Discover

'Dundee' () is the fourth-largest city in Scotland. It is on the north bank of the River Tay's estuary and is near the east coast and the North Sea.
Dundee's history begins with the Picts in the Iron Age. During the medieval period, it was the site of many battles. Throughout the Industrial Revolution, the local jute industry caused the city to grow rapidly. In this period, Dundee also gained a reputation for its marmalade industry and its journalism, giving Dundee its epithet as the city of "jute, jam and journalism".
Dundee's population is 143,090. However, if contiguous settlements - such as Monifieth, Birkhill, and Invergowrie - are counted, the number is around 170,000. Dundee's population reached a peak of nearly 200,000 at the start of the 1970s. It has since declined, due to outward migration and the council boundary changes of the 1970s and 1980s, which saw Dundee lose suburbs to the surrounding counties.
Today, Dundee is known as the ''City of Discovery'', in honour of Dundee's history of scientific activities and of the RRS ''Discovery'', Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic exploration vessel, which was built in Dundee and is now berthed there. Biomedical and technological industries have grown since the 1980s. The city now accounts for 10% of the United Kingdom's digital-entertainment industry. Dundee has two universities - the University of Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee. The city is home to the Scottish Dance Theatre, which is based in the city's Dundee Repertory Theatre. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra regularly plays in the city's Caird Hall. On 5 March, 2004 Dundee was granted Fairtrade City status.^[2]

Contents

History

Governance

Local government

Westminster and Holyrood

International links

Geography

Demography

Economy

History

Modern day

Tourism

Transport

Education

Schools

Colleges and universities

Religious sites

Culture

Music

Television and Radio

Sports

See also

References

Further reading

External links

History

Main articles: History of Dundee

The earliest settlement on the present site of Dundee was at an unknown date, perhaps long before its first mentions in historical records in the 12th century. The name "Dundee", Gaelic ''Dùn Dèagh'', incorporates the place-name element ''dùn'', fort, possibly referring to the hill-fort, traces of which survive on Dundee Law. The meaning of Dundee is unknown, though it has been suggested it could mean 'Fort of Fire', perhaps referring to beacons lit on the Law, 'Fort of the God', or 'Fort on the Tay'. In 1191 CE, the town was awarded a charter making it a royal burgh, implying it was already a town of some size and importance.^[3] This charter was later revoked by Edward I, though it was replaced by a new charter from Robert the Bruce in 1327. Dundee became a walled city in 1545, owing to a period of hostilities known as the rough wooing. In July 1547, much of the city was destroyed by an English naval bombardment. In 1645, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Dundee was again besieged, this time by the Royalist Marquess of Montrose.³ In 1651 during the Third English Civil War, it was invaded by General Monck, who was the commander of Oliver Cromwell's forces in Scotland. These English Parliamentarians destroyed much of the city and killed many of its inhabitants. Dundee was later the site of an early Jacobite uprising when John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee raised the Stuart standard on Dundee Law in support of James VII (James II of England) following his overthrow, earning him the nickname Bonnie Dundee.^[4]

Dundee greatly expanded in size during the Industrial Revolution mainly because of the jute industry.^[5] By the end of the 19th century, a majority of the city's workers were employed in its many jute mills and in related industries. Dundee's location on a major estuary allowed for the easy importation of jute from the Indian subcontinent and of whale oil — needed for the processing of the jute — from the city's large whaling industry. The industry began to decline in the 20th century as it became cheaper to process the cloth on the Indian subcontinent. The city's last jute mill closed in the 1970s.

