The 75th World Pipe Band Championships are coming to Glasgow later this month, with Piping Live! at George Square will be getting people into the spirit from Monday August 10 to Saturday August 16.
Here are our favourite facts about Scotland’s national instrument...
The traditional bagpipes ringcaps are were made with elephant ivory. This makes it problematic for pipers to travel to the United States, where ivory is banned, so a customs declaration must be made well in advance.
The origins of bagpipes are much disputed, with their use dating back centuries in the Persian gulf as well as ancient Mesopotamia, North Africa. The third pipe was added by the Scots when the Romans brought the bagpipes to Britain more than 2000 years ago.
Bagpies were originally made with the whole skin of a dead sheep. Nowadays they are usually made of the artificial fabric, Goretex.
Bagpipes were originally used to scare off enemies on the battlefield. It is the only musical instrument in history that was ever deemed a weapon of war.
The bagpipes have been banned twice in Scotland, once in 1560 and again in 1746.
James Reid, a Scottish Jacobite piper, was hung by British authorities for having a bagpipe during the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
The ancient Roman emperor Nero was another notorious piper, who is said to have played the bagpipes as Rome burned. He can’t have been very good though: he offered to play bagpipes in public as a penalty for losing a poetry contest.
Pipers were banned from playing into battle in 1915, as 3000 were killed going over the top of the trenches during the First World War.
Another famous war piper is ‘Mad’ Bill Millin, who played Highland Laddie while his fellow troops fought on the beach at Normandy on D-Day during World War 2. When he asked a German commander 40 years later at a D-Day reunion why they didn’t shoot him, the man replied, tapping his head: “Because we thought you were a dummkopf. Why waste bullets?”
The most played song on the bagpipes is Scotland the Brave.
The World Pipe Band Championships will take place at Glasgow Green on Friday August 14 and Saturday August 15.
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