Just as Scotland gave the world, television, the telephone, penicillin, the Bank of England, the US Navy, the steam engine, tarmacadam, chloroform, radar, the dentist's drill, and many more
wonders besides, many of the country's sportsmen and women are revered as global legends. Scotland may not have won the World Cup (yet!), but the likes of Denis Law, "Slim" Jim Baxter, and
Jimmy "Jinky" Johnstone would not have looked out of place in the canary yellow of Brazil. Meanwhile, Scotland's three managerial musketeers, Sir Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, and Jock Stein,
fashioned teams that have become part of football folklore, as did Sir Alex Ferguson in more recent times. Amazingly, Scotsmen have conquered the world in just about every major sport: Jim
Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart in Formula One; Ken Buchanan and Benny Lynch in the boxing ring; sprinters Allan Wells and Eric Liddell on the Olympic track; and, as befitting a nation
renowned as "the home of golf," Sandy Lyle was recognized as the greatest player on the planet upon winning the Masters in 1988. The Scots have even left their mark in "foreign" sports.
Bobby Thomson became an American hero when he struck the most famous home run in baseball history, while Douglas Jardine found fame of a different sort in 1933 when he captained England's
cricketers to victory in the highly controversial "Bodyline" Ashes Series in Australia. Scottish sport is the richest of tapestries and, in Scottish Sporting Legends, the cream of the crop
are entertainingly profiled to comprise a revealing collection of portraits of Scots sports stars past and present.
