Talk of the Town: One’s company, thanks

SCOTS may have a reputation for bravado – but it seems the truth is quite the opposite.

Research by bread firm Kingsmill found that 36 per cent would actually pack up and go if they are joined on a park bench by a stranger.

Tom’s not lion about dancer . .

AS ex-deputy chief constable of the now defunct Lothian and Borders Police, Tom Wood has undoubtedly seen it all.

To mark a new exhibition opening at Central Library today celebrating Edinburgh Zoo’s centenary year, Mr Wood, 63, recalled one grizzly occasion when a lion had been spotted at a city house – it belonged to an exotic dancer who used to perform with the animal in bars.

He explained: “The go-go dancer and the lion had both, quite some time ago, lost their youthful appearance, shall we say. The lion had outgrown the act, it had been used as a cub and the poor thing had rickets.”

The lion was granted a new lease of life by taking up residence at the zoo – but the dancer’s fate remains a mystery.

Let’s get ready to rum-ble

AT this sort of price, drinkers daren’t spill a drop.

The world’s most expensive rum is arriving in the Capital today for an exclusive tasting session – so exclusive that its location is being kept hush-hush.

Legacy, a dark rum, was distilled by Angostura and created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independence of its native Trinidad.

And it can only be sniffed out by those with a spare £16,000.

Davidson hasn’t the Hart for scandal

SCOTTISH Tory leader Ruth Davidson quickly battened down the hatches after being followed on Twitter by @HartlepoolGirls – an escort agency.

Sniffing scandal, Davidson insisted she had never been to the English town – or used an escort agency.

Fortunately, her new friends soon revealed they were following her at random.