Things you didn't know about... Glasgow

Probably the best rock venue in the world
What links Bob Dylan, Megadeath, Justin Timberlake, Blondie and Babyshambles? They've all played Glasgow's Barrowland Ballroom, rated one of the finest concert venues in the world. Metallica said their concert there in 1996 was the best one they'd ever played.

City with a tall and turning tower
The Glasgow Tower on the banks of the Clyde is the tallest building in the world. Well, the tallest building that can rotate 360 degrees from its base to its top.

A disused crane is one of Glasgow's landmarks
The Finnieston Crane stands as a symbol of the city's history of shipbuilding and engineering. The crane was used in the opening credits of that Glaswegian TV landmark, Taggart.

Glasgow, a city of two great architects
Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the city of Glasgow are inextricably linked. The Glasgow School of Art and numerous other Glasgow buildings (all designed by the time he was 40) pay tribute to his genius.

But we mustn't forget Alexander "Greek" Thomson, whose Victorian-era architecture has also profoundly influenced the look and feel of the city.

Billy Connolly's banjo years
Billy Connolly is probably Glasgow's (Scotland's? the UK's? the world's?) best-loved comedian. But did you know he once played banjo in a band called the Skillet Lickers?

A cult poet was born here
The surrealist poet and musician Ivor Cutler was born in Ibrox, Glasgow. He was adored by John Peel and by the Beatles, who asked him to appear as "Buster Bloodvessel" in Magical Mystery Tour. His account of his childhood in Glasgow was called Life in a Scotch Sitting Room Vol 2. There was no volume one.

A resting place in a Glasgow pub
Legend has it that when the Stone of Destiny was removed from Westminster Abbey in 1950, the cellar of the New Arlington pub in Glasgow was its last resting place before it was left on the altar of Arbroath Abbey.

Glasgow's last hanging drew a big crowd
The last man to be hanged in Glasgow was Dr Edward William Pritchard, on 28 July 1865. Pritchard had poisoned his wife and mother-in-law. The hanging was attended by 100,000 people.