Edinburgh Fringe advertisement for Shawn Hitchins in 'Ginger nation'. Photo by Jen Squires 2013.
It's official: Scotland is a ginger nation: 13% of the Scottish nation has bona fide red hair, and 40% of us in Scotland apparently carry the red hair gene.
Many more sport Titian locks courtesy of chemistry. No doubt Scottish emigration can account for the high percentage of strawberry blondes on the other side of the Atlantic.
Made in Scotland — from genes.
Some say that red-headed children are discriminated against, but the worlds of art and culture have acclaimed the look consistently.
Let's claim Rita Hayworth (a natural Latin brunette) and Nicole Kidman and Prince Harry and Julianne Moore — half Scottish and the author of 'Freckleface Strawberry'.
We raise a glass of ginger to the gingers. No surprise that Scotland's favourite soft drink — and one with a soaring reputation overseas — should be ginger also.
Irn-Bru. 'Made in Scotland — from girders'.
An ABC of Scotland
Ginger was just one of the 'G' topics in our alphabetical exhibition celebrating some of the outstanding achievements by Scotland and Scots.
'Wha's like us?' ran from 13 December 2013 to 18 May 2014.