Rank villains, cludgie humour, mankie women, famous gubbings, men in skirts, sadists, balloons and assorted bampots, sex, drugs and illicit lute playing...They're all in Jim Hewitson's latest foray along the scarred underbelly of Scottish history. Astonishing Scotland! is a cheeky thesaurus of Scottishness, an A-Z of Caledonian myth and mischief, a glimpse at the DNA of nationality. And on this individualistic journey, you'll find a multitude of off-beat anecdotes from the history of our great, if somewhat confused, nation. - Where exactly did James IV go wrong at Flodden? - Should Dundee United be playing with a flat back four? - Which Scottish castle can claim the nation's most spectacular thunderbox? - And did wearing a bunnet during sex really ensure you produced a male child? Trawling the sometimes murky, often illuminating but always fascinating backwaters of Scotland's story, you'll encounter the bizarre, the memorable, even the downright rude. So if you thought that Scottish history was as heavy as a pot of stale porridge, then prepare to be ASTONISHED!