East Lothian

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Template:Infobox Scotland council area 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.

East Lothian was a county until 1975, called Haddingtonshire until 1921. As such, it bordered Midlothian to the west, and Berwickshire to the south. Although border changes have seen several villages on the outskirts of Edinburgh (e.g. Whitecraig) move into East Lothian, 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 compostion
6 External links

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Towns and villages

Aberlady, Athelstaneford, Auldhame
Ballencrieff, Bolton
Cockenzie
Dirleton, Dunbar, Drem
East Fenton, East Fortune, East Linton, East Saltoun, Elphinstone
Fenton Barns
Gifford, Gullane
Haddington, Humbie
Kingston
Longniddry, Luffness
Macmerry, Musselburgh
North Berwick
Ormiston
Pencaitland, Port Seton, Prestonpans
Scoughall
Tranent
Wallyford, West Barns, West Fenton, West Saltoun, Whitecraig, Whitekirk

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Places of interest

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Notable people from East Lothian

Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister, 1902-1905.
John Muir, father of the US National Parks.
Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, signatory to the US Declaration of Independence.
Ben Sayers, professional golfer & club maker.
Catriona Matthew, elite female golfer.

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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.

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