Scottish Admirals in Russian Imperial Navy

Godric wrote:never knew this but it was a Scottish Admiral in the service of the Russian empire that  founded Sevastopol and the Russian naval base, his father  also served in the Russian navy as a rear admiral and his mother was alo the daughter  of another Scottish admiral in the service of the Russian empire Thomas Gordon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_MacKenzie_(Russian_admiral)

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was born in Moscow into a respectable noble family, and grew up in the village of Tarkhany (now Lermontovo in Penza Oblast).[2] His paternal family descended from the Scottish family of Learmonth, and can be traced to Yuri (George) Learmonth, a Scottish officer in the Polish-Lithuanian service who settled in Russia in the middle of the 17th century.[3][4][5] He had been captured by the Russian troops in Poland in the early 17th century, during the reign (1613–1645) of Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov.[2] Family legend asserted that George Learmonth descended from the famed 13th-century Scottish poet Thomas the Rhymer (also known as Thomas Learmonth).[2] Lermontov's father, Yuri Petrovich Lermontov, like his father before him, followed a military career. Having moved up the ranks to captain, he married the sixteen-year-old Maria Mikhaylovna Arsenyeva, a wealthy young heiress of a prominent aristocratic Stolypin family. Lermontov's maternal grandmother, Elizaveta Arsenyeva (née Stolypina), regarded their marriage as a mismatch and deeply disliked her son-in-law.[6] On October 15, 1814, in Moscow where the family temporarily moved to, Maria gave birth to her son Mikhail.[7]

kvs wrote:

Godric wrote:never knew this but it was a Scottish Admiral in the service of the Russian empire that  founded Sevastopol and the Russian naval base, his father  also served in the Russian navy as a rear admiral and his mother was alo the daughter  of another Scottish admiral in the service of the Russian empire Thomas Gordon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_MacKenzie_(Russian_admiral)

There seems to have been a few Scots that were historical figures in Russia.   The poet Lermontov comes to mind.

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was born in Moscow into a respectable noble family, and grew up in the village of Tarkhany (now Lermontovo in Penza Oblast).[2] His paternal family descended from the Scottish family of Learmonth, and can be traced to Yuri (George) Learmonth, a Scottish officer in the Polish-Lithuanian service who settled in Russia in the middle of the 17th century.[3][4][5] He had been captured by the Russian troops in Poland in the early 17th century, during the reign (1613–1645) of Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov.[2] Family legend asserted that George Learmonth descended from the famed 13th-century Scottish poet Thomas the Rhymer (also known as Thomas Learmonth).[2] Lermontov's father, Yuri Petrovich Lermontov, like his father before him, followed a military career. Having moved up the ranks to captain, he married the sixteen-year-old Maria Mikhaylovna Arsenyeva, a wealthy young heiress of a prominent aristocratic Stolypin family. Lermontov's maternal grandmother, Elizaveta Arsenyeva (née Stolypina), regarded their marriage as a mismatch and deeply disliked her son-in-law.[6] On October 15, 1814, in Moscow where the family temporarily moved to, Maria gave birth to her son Mikhail.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lermontov

There were other such "contractors" like Hieronymus Karl Friedrich (aka Baron Munchausen).   Some of them settled and some of them went
back home.

Ewan Mcgregor's Long way around road bike documentary with Charlie Boardman 9 minutes 50 seconds in McGregor's comparing the rugged beauty of Siberia with Scotland and Boardman calling it a sh!tehole

GarryB wrote:

Ewan Mcgregor's Long way around road bike documentary with Charlie Boardman 9 minutes 50 seconds in McGregor's comparing the rugged beauty of Siberia with Scotland and Boardman calling it a sh!tehole

The problem with long way rounds and indeed long way down was they just rode through places.

They didn't stop and spend any real time anywhere... it is just like getting a window seat and flying from airport to airport around the world... OK you have been around the world and you would sit next to some different people but it is not really much more than a flight or drive anywhere... like to work and home each day.

Boreman would probably call anything less than a 4 star hotel a sh!thole... didn't Jeremy Clarkson get fired from Top Gear again because he didn't get a hot meal after a days filming... I mean these british presenters are a bit soft... of course they are not going to like places where to cook you have to start a fire... no microwave to be seen.