East Lothian

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East Lothian Lodainn an Ear
Location

Geography
Area	Ranked 18th
- Total	679 km²
- % Water	?
Admin HQ	Haddington
ISO 3166-2	GB-ELN
ONS code	00QM
Demographics
Population	Ranked 21st
- Total (2005)	91,800
- Density	135 / km²
Politics
East Lothian Council http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/
Control	Labour
MPs	Anne Picking
MSPs	Susan Deacon John Home Robertson

East Lothian (Lodainn an Ear in Gaelic) is one of 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative capital is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh.

The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, with the boundaries of the East Lothian district of the Lothian region. The district had been created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and it consisted of the local government county of East Lothian, plus the burgh of Musselburgh and an Inveresk area, both formerly within the county of Midlothian.

North Berwick Law, one of the landmarks in the county

When abolished, for local government purposes, in 1975, the county of East Lothian bordered the county of Midlothian to the west, and the county of Berwick to the south. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. Although border changes saw several villages on the outskirts of Edinburgh (e.g. Whitecraig) transferred to the city, most residents of the "old Haddingtonshire" do not regard them as part of the same county.

1 Towns and villages
2 Places of interest
3 Notable people from East Lothian
4 Local media
5 East Lothian Council
- 5.1 Council political compositions
6 External links

[edit] Towns and villages

(see also Villages in East Lothian)

County of East Lothian

Geography
Area - Total	Ranked 26th 170,971 acres (692 km²)
County town	Haddington
Chapman code	ELN

[edit] Places of interest

Aberlady Bay
Bass Rock
Dirleton Castle
Fenton Barns Retail & Leisure Village
Gullane Bents
Hailes Castle
Hopetoun Monument
Lennoxlove historic house
Longniddry Bents
Museum of Flight, East Fortune
North Berwick Harbour
North Berwick Law
Preston Mill
Seacliff Beach
Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick
Tantallon Castle
Chesters Hill Fort
Torness Nuclear Power Station
Traprain Law
Yellowcraigs, a beach and conservation area

[edit] Notable people from East Lothian

Alexander II, King of Scots
Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister, 1902-1905
Sawney Bean, cannibal and outlaw
John Bellany, painter
Rhona Cameron, comedienne and activist
Catriona Matthew, elite golfer
John Muir, father of the US National Parks
Ben Sayers, professional golfer & club maker
Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, signatory to the United States Declaration of Independence

[edit] Local media

East Lothian is served by two local paid-for weekly newspapers, the East Lothian Courier and the East Lothian News. Both are officially published on Friday. However, the Courier is generally available by Thursday afternoon and consequently refers to events of the following day in the past tense. To avoid further confusion it has the interesting habit of clarifying which day it means: the event took place today (Friday) or there will be a gala tomorrow (Saturday).

The Courier, the best-selling of the two, began life as the Haddingtonshire Courier in 1859, presumably updating its title when the county changed its name in 1921. The family firm of D.J. Croal, based in Haddington, owned and operated the paper and two other titles in southern Scotland. Border Weeklies remained independent for much of its history, but was bought by the Dunfermline Press Group in 2004. This resulted in a change of printers and format, moving from the 'midi' size to a tabloid. The long-held boast of being "the only newspaper printed and published in East Lothian", which featured on the masthead, also had to be dropped when printing moved from Haddington to Cumbria (although editorial staff remain in Haddington). This necessitated an earlier deadline for readers' letters, although the newspaper was enhanced with the addition of colour photographs and text for the first time (the photographs remain at a similar level of quality under the new regime). Regular features of the Courier include court reports, pages from the major towns (Haddington, North Berwick, Tranent, Dunbar and Musselburgh), a round-up of village activities, and coverage of local amateur sport.

The East Lothian News was first published in 1972, as part of Scottish County Press group, with editorial offices in Dalkeith and printing at Bonnyrigg (both in Midlothian). SCP was acquired by Regional Independent Media in 2000, which was in turn bought by Johnston Press in 2002. The News is also in tabloid format, and has used colour photos for many years. The content is often very similar to the Courier, often including identical readers' letters, and covering the same local events.

The Courier is by far the more popular of the 2 newspapers in the old "Haddingtonshire" area, while the East Lothian News is more widely read in the western part of the county.

East Lothian Life is an independent quarterly glossy magazine produced by a PR company based in Dunbar and sold by subscription and in newsagents. The content includes lifestyle features related to the county including articles on local businesses and attractions, profiles of prominent people, activities such as sport and walking in the area, and areas of historical interest.