Features
Why I can’t stay away from Eurovision
THERE’S usually an awkward pause, followed by the word “really?” (whilst trying to stifle a giggle) when I explain to folk that I’m about to set off to spend the next fortnight amidst diva-esque singers, nymph-like dancers, camp choreographers, overtly fey stylists and a plethora of “hugely important” delegates at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Coming clean: Michael Clark’s no-singing, all-dancing rock and roll tribute
MICHAEL Clark, the one-time enfant terrible of modern dance, has come a long way in the past decade. Now the Scot is heading home with his latest production – a homage to three rock greats – and a piece for the Cultural Olympiad in which members of the public get the chance to work with one of the finest choreographers Scotland has ever produced
Teaser trailer released for new James Bond film Picture gallery
JAMES Bond is back in the first teaser of the secret agent’s latest adventure.
Scottish Word of the Day: Piece
MANY visitors to Scotland may overhear the locals referring to what sounds like ‘peace.’ What they’re actually talking about is their lunch, or a snack.
Quiet storm: How one man’s solitude became the toast of British cinema
JAKE Williams lives a hermit-like existence with only his two cats for company in a remote, ramshackle house in the Cairngorms. He is also the star of a near-silent documentary of his own daily life that has made him the toast of film festivals
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Motoring
Motoring review: Electric Vauxhall Ampera a gas
You may run out of power, but you won’t run out of steam with the Ampera, although finding the cash to buy it could prove a problem, writes Frederic Manby
My first car ... Ashley Smith, actor
MY FIRST car was a Fiat Panda. My parents bought it second hand for me before I passed my test, which would have been about eight years ago; I got it as a Christmas present.
Aberdeen car club first to trial clean fuel cars
A SCOTTISH car club is to be the first in the world to trial hydrogen fuel cell cars.
£90 to fill up your car, motorists warned
MOTORISTS could face a 50 per cent rise in fuel duty within two decades to cover a £13 billion hole in Treasury coffers, according to a report.
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My first car … Alyth McCormack
WHEN my husband once asked me the question, “What was your first car?” I answered “green” so clued up was I on such things, however I believe it was a green Rover Mini Metro. It was a gift from my parents; I was a struggling musician. My granny passed away and they had been left some money and bought it for me as they were worried about all the travelling I was doing, often at odd hours, relying on public transport, hire cars and lifts from other musicians. I had it for about four years – the poor thing was in shock after the first. It had belonged to the mother of a car dealer in Stornoway who would drive it into town and back for her “messages”. In its first ten years it had only done 10,000 miles, in its 11th year it did another 10,000.
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Food and Drink
Irn-Bru defies wet weather
Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr has defied the wet April weather with an increase in sales.
Interview: Oliver Shute, chef and food entrepreneur
Oliver Shute is putting Bambi and Thumper back on our dining tables, finds Janet Christie
Wine: ‘North-eastern Italy is open to experimentation’
A FREQUENT complaint, particularly about French and Italian wine producers, used to be their reluctance to learn from the New World. Equally, many have ascribed a similar conservatism to the top levels of the British wine trade.
Restaurant review: Café Royal Oyster Bar, West Register St., Edinburgh
IS THERE a more beautiful or atmospheric restaurant in Edinburgh – or Britain – than the Café Royal Oyster Bar? This, as I’ve just explained to my daughter as she took a break from grappling with the hidden meanings of Macbeth, is a rhetorical question: of course there isn’t.
Restaurant review: Le Bistro Beaumartin, Hope St., Glasgow
This new French eatery seems a bit out-of-place. With its homely, neighbourhood bistro feel, I imagine that it would suit a leafy corner (near Waitrose) in Glasgow’s west end, rather than a busy central street that’s buzzing with trafffic.
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Outdoors
Walk of the week: Ettrick Water, Selkirk
SELKIRK bannocks are great – Queen Victoria is said to have enjoyed a taste when she visited the Borders town. Despite royal approval, it is the appreciation of our four-year-old daughter that counts.
Shooting and fishing: Crumpet has turned out to be the best shooting dog we have ever had
TODAY is Crumpet’s birthday. She is four. We shall have a two-barrel salute to celebrate the event at which I predict she will tear about like a blue-arsed fly looking for something to retrieve only to find that, not for the first time in our brief shooting career, there is nothing to pick up.
