Four things you should know this morning

IT’S never too early to learn something new like what are the most popular university subjects and what is the history of tartan?

Take a look back at how tartan was made

What are the most popular university subjects?

Medicine and business remain the most popular degree choices for Scots applying to study at university.

Figures released by UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), which processes all UK higher education applications, revealed there were 25,420 applications from would-be students living in Scotland in 2014 to study medical degrees such as nursing, physio­therapy, pharmacology and occupational therapy.

What else is popular? >>>

What is the history of tartan?

Chaotic yet orderly, clashingly exuberant, tartan’s history jumble fact with outrageous fiction. Nearly everything you think you “know” about tartan was invented, then furiously believed until fact seemed pale and unsporting in comparison.

First, to vocabulary: “tartan” refers to a twill-weave pattern consisting of two sets of stripes at right angles. An individual tartan - with its colour palette and stripe widths - is called a “sett”. In Gaelic, a plaide refers to any woolen blanket.

The oldest known Scottish tartan, the Falkirk sett, dates from the 3rd century CE. Ancient Scots wore a three-piece ensemble: a léine, or tunic-shirt, a brat, a semi-circular cloak, and tight-fitting hotpants called trews.

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Which pub is accepting digital currency?

The Arlington on Woodlands Road is the first business in Scotland to accept brand new digital currency Scotcoin as payment.

The 150-year-old pub has been taking Scotcoin as payment for pints of The Arlington’s own Stone of Destiny lager since St Andrew’s Day on November 30.

Scotcoin was founded in 2013 by venture capitalist Derek Nisbet and can be traded directly for better known digital currency Bitcoin.

Historic Glasgow maps revealed

A new book by a Scottish librarian looks back at 500 years worth of maps from Scotland’s largest city.

Glasgow has been sporadically mapped over the centuries - nowhere near as much as the capital city.

One of the first, and arguably the most extensive, maps of Glasgow was commissioned by the British Army.

After the Jacobite Rebellion ended on the Battlefield of Culloden, the Hanoverian establishment realised they knew very little about the lands they were supposed to be ruling, so were resolved to correct this.

John Moore, author of the new book Glasgow: Mapping the City, was originally approached after a similar idea for Edinburgh was proposed.

What other maps are featured?