hamilton Paul agreed to arrange the first anniversary dinner for Robert Burns' patrons and friends in July 1801, he began a tradition that quite soon became a global celebration. Over two hundred years later, Burns Suppers are held all over the world to commemorate the life and work of a poet beloved wherever people celebrate life, love and liberty. From its beginning with nine Scotsmen in Burns Cottage, to today, where over nine million people join in the Burns Supper festivities, from the USA to Russia, Australia to China, and somewhere near you. The long and happy story of Burns Night is explored in this history of the annual event which has been called 'the biggest party in the world'.

When did Burns Suppers start? Why is it celebrated all over the world? Who can join in the fun? Spanning the history of the phenomenon, from the year of its creation in 1801 to the present day, this book offers you everything you need to know about the Burns Supper, and the poet for whom it is held every year. From the origins of the custom to its modern day interpretations, from the rituals and traditions to the fun and fellowship, this first full-length study of the unique annual celebration of Scotland's national poet answers every question you can think of, along with every one you can't.

Burns Suppers have existed for over 200 years in celebration of Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns. The Ultimate Burns Supper Book highlights the fun in organising a Burns Supper., whether you are a host or a guest. The book includes a complete run through of what to expect on the night, with a list of courses and speeches, what to wear, how to prepare and present speeches, common Burns Supper questions (and answers!), Burn’s greatest poems, including a full English verse translation of the ‘Address to a Haggis’, and answers to your worries about eating haggis and drinking whisky.

Robert Burns has been a key figure in Scottish identity globally since his death in 1796. But he has always been much more than that. In America, his admirers have included Emerson, President Lincoln, Maya Angelou and many others, for Burns was long held to be a friend to the American way of life, an opponent of kings and tyranny, and someone who proved that the values that built the United States were not extinct in Europe. In Europe itself, Burns was seen as both an authentic voice of the people-a representative of their way of life-and a progressive, informed and radical writer. In the British Empire and later the Commonwealth, he was a symbol of Scottish nationality and sociability abroad. In more recent times he has been seen as a poet of universal brotherhood and sisterhood. It takes a great poet to be all things to all people, and to be interpreted so variously worldwide. One of the extraordinary things about Burns is that while his books were sold globally, while he remains the second most translated Scottish author of all time, and when even the USSR issued a stamp in his honor, the postwar academic world turned away from a poet whom it had previously recognized as a major figure. Burns disappeared from accounts of Romanticism, and such meager helpings of critical attention as he received were often directed towards his supposed status as a laboring class or dialect poet, a status which is completely at odds with Burns' sophisticated control of register. Robert Burns in Global Culture is an ambitious book. Drawing on the work of leading experts from Scotland, England, North America, France, Germany and Spain, it analyses the reasons for Burns' critical decline, examines the phenomenon of Burns' global influence on areas from Italian politics to American identity, and places Burns' influence, reputation and unique qualities as a poet within a framework of reference which blends rigorous intellectual inquiry into the poet and his poetry with analyses of popular culture.