Dear me. Oh little Britain how could thee? After all is said we Yanks liked you better in your swaggering, stick putting about days. Its like you've just been told there is no Santa Claus. What now? Are you going to collapse into a heap and throw a magnificent culture and language to the wolves?

geoff bob, miami, usa

Surely the point is that the English are realists and don't need or much care for myths , "national dress" or "saints"?

It is surely childish in the extreme to suggest that one country's myths are better than anothers. What sort of adult cares?

A myth is a myth. Or not to a jaundiced Scot?

Bob, Essex, England

Thats funny Ifan, Wales didnt exist then! a mixed bunch of tribes were pushed into the area now know as Wales. Only people with 'short man' syndrome' care so mush as to need myths to give them confidence. Whereas me myself know that God is an Englishman so I have no need of mythical crutches!

Andy, London,

Most Scots leave myths in the past where they belong, with the truth about Richard the Lionheart, et al.
And criticism from a country where the most recognisable national dress is often a derivative of the jailers' unifrom at the national political prison - the beefeaters and tower yeomanry!!!

KR, Stockport (nee Fife),

Modern tartans are only 150 years old but, 150 years is surely long enough to be come traditional - universal suffrage is a great and cherished british tradition yet it's no where near that old. How old does something have to be to be called 'traditional'?

JM, brighton, england

So what?
One cannot help but wonder at what motivated Trevor-Roper to attempt a cultural assasination of the Scots; envy perhaps?

Jack, Salisbury, England

"History is history - be it fact or fiction"

There are no truer words.

John Smith, London, UK

If every one of us Englishman complained like the Scots when a criticism of our culture, politics and history was made I'd be eternally embarrassed. It's deafening. Imagine what would happen if they focused their energies into their own national development rather than blaming others. Come on Argies

James Cullup, Oxford,

Tartan kilts are a myth?

No mention of "Nessie" though.

What about Irn Bru?

Rod, San Diego, USA

A slightly London-centric article that fails to appreciate that most Scots are well aware of who invented the kilt and the clan tartan system, but still cherish them anyway.

Dave, Edinburgh, UK

If I can read works I KNOW to be fiction and be uplifted, who am I to criticise a nation's legends and myths? Spend less time slamming other people's stories and more time living up to your own, folks.

Michael, Pueblo, Colorado, US

Does everything is Scotland have to be referenced to England or the English. Be proud of what you are.

Jason White, Paris,

According to the DNA experts, the origins of the British people are traced or connected to the Phoenicians. This being the case the British Israelite theory demands further research. The connections are strong, and anchored in the principals of the Hebrew Bible. Fact not myth. Colorful too.

Ilan Efrati, Gamla, Israel

What a pathetic whine.

Taking affront is something so many Scots are good at, and I should know, I married one!

Andy, Plymouth, England

Myths can have value. I spent a most enjoyable afternoon at the Highland Games in Blair Atholl a few weeks ago. My American friend was entranced. The event may be ultimately without foundation, but what of that? The tradition is real enough, and so is the pleasure it brings.

Norman, Anstruther, UK

I think that knowing the history behind the story/tradition is very interesting. I'm English and am perfectly happy to acknowledge that Arthur and Robinhood were not historical people however that shouldn't detract from them being defining English stories.Be proud & enjoy it regardless of historians

Jo, London,

Scots with chips on their shoulders? Yes indeed there are plenty and a rum lot they are. I do think they are diminishing though, and I'm not so sure about the English with the same problem. Your powerful nieghbour is Europe and surely even your tabloid papers bring shame to the nation.

Craig Thomson, Edinburgh, UK

"It is human nature to believe what we fervently hope might be true, and to defend the version that we find most appealing."

- but so often we fail to recognise what we are doing and this attitude can sustain ignorance, hatred, hideous ideologies and war. Better to grow up out of stories I think.

