- Nobody knows for sure when or where he was born, or even who his father was. He was born sometime in the 1270s in a place called Elderslie in Renfrewshire, or possibly Ayrshire. Some documents say his father was Malcolm Wallace, but Wallace's own seal states his father's name was Alan.
- Most of what we think we know about William Wallace comes from an epic poem written in 1488 by a minstrel called Blind Harry. It was called The Acts and Deeds of the Illustrious and Valiant Champion Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie. Harry claimed his poem was historically accurate, but he got some dates wrong which suggests there was a certain amount of artistic licence going on. Nevertheless, it was a very popular book in Scotland where they nicknamed it The Wallace. Only the Bible was more popular north of the border. Mel Gibson's film, Braveheart, was based on Blind Harry's book.
- William was a younger son, which in those times would dictate that his career would be in the church. Hence he was educated by his uncle, the priest of Dunnipace. His uncle allegedly had strong feelings about oppression and it's said that's where William learned how to fight and how to hate.
- He was a giant of a man – 6' 7” inches tall at a time when the average height of a man was 5' 6”. He was also described as big-boned, broad shouldered and “cheerful in appearance.” However, he never had his portrait painted so we can't know what he actually looked like.
- The first recorded action of William Wallace was in 1297, when he got 30 men together, went to Lanark Castle and killed the English High Sheriff of Lanark, William Heselrig. We don't know for sure why he did it, although the most popular theory is that William Heselrig had killed Wallace's wife, Marion Braidfute.
- However, historians aren't sure Marion actually existed. She isn't mentioned anywhere until 1570, when she appears in a revised edition of Blind Harry's poem. Wallace expert Ed Archer has a theory that Marion was made up by the Baillies of Lamington, a wealthy family from Lanmark who paid for her to be included in the revision so they could claim they were descended from Wallace through his and Marion's daughter.
- The stories we have portray Wallace as quite a bloodthirsty character. He's said to have had his uncle, Sir Ronald Crauford, hanged; to have locked an English garrison in a building and burnt them all alive; skinning an English leader named Hugh Cressingham and making a baldrick, or sword belt, out of his skin.
- The trouble really kicked off when King Alexander III of Scotland died, causing a succession crisis. King Edward I of England saw this as an opportunity to conquer Scotland. This he did at the Battle of Dumbar and had himself declared king of Scotland in 1296. William's father was killed in a skirmish with the English around this time, giving William even more reason to hate them. In 1297 he joined forces with Andrew Moray and the two men formed an army of landowners and commoners which defeated the larger English army led by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Moray was killed, but Wallace led his army into England to ravage Northumberland and Cumberland. When he got home, he was knighted and appointed “Guardian of Scotland and Leader of its armies” on behalf of John Balliol, the deposed king of Scotland. King Edward wasn't going to take this lying down – the following year, he returned to Scotland with his army, meeting Wallace's at the Battle of Falkirk, which the English won. Wallace escaped but resigned as Guardian of Scotland and became a fugitive with a price on his head as Edward was offering a large reward to anyone who killed or captured him.
- Wallace had an ally and supposed friend called John de Menteith, who tricked Wallace into going to Dumbarton, where he handed him over to the English in exchange for an earldom. Wallace was put on trial for treason. His response to the charge against him was to say “I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.” Which was true enough but cut no ice with the bloodthirsty English who found him guilty and had him hung, drawn, quartered and beheaded. His head was placed on London Bridge, and his limbs displayed in Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth.
- In the nineteenth century a tower, the National Wallace Monument was built on the Abbey Craig from which Wallace was said to have watched the gathering of the English army before the Battle of Stirling Bridge. It is possible to visit the monument and climb over 240 steps to look at the view. Visitors can also see some of Wallace's possessions on display, including his sword which is 5 feet 4 inches long and weighs about 3 kilograms.
NEW!!
Over the Rainbow
'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home.
In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.
Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived. Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.
Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down.
Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth.
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