Tongland is a local nickname for the area of Calton, Glasgow controlled in the 1960s by a violent

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

teenage gang called the Real Calton Tongs. The Tongs financed themselves using a protection racket, levying money on shops within their territory, and they marked that territory out in graffiti with their slogan "Tongs Ya Bass".

Background

There is no agreement on the origin of the name. One version (which may be apocryphal) is told thus: "In the 1960s, in an East-End cinema near Fielden Street, some of a local Calton gang led by one McCabe were watching a film, ''

The Terror of the Tongs ''The Terror of the Tongs'' is a 1961 British adventure film directed by Anthony Bushell and starring Geoffrey Toone, Christopher Lee and Yvonne Monlaur. Plot In the year of 1910, Hong Kong members of the secret Red Dragon Tong crime family pr ...

''. about the Chinese secret society;

"...when McCabe shouted out 'Tongs ya Bass' for the first time. McCabe consequently renamed himself Terror McCabe".

Calton in the 19th century was ruled by the brutal "San Toys" gang, and that name was written with wildly varied spellings:, such as 'San Toi' in the 1930s. "Ya bass" is generally taken as Glasgow slang for "you bastard", though it has been proposed it could be the Gaelic war cry ''aigh bas'' meaning "battle and die". Another Glasgow gang slogan was "Spur ya Bass" (this was the name of one of the two rival gangs from the Barrowfield area).Petrol bomb pensioner shows old gang hatreds die hard

Janey Godley Janey Godley (born Jane Godley Currie, January 1961) is a Scottish stand-up comedian, actress and writer from Glasgow. Early life Jane Godley is the youngest of four children born to Annie and Jim Currie. She was raised on Kenmore Street in S ...

, ''The Scotsman'', 6 January 2008 "Tongs Ya Bass" arguably became Glasgow's unofficial motto in the 1960s and 1970s. Tongland appears in Gillies MacKinnon's 1995 movie ''Small Faces'', set in the 1960s, although the setting for the gang's territory is actually the tower blocks of

Sighthill Sighthill may refer to: * Sighthill, Edinburgh Sighthill is a suburb in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The area is bordered by Broomhouse and Parkhead to the east, South Gyle to the north, the industrial suburb of Bankhead and the Calders ...

. The Tongs and other gangs' power over the area and their decline in the 1970s is described in

's 2005

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, ''Handstands in the Dark''.Godley, Janey. ''Handstands in the Dark'' (2005), Chapter 10 The Scottish Tongs are referenced in Adam Ant's song "Crackpot History (and the right to lie)". The lyrics read: "Pumping is a splendid gift, I hope you will catch my drift. Some like pumping in the lift, just like the Scottish Tongs."

References

{{reflist, 1 History of Glasgow Gangs in Scotland Graffiti in the United Kingdom 1960s in Glasgow 1970s in Glasgow Urban decay in Europe Crime in Glasgow Bridgeton–Calton–Dalmarnock

Background

See also

References