In addition to jute the city is also known for jam and journalism. The "jam" association refers to marmalade, which was purportedly invented in the city by Janet Keiller in 1797 (although in reality, recipes for marmalade have been found dating back to the 1500s). Keiller's marmalade became a famous brand because of its mass production and its worldwide export. However, the industry was never a major employer compared with the jute trade.^[6] Marmalade has since become the preserve of larger businesses, but jars of Keiller's marmalade are still widely available. "Journalism" refers to the publishing firm DC Thomson & Co., which was founded in the city in 1905 and remains the largest employer after the health and leisure industries.^[7][8] The firm publishes a variety of newspapers, children's comics and magazines, including ''The Sunday Post'', ''The Courier'', ''Shout'' and children's publications, ''The Beano'' and ''The Dandy''.
Dundee also developed a major maritime and shipbuilding industry in the 19th century. 2,000 ships were built in Dundee between 1871 and 1881, including the Antarctic research ship used by Robert Falcon Scott, the ''RRS Discovery''. This ship is now on display at Discovery Point in the city, and the Victorian steel-framed works in which Discovery's engine was built is now home to the city's largest bookstore.^[9] The need of the local jute industry for whale oil also supported a large whaling industry. Dundee Island in the Antarctic takes its name from the Dundee whaling expedition, which discovered it in 1892. Whaling ceased in 1912 and shipbuilding ceased in 1981.^[10] The estuary was the location of the first Tay rail bridge, built by Thomas Bouch and opened in 1879. At the time it was the longest railway bridge in the world.
The bridge fell down in a storm less than a year later under the weight of a train full of passengers in what is known as ''The Tay Bridge Disaster''. None of the passengers survived.^[11]

Governance

Main articles: Politics of Dundee


Dundee was first made a royal burgh in 1911 and became a unitary council area in 1996 under the ''Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994'',''Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994'', full text, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website
OPSI home page which gave it a single tier of local government control under the Dundee City Council. The city has two mottos — ''Dei Donum'' (Latin: Gift of God) and ''Prudentia et Candore'' (With Thought And Purity),^[12] although usually only the latter is used for civic purposes. Dundee is represented in both the British House of Commons and in the Scottish Parliament. For elections to the European Parliament, Dundee is within the Scotland constituency.

Local government

Dundee is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, represented by the Dundee City Council, a local authority composed of 29 elected councillors. Previously the city was a county of a city and later a district of the Tayside region. Council meetings take place in the City Chambers, which opened in 1933 and are located in City Square. The civic head and chair of the council is known as the Lord Provost, a position similar to that of mayor in other cities. The council executive is based in Tayside House on the banks of the River Tay, but the council recently announced plans to demolish it in favour of new premises (Dundee House) on North Lindsay Street.^[13] The council was controlled by a minority coalition of Labour and Liberal Democrats of 12 councillors, with the support of the Conservatives who had five. Although the Scottish National Party (SNP) was the largest party on the council, with 11 councillors.^[14][15] Elections to the council are on a four year cycle, the last happened on 3 May, 2007. Previously, Councillors were elected from single-member wards by the first past the post system of election, although this changed for the 2007 election, due to the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.^[16] Eight new multi-member wards were introduced, each electing three or four councillors by single transferable vote, to produce a form of proportional representation. This left Dundee in a state of No Overall Control once more, with 13 Scottish National Party, 10 Labour, 3 Conservatives, 2 Liberal Democrats, and 1 Independent Councillors.

Westminster and Holyrood

For elections to the British House of Commons at Westminster, the city area and portions of the Angus council area are divided in two constituencies.^[17] The constituencies of Dundee East and Dundee West are represented by Stewart Hosie (Scottish National Party (SNP)) and James McGovern (Labour), respectively. For elections to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, the city area is divided between three constituencies. The Dundee East (Holyrood) constituency and the Dundee West (Holyrood) constituency are entirely within the city area. The Angus (Holyrood) constituency includes north-eastern and north-western portions of the city area.¹⁷ All three constituencies are within the North East Scotland electoral region. Shona Robison (SNP) is the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Dundee East constituency; Joe Fitzpatrick (SNP) is the current MSP for the Dundee West constituency and Andrew Welsh (SNP) is the current MSP for the Angus constituency.

