Scottish independence: These are the things to which the rest of Britain will lose bragging rights if Scotland votes ‘Yes’

Alternatively, these are the things Scottish people will have exclusive bragging rights to if they go it alone

(Rex)

Telephones, bicycles and toasters – now found in almost every corner of the globe, their existence allows everyone in Britain can say to the rest of the world: “You can thank us for that.”

But they also all have one thing in common: they actually originated in Scotland.

With the independence referendum now just days away, the polls put the Yes and No campaigns neck-and-neck, meaning attention on both sides of the border must now turn to what each stands to lose (or gain).

Much of the debate so far has been on economics, and plenty has been done to look at how the numbers stack up for each side.

Yet the issues at stake also revolve around identity – and what better way to assert a country’s place in the world than to remind everyone else, with pride, what it is that you have brought to the table.

On 18 September, if Alex Salmond gets his way, the rest of the UK will suddenly lose the bragging rights to a range of wonderful, world-changing creations.

Scotland goes to the polls on 18 September. Pictured are the Better Together leader Alistair Darling (left) and First Minister Alex Salmond (right) (PA)

Scotland is, of course, famous for its inventors, and would as such exclusively lay claim to Alexander Graham Bell (the telephone), John Logie Baird (the TV), Alexander Fleming (penicillin) and Robert Watson-Watt (radar).

But its people have also created some of our best-loved fictional characters, from Sherlock Holmes to Peter Pan, not to mention the entirety of Treasure Island.

In sport, Britain would no longer be the birthplace of golf, cycling, curling or the various athletics events derived from Highland Games if Scotland was to break away.

And in terms of scientific and medicinal advances, Scots are to thank for the Higgs boson, hypnotism, cloning, ultrasound and general anaesthetic.

For all the best creations, inventions and innovations that the rest of Britain will lose the bragging rights to – and which Scotland will have all to itself – click through the gallery above.