The M8 motorway connects Scotland’s two largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh. When you come to study here at Glasgow School of English, we often have an official trip to visit Edinburgh, but you can easily go on your own: it only takes about 50 minutes in a train.
As well as being an ancient city, Edinburgh is home to lots of fascinating places, people and things. One of the most interesting of these is what is probably the only penguin in the world that has been knighted (given the rank “Sir”) by a king.
This penguin lives at Edinburgh Zoo. The zoo is very big and is a really interesting place and well worth a visit if you go to Edinburgh. Their penguin enclosure is amazing, with a huge glass wall where you can see the penguins swimming under the water.
One of these penguins is the Colonel-in-chief and mascot of the Norwegian Royal Guard. When he was knighted in 2008, he was also given the name Sir Nils Olav. After the ceremony when he was knighted he then “inspected” the guard of soldiers who attended the ceremony. When the Norwegian Royal Guard soldiers visit Edinburgh, as they sometimes do for the Edinburgh International Festival, they always pay Sir Nils a visit!
Glasgow School of English.