DW, Beijing, China

Trevor-Roper set up straw men to knock them down. Most Scots knew these facts already. However, our identity is not based solely on myths. Worse, Mr Roper attacked our history by attacking medieval historians rather than debate with modern scottish academics. Arrogance or intellectual laziness?

Charles Addison, Glasgow,

Anyone who can read Gaelic poetry of the mid-18th c. and before knows that there did exist heroic warriors, bagpipes, plaids etc. long before Victorian Brigadoonery took hold. And the fraud of Ossian in no way negates the genuine oral tradition of Gaelic stories and songs that lasts to this day.

Neil, Cape Breton, Canada

Richard, London.

I am a Scottish nationalist and couldn't agree more with your comment. I despair at some of the comments from fellow Scots sometimes and wish that people would lose the chip and celebrate their own self worth. You don't have to be anti- English to be pro-Scottish.

David Craig, Glasgow, Scotland

You English and Scots can fight it out. HANDS OFF ARTHUR !!

JP, Caerleon, Wales

Scottish national identity is defined by its opposition to England. To be Scottish, is to be anti-English. Take away England and there is nothing left.

Tom Wright, London, UK

"There are English myths, of course, but they lack the cultural purchase of other national fictions:"

Oh really? How about the English themselves as Anglo-Saxons. No such race ever existed and therefore did not ethnically cleanse Celts out of England who were only ever in Cornwall anyhow..

John, London, UK

English myths are just that: Myths. We enjoy them but (here's the important bit): We know they're not true!

Some peopel actally like to have vaguely accurate history - regardless of whether its nationalistically uplifting or not.

British (yes, British, not English) history isn't pretty. Deal.

Richard, Leighton Buzzard, UK

Here we go again. Why can't Scots people write in praise of their own country without feeling the need to denigrate England?

One thing that is not a myth is the inferiority complex that some Scots seem to have which they insist on blaming on the English. Surely its time to get over it?

Anna, Peterborough, England

The biggest myth in Scotland, is that it would be an Utopia; a perfect state, except for the English. Every single thing that detracts for perfection in Scotland can be made the fault of the English.

Does a lot of damage both sides of the border, does this myth.

Andrew Forbes, Thames Ditton, Surrey

"Arthur and his knights"

Arthur and Excalibur first appears in Welsh mythology before being mixed with some French grail stories.

Ifan, Aberystwyth, Wales

The myths of Scotland and Ireland are all about grudge, vendetta and a chip on the shoulder. They would do well to adopt some more inspiring myths.

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

Some of the biggest myths surround the US revolution eg Americans against the ‘tyranny’ of the (outsiders) British (The British are coming’ etc). All Founding Fathers were British, practically everyone on the day of Independence was British, over 85% of these were from or descended from Britain etc

David Cartright, Birmingham, UK/US

What of the myth of the Scottish Bagpipes? They originate from the North-West Frontier-Kashmir region of Pakistan.

Indeed, the English language is a mixture of foreign languages: French, Germanic, Greek, Arabic, Indian etc the word pukka is an Urdu word meaning solid or firm and not cockney at all.

Haris Choudary, Oxford, UK

"There are English myths, of course, but they lack the cultural purchase of other national fictions: Alfred and his cakes, Arthur and his knights, the promised land of Milton, the green and pleasant land of Blake."

Are you kidding? Right there you name myths far superior to those of the Scots!

John Bargh, Salford, Gtr Manchester, United Kingdom

Arthur wasn't English.

ben foster, Wokingham,

History ,is often written and re-writen by the victor. Reality, speaks for itself. Scotland's history, like it's geography is always founded in reality. Scotland's history like it's geography will always be prominant because Scotland will It is alway above England.

Henry MacGowan, Glasgow, Scotland

You sound like another Scot with a chip on his shoulder - change the record. I have far more respect for a country that doesnt spend 90% of its time bleating on about its neighbour and would just grow into its own clothes graciously.

Richard, London, England