A point of fact on Cecil’s answer about bagpipes in the column: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980911b.html
He mentions the movie “Braveheart” as instrumental in the recent popularity of bagpipes. While this may be true, it should be noted that the only bagpipes on the movie’s soundtrack were uilleann pipes, which are considered nowadays to be Irish bagpipes. The bagpipes which are usually played at funerals (and which are seen but not heard in “Braveheart”) are Great Highland Bagpipes, which is Scotland’s national instrument.
Further, it would be inaccurate to classify the generic term “bagpipes” as either Scottish or Irish. The “Oxford History of Music” makes mention of the first documented bagpipe being found on a Hittite slab at Eyuk. This sculptured bagpipe has been dated to 1,000 B.C. At present, there are more than 30 different known types of bagpipes, from all over the world. The Spanish, French, Italians, Germans, Hungarians, Czechoslovakians, Tunisians, Indians, Greeks, and a myriad of other cultures have developed bagpipes of their own.