Since time immemorial, every generation has imagined itself to be smarter and better educated than the one coming up.
And if the standard of the questions in this absolutely nuggets Edinburgh quiz from the 1940s is anything to go by, we reckon we might just have stumbled on some proof to back up this unlikely theory.
Published shortly after VE Day 1945, this collection of 240 capital-related questions will test even the most well-versed Edinburgh scholars. Mind you, it was probably pretty hard for folk in the 1940s too.
Seriously, though, if you're able to nail all these tungsten-tough posers, we can only assume you are eating Alexas for breakfast.
We've pulled together a selection of our favourites from the book. You'll find the answers (yay) at the foot of the page. Please bear in mind that this quiz was made in 1945, so some facts may be out-of-date, e.g. the current location of the Caiy Stane; mention of the North British Station Hotel (now the Balmoral) .
Happy Googling(!), and do let us know how you get on!#
Quiz reproduced with acknowledgement to Graham Macindoe.
Questions
1. Which is the most distant mountain from Arthur's Seat?
2. Whence came the Falcons at the gates to the Zoo?
3. How long is the Water of Leith?
4. In the development of Edinburgh, which came first, the North Bridge or the South Bridge?
5. Who was the George of George Square?
6. Where are George Heriot, George Watson and Daniel Stewart buried?
7. Who was Grindlay of Grindlay Street?
8. Which is the largest church in Edinburgh?
9. Why are the pavements in the Lawnmarket stepped up from the roadway?
10. Where are the Bore Stone, the Buck Stane and the Caiy Stane?
11. What universally-esteemed medicine was first compounded in Auld Reekie?
12. Where is a "garage" for Sedan chairs to be seen?
13. Which is the higher - the Scott Monument or the clock tower of the North British Station Hotel?
14. What are Edinburgh's colours?
15. "Bovril" was born on the Royal Mile. Where?
16. What connection has Wendy of "Peter Pan" with Edinburgh?
17. How many arches form the entrance to the City Chambers?
18. Where in Edinburgh is the last execution in Scotland for highway robbery commemorated?
19. Who put the "Murray" in Murrayfield?
20. Is the Cowgate really higher above sea-level than Princes Street?
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Answers
1. Lochnagar, sixty-eight miles away.
2. From Falcon Hall, built by Lord Provost Coulter in 1780 and demolished 1909. The lodge and entrance gates stood almost opposite the old school in Morningside Road.
3. Twenty-three miles.
4. The foundation stone of the first North Bridge was laid in 1763, that of the South Bridge in 1785.
5. The brother of James Brown who built it, and not George III, as often stated.
6. Heriots was buried in the parish church of St Martin's-in-the-Fields, London; Watson in Greyfriars; Stewart in the Old Calton, Waterloo Place.
7. The brothers George and John Grindlay, tanners in the 18th century, who owned the Temple Lands of Orchardfield on which Grindlay Street was built.
8. St Mary's Cathedral, Palmerston Place.
9. The roadway was lowered to permit of proper alignment with Johnston Terrace.
10. The Bore Stone is built into the wall in front of Morningside Parish Church; the Buck Stane is built into a garden wall at the top of Braid Road; the Caiy Stane is in Oxgangs Road.
11. Gregory's Mixture, by Dr James Gregory (1753-1821).
12. Tweeddale Court, 14 High Street.
13. Scott Monument: 200 feet; Clock Tower: 190 feet.
14. Black and white.
15. No. 180 Canongate, formerly a butcher's shop, now a greengrocer's, between St. John Street pend and the entrance to Moray House School.
16. J.M. Barrie got the name "Wendy" from Margaret, the little daughter of W.E. Henley, whom he first met at her father's house at 11 Howard Place when Henley was editing the Scots Observer. Her name for Barrie was first "Friendy," and then "Friendy-Wendy," or sometimes, just "Wendy".
17. Seven. The Stone of Remembrance is beneath the middle arch, and there are three arches either side of it.
18. Opposite 66 Braid Road, stones in the middle of the roadway mark the site of the gibbet, where two Irishmen were executed on January 25, 1815 for robbing a Biggar carrier.
19. Early in the 18th century Archibald Murray of Cringletie (in the Eddleston Water valley) acquired the lands of Nisbet of Dean, and renamed the estate Murray-field.
20. Yes and no. The east end of the Cowgate is lower and the west end higher than any part of Princes Street.