International links

Dundee maintains cultural, economic and educational ties with six twin cities:^[18]

★ - Orleans, France (1946)

★ - Zadar, Croatia (1959)

★ - Würzburg, Germany (1962)

★ - Alexandria, Virginia, USA (1974)

★ - Nablus, West Bank (1980)

★ - Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2004)
In addition, the Scottish Episcopalian Diocese of Brechin (centred on St Paul’s Cathedral in Dundee) is twinned with the diocese of Iowa, USA and the diocese of Swaziland.^[19]

Geography

Dundee is located on the north bank of the Firth of Tay and near the North Sea. The city surrounds the basalt plug of an extinct volcano, called Dundee Law or simply ''The Law'' (174 metres (571 ft)).^[20] Dundee is Scotland's only south-facing city, giving it a claim to being Scotland's sunniest and warmest city. Temperatures tend to be a couple of degrees higher than Aberdeen to the north or the coastal areas of Angus. Dundee suffers less severe winters than other parts of Scotland due to the range of protective hills at the back of the city, which are often snow covered while the city itself remains clear.^[21]
The city, being on a relatively small landspace, is the most densely populated area in Scotland after Glasgow and around fifth in the U.K. overall. It is characterised by tall tenements, mainly four storeys high, Victorian, and built from a honey or brown sandstone. The inner districts of the city, as well as some of the outer estates, are home to a large number of multi storey tower blocks from the 1960s. The outer estates are among some of the poorest urban districts in the United Kingdom. To the east of the city area is the distinct but incorporated suburb of Broughty Ferry with its yacht club, wide ranging and upmarket services and expensive houses - many of architectural note, developed during the Industrial Revolution, housing professionals, footballers, and the GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly. A recent apartment in Broughty Ferry entered the market with an asking price of £750,000, far higher than the Scottish average.
Dundee lies close to Perth (20 miles) and the southern Highlands to the west. St Andrews (14 miles) and north-east Fife are situated to the south, while the Sidlaw Hills, Angus Glens and the Glamis Castle are located to the north. Two of Scotland's most prestigious links golf courses, St Andrews and Carnoustie are located nearby. The towns of Invergowrie in Perthshire, Newport on Tay in Fife and Monifieth and Birkhill in Angus are outside of local government control of Dundee but are ''de facto'' suburbs of the city.

Demography

Natives of Dundee are called Dundonians and are recognisable for their distinctive accent,^[22] which most noticeably substitutes the monophthong /e/ in place of the diphthong /ai/.
Dundee's population increased substantially with the urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution as did other British cities. The most significant influx occurred in the mid-1800s with the arrival of Irish workers fleeing from the Potato Famine and attracted by industrialisation.^[23] The city also attracted immigrants from Italy, fleeing poverty and famine, and Poland, fleeing the anti Jewish pogroms in the 19th century, and later, World War II in the 20th. Today, Dundee has a sizeable ethnic minority population, including the third highest Asian population (~3,500) in Scotland after Glasgow and Edinburgh.^[24] Dundee has attracted larger than expected numbers of Eastern Europeans and is predicted to quickly expand by a further 2,000, due to Bulgarian immigrants. Dundee attracts a large number of students (many Irish and other EU), so that students account for 14.2% of the population, the highest proportion of the four largest Scottish Cities. Dundee has a relatively high percentage of recycling of household waste.^[25]

Economy

Dundee is a regional employment and education centre, and is Scotland's most important retail centre after Glasgow and Edinburgh , with over 300,000 persons within 30 minutes drive of the city centre and 700,000 people within one hour. The city is well located at the heart of Scotland and is just over an hour from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and little further from Aberdeen. Many people from North East Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross commute to the city.^[26] In 2006 the city itself had an economically active population of 76.7% of the working age population, about 20% of the working age population are full time students. The city sustains just under 95,000 jobs in around 4,000 companies. The number of jobs in the city has grown by around 10% since 1996. Recent and current investment levels in the city are at a record level. Since 1997 Dundee has been the focus of investment approaching an estimated £1 billion.^[27]
Despite this economic growth the proportion of Dundee’s population whose lives are affected by poverty and who can be described as socially excluded is second only to Glasgow in Scotland. Median weekly earnings were £409 in February 2006, an increase of 33% since 1998, on a par with the Scottish median.²⁶ Unemployment in 2006 was around 3.8%, higher than the Scottish average of 2.6%, although the city has “closed the gap” since the 1996 when unemployment was 8.6% with the Scottish average at 6.1%. In 2000 the number of unemployed in the city had fallen to below 5,000 for the first time in over 25 years. Average house prices in Dundee have more than doubled since 1990 from an average of £42,475, to £102,025 in 2006.^[28] Total house sales in the city have more than trebled since 1990 from £115,915,391 to £376,999,716 in 2004. House prices rose by over 15% between 2001–2002 and 2002–2003 and between 2005 and 2006 prices rose by 16.6%.²⁸

