May

The Falkirk Wheel started turning in May 2002, after three years under construction. Replacing a run of ten locks, it cut the best part of a full day off the time required to travel between Scotland’s two largest cities on a waterway that had been closed since the 1930s.

That wasn’t the only project to debut in May that revived a long-lost means of transport. Edinburgh commuters were riding the city’s trams for the first time that month after close to 60 years as the city’s new, 16-station line opened for business.

It was the month in which the Empire Exhibition opened in Glasgow, the last flights departed from Renfrew Airport, and the Hillman Imp went into production at a factory in Linwood. Factory bosses had hoped that the car would go toe-to-toe with the Mini but, despite success at the time, we see very few of them on the roads today.

May saw the Clydebank-built RMS Queen Mary take her maiden voyage, the reconvened Scottish Parliament hold its first meeting, and the STV brand return after an absence of several years. Dictionary publisher William Chambers died, although his name lives on through countless bookshelves, tea magnate Thomas Lipton was born, and Rudolf Hess fled Nazi Germany for Scotland, hoping to negotiate an end to the war.