Born to be kings. We’re the princes of the universe.

These are the opening lyrics of British rock band Queen’s 1986 song, Princes of the Universe, and they resonate with me as my car grinds to a halt and I step outside to appreciate the most glorious view I have ever beheld. As to where I am . . . I will return to that in a wee bit.

When the song was released, boom boxes were all the rage. It was a time when only a very privilege few in university residence halls had a car, which, at best, was second hand. It was a time when many a weekend was spent repairing a car, a time when it was still possible to make such repairs and adjustments by oneself.

As for the boom box, it was also indicative of the individual’s position, with the biggest belonging to the leader of the pack or attained for use when such occasion presented itself. Boom boxes played cassettes – cassette tapes, which were known simply as tapes. These tapes required the odd adjustment or repair, for which a pencil, sellotape and a pair of scissors were fit for purpose.

The boom boxes’ ultimate employ was for serenading audiences. I remember many an instance when we serenaded the residents of an all-female university hostel in the 1980s. We would arrive at the hostel just before 06:00, crammed in the few cars there were on offer or, which was more often than not, on pedal bicycles. Then, when all the men had gathered, as quietly as possible, outside the female residence hall, Gert – a block of a man, who played prop for the university’s first team – lifted the boom box above his head. This was a move that John Cusack ‘stole’ and immortalised in the scene of the 1989 movie, Say Anything.

As the tape mechanism gained traction and the tape started to turn, the music released from the boom box at the loudest it would permit without distorting, introducing our arrival – the princes of the universe. Thinking about it now, at that moment, we all felt like princes of the universe, ignoring for the moment that ‘there can be only one’.

The song and the immortalised motto, or should it be immortal, might provide a hint as to where I am. Should you require another hint, the Queen song also featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 movie that is now referred to as a fantasy/cult film. It was titled simply Highlander. The movie cites the belief and motto among the immortals in the film that, “in the end, there can be only one”. The Highlander, aka Duncan MacLeod, reminds that the immortals were safe only on holy ground, and also that they could have no children. Not certain if they were allowed to adopt, but I digress.

As to where I find myself, well, the giveaway was in the movie’s name. I am gazing out across Loch Ness, in the Scottish highlands. Yes, the one that is rumoured to serve as the residence of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, affectionately known as Nessie. You might not know that Loch Ness is the second-largest Scottish loch by surface area, at 56 km2, after Loch Lomond, but, owing to its great depth, it is the largest by volume in the British Isles. Loch Ness’s deepest point is 230 m, which makes it the second-deepest loch in Scotland after Loch Morar.

From Loch Ness, the family and I return to Shieldhill Castle Hotel, in Biggar, 50 minutes either way from the two main cities of Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow. In case you were wondering, it is a real castle – let me rephrase, a magnificent castle that dates back to 1199. Prior to becoming a hotel in 1959, it was the seat of the Chancellor family for over 750 years.

As the family and I explore the grounds, we come across a plaque in front of a tree, which brings home a bit closer. The inscription simply reads: “This tree was planted by President Nelson Mandela of South Africa during his stay at Shieldhill 23rd and 24th October 1997”.

Do you know Scotland’s and South Africa’s size and population? At 78 387 km², Scotland is 0.06 times the size of South Africa, which is 1 221 037 km² in area. In 2015, Scotland had a population of 5.37 million, compared with South Africa’s, which was nearly 11 times bigger, at 54.96-million.

Have you ever considered what each country contributed to the world, predominantly through innovations that have impacted on and continue to impact on your life, wittingly and unwittingly?

Let us start with Scotland. What follows is not a comprehensive list, but merely serves to highlight those innovations that intrigued and impressed me personally. In the field of road transport, these include macadamised roads, the basis for all roads exclusive of the tarmac; the pedal bicycle; the pneumatic tyre (its inventor’s name might be well known to you – Dunlop); and the overhead valve engine.

Scottish power innovations include coal-gas lighting; the wave-powered electricity generator (by South African-born engineer Stephen Salter); and the Pelamis wave energy converter, also known as the ‘red sea snake’.

Scottish innovations in shipbuilding include Europe’s first passenger steamboat, the first iron-hulled steamship, the first practical screw propeller and the marine compound expansion engine.
In the field of heavy industry innovations, Scottish innovations include making cast steel from wrought iron, the hot blast oven and wire rope.

In the field of communication, the Scots invented roller printing, the adhesive postage stamp and the postmark, postcards and picture postcards in Universal Standard Time, light signalling between ships, the underlying principles of radio, the Kinetoscope (a motion picture camera), the teleprinter, radar, the automated teller machine and the Personal Identification Number (PIN).

The Scots were also behind fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes, Peter Pan, Long John Silver, and Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. James Bond was given a Scottish background by Ian Fleming, himself of Scottish descent, after he was impressed by Sean Connery’s performance.

With regard to scientific innovators, there can be but one, and I have to confess that he is my ultimate hero. He is the father of modern economics and published his famed work, The Wealth of Nations, on March 11, 1776. He is Adam Smith. Then there is William Playfair. Ever heard of him? He was, in fact, the Scots invented the founder of the first statistical line charts, bar charts, and pie charts in 1786 and 1801, and these are known as a scientific ‘milestone’ in statistical graphs and data visualisation.

Recently, in 2010, the Scots invented the metaflex fabric, the first manufacturing fabrics that manipulate light in bending it around a subject, and, in 2013, the tractor beam that pulls objects on a microscopic level.

But as all work and no play is said to make Jack a dull boy, the Scots heeded this proverb and invented cycling as (they had invented the pedal bicycle), as well as golf, ice hockey, Rugby Sevens (in Melrose, which I also visited), and then the dugout was invented by Aberdeen FC Coach Donald Colmanin.

There were also numerous Scottish medical innovations, the most prominent of which are the saline drip, the hypodermic syringe, identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria, discovering insulin and penicillin, pioneering X-ray cinematography and electrocardiography, popularly known as ECG.

As for Scottish household innovations, these include the refrigerator, the electric bread toaster, the flush toilet, the kaleidoscope, the modern lawnmower, the friction match, the electric clock and the soft drink Irn Bru (known in South Africa as Iron Brew).

Do the same search for South Africa, and you would be less inspired, but I leave you to undertake that exercise.

Before overstaying my welcome, it is said that, over time, one tends to only remember the good things, the good experiences, and that bad things and experiences are forgotten, relegated to the past. As a case in point, I recall vividly the opening two verses of Princes of the Universe, but, strangely, not the following three: “Here we belong, fighting to survive. In a world with the darkest powers. Heh.”

This reminds me of a poster, which had these words inscribed on it: “In the end, there can be only one, and you are not it.” “Nag, ou grote”, as the late Zandberg Jansen was famed for concluding his television programme.