History

The period following World War II was notable for the transformation of the city's economy. While jute still employed one-fifth of the working population, new industries were attracted and encouraged. NCR Corporation selected Dundee as the base of operations for the UK in late 1945,^[29] primarily because of the lack of damage the city had sustained in the war, good transport links and high productivity from long hours of sunshine. Production started in the year before the official opening of the plant on June 11, 1947. A fortnight after the 10th anniversary of the plant, the 250,000^th cash machine was produced. By the 1960s, NCR had become the principal employer of the city and produced ATMs at several of its Dundee plants. The firm, known to employees and locals as 'the Cash', developed magnetic-strip readers for cash registers and produced early computers.^[30] Astral, a Dundee-based firm that manufactured and sold refrigerators and spin dryers was merged into Morphy Richards and rapidly expanded to employ over 1,000 people.^[31] The development in Dundee of a Michelin tyre-production facility helped to absorb the unemployment caused by the decline of the jute industry, particularly with the abolition of the jute control by the Board of Trade on April 30 1969.^[32]
Employment in Dundee changed dramatically during the 1980s with the loss of nearly 10,000 manufacturing jobs due to closure of the shipyards, cessation of carpet manufacturing and the disappearance of the jute trade. To combat growing unemployment and vulnerable economic conditions, Dundee was declared an Enterprise Zone in January 1984. In 1983, the first Sinclair ZX Spectrum home computers were produced in Dundee by Timex. In the same year the company broke production records, despite a sit-in by workers protesting job cuts and plans to demolish one of the factory buildings to make way for a supermarket. Timex closed its Dundee plant in 1993 following an acrimonious six month industrial dispute.^[33] In Januay 2007, NCR announced its intention to cut 650 jobs at its Gourdie factory, effectively ending ATM production in Dundee. The factory will now only be used for small scale manufacturing and prototyping, whilst R&D, software, sales and support functions will remain in Dundee for the foreseeable future.

Modern day

As in the rest of Scotland manufacturing industries are being gradually replaced by a mixed economy, although 13.5% of the workforce still work in the manufacturing sector, higher than the Scottish and UK average, and more than double that of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The main new growth sectors have been software development and biotechnology along with retail. The city has a small financial, banking and insurance sector, with 11% of the workforce, smaller than the three larger Scottish cities, for example Edinburgh’s banking and finance sector accounts for 33.3% of its workforce.

In 2006, 29 companies employed 300 or more staff these include limited and private companies NCR Corporation, Michelin, Tesco, D. C. Thomson & Co, BT, SiTEL, Norwich Union, Royal Bank of Scotland, ASDA, Strathtay Scottish, Tayside Contracts, Tokheim, Scottish Citylink, W H Brown Construction, C J Lang & Son, Joinery and Timber Creations, HBOS, Debenhams, Travel Dundee, WL Gore and Associates, In Practice Systems, The Wood Group, Simclar, Millipore Life Sciences, Alchemy (antibody technology), Cypex(manufacturers of recombinant drug metabolising enzymes, including cytochrome P450s, and in vitro drug metabolism specialists). Major employers in the public sector and non profit sector are NHS Tayside, the University of Dundee, Tayside Police, Dundee College, Tayside Fire Brigade, HM Revenue and Customs, University of Abertay Dundee and Wellcome Trust.
The largest employers in Dundee are the city council and the National Health Service, which make up over 10% of the city's workforce. The biomedical and biotechnology sectors, including start-up biomedical companies arising from university research, employ just under 1,000 people directly and nearly 2,000 indirectly.^[34] Information technology and software for computer games have been important industries in the city for more than twenty years. Rockstar North, developer of ''Lemmings'' and the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series was founded in Dundee as DMA Design by David Jones; an undergraduate of the University of Abertay Dundee.^[35] David Jones is now the CEO of Realtime Worlds, which has recently (2007) released Crackdown for the Xbox 360, and is responsible for employing over 140 people of multi national origin, primarily in Dundee.
Dundee is responsible for 10% of Britain’s digital entertainment industry, with an annual turnover of £100 million.^[36] Outside of specialised fields of medicine, science and technology, the proportion of Dundonians employed in the manufacturing sector is higher than that found in the larger Scottish cities; nearly 12% of workers. Manufacturing income per head in Dundee was £19,700 in 1999, compared to £16,700 in Glasgow.^[37] The insolvency rate for businesses in Dundee is lower than other Scottish cities, accounting for only 2.3% of all liquidations in Scotland, compared to 22% and 61.4% for Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.³⁷
The surrounding area is home to three major UK military bases, Condor (Royal Marines), Leuchars (RAF) which can cause sudden noise from aircraft exercises, and Barry (army and training).
The city is served by Ninewells Hospital - one of the largest and most up to date in Europe, as well as three other public hospitals - Kings Cross, Victoria, and Ashludie, and one private, Fernbrae.
There is an open prison at Castle Huntly which holds low supervision adult male prisoners serving 18 months and over, and a larger prison which generally is used for male prisoners serving sentences of less than four years in nearby Perth. The Perth prison includes a young offenders section in Friarton Hall particularly for those approaching the end of their sentence.[1]

