BY the time the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston winds up tomorrow, 200,000 people are expected to have visited it and caught sight of the 7,000 cows, sheep, horses, goats and poultry on show. Organised by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society, the event is billed as a showcase for the best of Scotland’s agriculture and rural life.

It was just as popular in 1964 when the Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home and his wife Elizabeth visited the show, although there was some concern expressed in The Glasgow Herald that visitor numbers were down from the previous year.

The Herald also reported that visitors to the show would still be able to see the £25,000 worth of pigs exhibited even though the animals lay under the threat of swine fever. There was no danger to public health, readers were told, but the animals would have to wait at Ingliston for four days at least, maybe even for 28.

Ministry of Agriculture veterinary authorities discovered a suspected case at Portobello and eight animals from the herd were at the show. The scare happened on the second day while the Queen Mother was visiting.

The owners of the herd were twin sisters Miss Mattie Park and Miss Jean Park. “Yesterday we were up in the heavens because of our show successes,” said Miss Mattie Park. “Today we are right down in the dumps.”