Tourism

The number of visitors has been steadily rising over the last ten years, while visitors from outside the UK has more than doubled in that time. Dundee’s hotels also serve as a base for tourism in the surrounding rural areas of Angus and Perth and Kinross.

Transport

Dundee is served by the A90 road which connects the city to the M90 and Perth in the west, and Forfar and Aberdeen in the north. The part of the road that is in the city is a dual carriageway and forms the city's main bypass on its north side, known as the ''Kingsway'', which can become very busy at rush hour. To the east, the A92 connects the city to Monifieth and Arbroath. The A92 also connects the city to the county of Fife on the south side of the Tay estuary via a toll bridge, although tolls are only charged for southbound traffic heading into Fife. The main southern route around the city is Riverside Drive and Riverside Avenue (the A991), that runs alongside the Tay from a junction with the A90 in the west, to the city centre where it joins the A92 at the bridge.
Dundee has an extensive public bus transport system, with the Seagate Bus Station serving as the city's main terminus. Travel Dundee operates most of the intra-city services, with other more rural services operated by Strathtay Scottish. The city's two railway stations are the main Dundee (Tay Bridge) Station, which is situated near the waterfront and the much smaller Broughty Ferry Station, which is further east in Broughty Ferry. These are complimented by the stations at Invergowrie and Monifieth, with another planned for Newport on Tay. Passenger services at Dundee are provided by First ScotRail, Virgin Cross Country and GNER. There are no freight services that serve the city since the Freightliner terminal in Dundee was closed in the 1980s.
Dundee Airport offers commercial flights to London City Airport, Birmingham International Airport and Belfast City. ^[38]
The airport is capable of serving small aircraft and is located 3 kilometres west of the city centre, adjacent to the Tay river. The nearest major international airport is Edinburgh Airport, 39 miles away.
The nearest passenger seaport is Rosyth, around 35 miles to the south on the Firth of Forth.

Education

Schools

Schools in Dundee have a pupil enrollment of over 20,300. There are forty-one primary schools and ten secondary schools in the city. Of these, twelve primary and three secondary schools serve the city's Roman Catholic population; the remainder are non-denominational. Dundee is also home to a school for girls of Muslim parents— the only one of its kind in Scotland.^[39] Standards in Dundee's primary schools have shown continuous improvement since 2001, with most meeting or exceeding the national average for rates of improvement.^[40] Educational performance at standard and higher grade in secondary schools had been well below the national average in 1997 to 1999, although subsequent figures have shown a significant improvement. Between 2003 to 2005, 85% of pupils achieved access 3 or standard grade, 5–6 in English or Maths and 12% achieving at least 5 higher awards at A–C grades.^[41] The average number of graduates who continued on to further or higher education was 56% in the school year 2004/5, 4% higher than the national average of 52%.⁴¹ This was an increase from the period of 1997 to 1999 when the rate had had been well below the national average.⁴¹ The rate of truancy in Dundee schools has improved to 0.2% from previous rates, which had exceeded the national average of 0.8%.
Dundee is home to one independent (private) school, the High School of Dundee, which was founded in the 13th century by the Abbot and Monks of Lindores. Early students included William Wallace, Hector Boece and James, John and Robert Wedderburn, the authors of ''The Gude and Godlie Ballatis'', one of the most important literary works of the Scottish Reformation. It was the earliest Reformed school in Scotland, having adopted the new religion in 1554.
The most prominent of Dundee's state secondary schools are the Harris Academy Morgan Academy and St John's RC High School. The Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the largest state school in the city. Former pupils include MP George Galloway, professional footballer Christian Dailly and the former vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club, Donald Findlay. The Morgan Academy dates back to 1888 when the Dundee Burgh School Board bought Morgan hospital and reopened it as a school. The school and the prior hospital take their names from John Morgan, who bequeathed much of his fortune to establish a residential institution. The landmark building was gutted by an enormous fire in 2001 but has since been painstakingly restored and updated.
St Johns RC High School was refurbished between 2004 and 2006; the new £12.5 million building is one of the most advanced schools in Britain.

Colleges and universities

Dundee is home to two universities and a student population of approximately 17,000. The University of Dundee was established in 1967, after 70 years as a college of the University of St Andrews. Significant research in biomedical fields and oncology is carried out in the "College of Life Sciences".^[42] The university also incorporates the Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art and Design. In October 2005, the university became the first UNESCO centre in the UK; the centre will be involved in research regarding the management of the world's water resources on behalf of the United Nations.^[43]
The University of Abertay Dundee is a ''new university''; created in 1994 under legislation granting the status of university to the Dundee Institute of Technology, which had been founded in 1888. The university has a computer games technology and design department that holds an annual computer game production competition called ''Dare to Be Digital''. The university is also home to the Dundee Business School. In May 2002, University of Abertay Dundee was ranked number one in the United Kingdom for its investment in IT facilities by the Financial Times.^[44][45] The University of Dundee was ranked third for social work, seventh for architecture and eighth for biological sciences.⁴⁵
Dundee College is the city's umbrella further education college, which was established in 1985 as an institution of higher education and vocational training. The college is noted for its New Media centre and incorporates the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance. In a 2005 HMIE inspection, the college's teaching and learning process were rated "very good" in six of the seven subject areas and overall evaluations.^[2]

Religious sites

The City Churches, Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's) and the Steeple Church, are the most prominent Church of Scotland buildings in Dundee. They are on the site of the medieval parish kirk of St Mary, of which only the 15th century west tower survives. The attached church was once the largest parish church in medieval Scotland. Dundee was unusual among Scottish medieval burghs in having two parish kirks; the second, dedicated to St Clement, has disappeared, but its site was approximately that of the present City Square. In the Middle Ages Dundee was also the site of houses of the Dominicans (Blackfriars), and Franciscans (Greyfriars), and had a number of hospitals and chapels. These establishments were sacked at the Reformation (1559) and have been reduced to sites.
The Church of Scotland Presbytery of Dundee currently consists of 45 congregations, although many now share a minister. Robert Murray McCheyne, who was the minister of St Peter's (now Free Church of Scotland) from 1838 until his death in 1843, led a significant religious revival in Dundee.^[47] There are two cathedrals in the city — St. Paul's (Scottish Episcopal) and St. Andrew's (Roman Catholic).
A recorded Jewish community has existed in the city since the 19th century. The present orthodox synagogue at Dudhope Park was built in the 1970s, with the Hebrew Burial Grounds located around three miles to the east.
Muslims are served by a large mosque, several secondary mosques and the Al Maktoum Institute of Islamic and Arabic Studies which opened in 2000. Scotland's only private Islamic school, for girls, is located in Broughty Ferry. Halal stores and restaurants, along with specialist shops selling Asian clothes and accessories can be found in and around the Hilltown area.
Dundee is also a noted centre of Palestinian solidarity, and is twinned with Nablus on the West Bank.
The city also has a Hindu mandir and Sikh gurdwara.

Culture

Dundee is home to Scotland's only full-time repertory ensemble, established in the 1930s. One of its most famous alumni, Hollywood actor Brian Cox is a native of the city.^[48] The Dundee Repertory Theatre, built in 1982 is the base for Scottish Dance Theatre. Dundee's principal concert auditorium, the Caird Hall (named after its benefactor, the jute baron James Key Caird) regularly hosts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Various smaller venues host local and international musicians during Dundee's annual Jazz, Guitar and Blues Festivals. An art gallery and an art house cinema are located in Dundee Contemporary Arts, which opened in 1999 in the city's cultural quarter. McManus Galleries is a Gothic Revival-style building, located in Albert Square. It houses a museum and art gallery that exhibits a collection of fine and decorative art and a natural history collection.

Dundee has a strong literary heritage, with several authors either having been born, having lived in or studied in the city. These include A. L. Kennedy, Rosamunde Pilcher, Kate Atkinson, Thomas Dick, Mary Shelley and John Burnside. The Dundee International Book Prize is a biennial competition open to new authors, offering a prize of £10,000 and publication by Polygon Books. Past winners have included Andrew Murray Scott, Claire-Marie Watson and Malcolm Archibald. William McGonagall, regularly cited as the "worlds worst poet",^[2] worked and wrote in the city, often giving performances of his work in pubs and bars. Many of his poems are about the city and events therein, such as his work ''The Tay Bridge Disaster''.
A number of other high profile people are natives of the city and its surrounding area, including the actor Alan Cumming and the late Princess Margaret.

Music

Popular music groups such as the 1970s soul-funk outfit Average White Band, the Associates,^[50] the band Spare Snare,^[51] Danny Wilson and the Indie rock band The View hail from Dundee. The View's debut album went to number one in the UK charts in January 2007.⁵¹ Ricky Ross of Deacon Blue and singer-songwriter K.T. Tunstall are former pupils of the High School of Dundee, although Tunstall is not a native of the city.^[52] The Irish indie rock band Snow Patrol was formed by students at the University of Dundee,^[53], Brian Molko; lead singer of Placebo, grew up in the city.^[54] At the end of June, Dundee hosts an annual blues festival known as the ''Dundee Blues Bonanza''.^[55] In May 2006, BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival was held in the city's Camperdown park.⁵¹

Television and Radio

Dundee is home to one of 11 BBC Scotland centres. BBC Scotland Dundee is located within the Nethergate centre. The regional studios of STV are also located in Dundee and this is where the local news opt-out is broadcast from, within the North Tonight news bulletins shown on STV.
Between 2001 and 2002, the city had its own RSL television channel, the Channel Six Dundee, which played music videos and cult children's cartoons. The city has two radio stations — Wave 102 and Tay FM — which broadcast on 102.0 and 102.8 FM respectively. Tay FM also has a sister AM station, Tay AM.

Sports

Dundee has two professional football teams; Dundee and Dundee United who play at Dens Park and Tannadice Park, respectively. Their stadia are closer together than any senior football club pair in the world. Dundee is one of only three British cities to have produced two European Cup semi-finalists (the others being Glasgow and London). Dundee lost to A.C. Milan in 1963 and Dundee United lost to A.S. Roma in 1984. In addition, Dundee reached the semi-finals of the forerunner to the UEFA Cup in 1968 and Dundee United were runners-up in UEFA Cup in 1987. Since 2004–05 season, Dundee United is the city's only Scottish Premier League (SPL) team.^[56] There are also six junior football teams in the area: Dundee North End, East Craigie, Lochee Harp, Lochee United, Dundee Violet and Downfield. In May 2005, two local teams — Tayport and Lochee United — qualified for the final of the Scottish Junior Cup at Tannadice Park, which was won by Tayport.^[57]
Dundee is home to the Dundee Texol Stars ice hockey team which plays at Dundee Ice Arena. The team participates in the Scottish National League (SNL) with the Dundee Tigers and the Northern League (NL) and in cup competitions. Dundee is home to Dundee High School Former Pupils rugby club which plays in the First Division of the BT Premier League rugby club. Menzieshill Hockey Club are one of Scotland's premier field hockey teams and regularly represent Scotland in European competitions. The team plays in the European Indoor Cup A Division and has won the Scottish Indoor National League seven times in the last decade. An outdoor concrete skate park was constructed in Dudhope Park with money from the Scottish Executive’s Quality of Life Fund.^[58] Opened in 2006, the park was nominated for the Nancy Ovens Award.^[59]

See also

References

1. Population Matters
2.
3. Gazetteer of the British Isles, , John, Bartholomew, , 1887,
4. Overview of John Graham of Claverhouse
5. Dundee: Total population
6. Keiller's: Sticky Success
7. Dundee History
8. Victorian Dundee - Jute, Jam & Journalism
9. Shackleton, , Roland, Huntford, Atheneum, 1986, 068911429X
10. Hunting the Whale - The Whale Ships
11. Appalling Catastrophe, Fall of the Tay Bridge
12. A Chronicle of The City's Office Bearers, Chambers, Regalia, Castles & Twin Cities, , , , Dundee City Council, ,
13. ''Long live Dundee House'', Evening Telegraph (publisher DC Thomson), 15 March 2006
14. ''Dundee City Council Political Make-up'', Dundee City Council website
15. ''Dundee Tory leader hits out at critic'', Evening Telegraph (publisher DC Thomson), 28 February 2005
16. ''Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004'', full text, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website
17. ''Fifth Periodical Review of Constituencies'', Boundary Commission for Scotland
18. Dundee’s Twins Around the World
19. New Bishop Consecrated for the Diocese of Brechin
20. Ordnance Survey, Explorer 380 map ''Dundee and Sidlaw Hills''
21. Aberdeen is Scotland's sun city
22. Dundee Scots
23. Little Tipperary: The Irish in Lochee
24. Ethnic profiles: Dundee, Scotland
25. Waste warning as garbage growth outstrips recycling
26. Dundee Economic Profile
27. Dundee: A City Vision
28. Dundee City House Prices
29. Cash Advance, , , NCR, NCR (Scotland) limited, 1996, ISBN 0-9529630-0-0
30. First Dundee computer next year, CJP, , , The Courier, 1966
31. Full Steam Ahead
32. General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade
33. Timex pulls the plug on Dundee plant James Rougvie
34. Chemical attraction George Kerevan
35. The Complete History of DMA Design Mike Dailly
36. The games people play George Kerevan
37. Beyond rustbelt, ECONOMY George Kerevan
38. Dundee Airport
39. Will the state protect Islamic teaching? Osama Saeed
40.
41. Standards and quality report August 2004 – December 2005 Dundee City Council Education Department
42. Overview
43. Proposed establishment of an international IHP-help centre for water law, policy and science at the University of Dundee, Scotland, UK, under the auspices of UNESCO
44. University of Abertay Dundee
45. Good University Guide 2007
46.
47.
48. Cox may be ambassador for Dundee
49.
50. The Vault, Biography, Associates
51. Music’s top stars headline Dundee festival Alan Wilson
52. Almost Famous Barry Didcock
53. Snow Patrol Biography
54. NME Interview with Placebo
55. Dundee Blues Bonanza
56. SPL: Dundee relegated after draw
57. Tayport 2-0 Lochee United

58. New skate park opened in Dundee
59. Leisure and arts services committee - Agenda

Further reading

★ A history of Dundee, , W. J., Smith, David Winter & Son, 1973,

★ Discovering Dundee: The Story of a City, , Andrew Murray, Scott, Mercat Press, 1999,

★ Modern Dundee: Life In the City Since World War Two, , Andrew Murray, Scott, Breedon Books, 2006,

★ Dundee's Literary Lives, Vol 1, , Andrew Murray, Scott, Abertay Historical Society, 2004,

★ Dundee's Literary Lives, Vol 2, , Andrew Murray, Scott, Abertay Historical Society, 2005,

★ The Wee Book of Dundee, , Andrew Murray, Scott, B&W, 2004,

External links

★ Dundee City Council

★

★ Dundonian for beginners

★ Dundee Dialect

★ Dundee Chinese Community