Outdoors: The grebe, once endangered thanks to the fashion industry, is thriving again
More times than not, my attempts to plan ahead so as to get a good view of an animal or bird ends in failure.
Walk of the Week: Carn na Caim
On the way to the hills the topic of football invariably crops up. Having lived close to Edinburgh’s Easter Road as a schoolboy, Hibs receive my support.
Roger Cox: When it comes to recording the magnitude of surfing exploits, size really matters
ONE rainy day last November, I started receiving a steady trickle of emails with links to the same jaw-dropping photograph: a surfer in a black-and-yellow wetsuit skittering down the face of a huge, aquamarine wall of water, looking for all the world like an exotic insect fleeing the maw of an about-to-snap venus flytrap.
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Travel
Welcome to the ‘aparthotel’: Luxury accommodation proves a class apart
A CLUSTER of luxury apartments located in Georgian townhouses has trumped traditional hotels to claim one of the hospitality industry’s most prestigious awards.
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City guide: Annapolis, Maryland, USA
THE CAPITAL of the US state of Maryland, on Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, the city of Annapolis owes its birth to the water and it continues to be its lifeblood.
Travel: Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris
IN THIS, its centenary year, the Plaza Athenee, with its art deco steel and glass canopy, baskets of tumbling red flowers and scarlet awnings, is as attractive as in its first flush of youth, when Josephine Baker and Rudolph Valentino gayly danced across its polished marble floors.
Travel: Goa, India
Goa’s reputation as a destination for alternative culture is well deserved, but head off the beaten track to discover its true mix of flavours
Travel: Croftgarrow, Highland Perthshire
DURING my time at The Scotsman, I’ve reported on wildlife-watching trips from the front seat of a Land Rover, the top deck of a sailing boat and even once from the back of a Highland pony.
Music
Review: Admiral Fallow, Queen’s Hall
Admiral Fallow are setting sail on their most important year to date. Since forming in 2007, the Glasgow based folk-rock band have been making slow and steady progress, playing small venues and gradually building a niche for an enthusiastic fan-base.
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1 commentFlorence tops the line–up for Bestival
Florence + the Machine have been announced as the latest headliner for Bestival.
Adele proves to be in tune at Billboards
SiNGER Adele picked up a dozen gongs at the Billboard Music Awards less than a week after her triumph at the Ivor Novellos.
Review: A Foreigner’s Journey, The Jam House
In their minds, A Foreigner’s Journey – a homage to two of music’s top-selling melodic pop-rock bands of the 70s and 80s – was playing to a stadium packed with thousands of cheering fans.
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1 commentClassical review: Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Perth Concert Hall
BEING a child of the former East Berlin, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra is a band we are perhaps less familiar with than its famous West German counterpart, the Berlin Philharmonic.
Books
Scotland’s favourite book a novel ‘so bad it gives novels a bad name’
LITERARY snobs and lovers of the Scottish novel look away now. Scotland’s favourite book is the best-selling and much-maligned The Da Vinci Code, according to a new poll.
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Book extract: The original Mrs Robinson
Kate Summerscale’s book, Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace, revisits 19th century New Town Edinburgh and a scandal that rocked Victorian society. In this exclusive extract, Isabella meets a handsome young doctor
Notebook: Glasgow’s shelf life
IN A southern state of America lives a young girl. Named Ruchazie: as in Ruchazie Jones or Ruchazie Martinez – Ruchazie as in her Christian name. This Ruchazie (perhaps her friends just call her Ruch) must be around ten by now and reaching that age when kids start to get inquisitive. So how, she may soon be coming to wonder, when all her friends sport names like Christy-Lou and Shannice, did she come to be called Ruchazie?
Book review: Ramshackle, by Elizabeth Reeder
LITERARY chins have, for a while now, wagged about Chicago-born Elizabeth Reeder, a teacher on the much-admired University of Glasgow Creative Writing Programme, and now based in Scotland.
Book review: The Deadman’s Pedal, by Alan Warner
IT LOOKS, at the outset of his seventh novel, as if Alan Warner is going to follow Donna Tartt, Alan Hollinghurst, Naomi Alderman and countless others down that well-trodden path back to Brideshead: callow, curious boy is transformed by exposure to exhilaratingly depraved toffs.
Comedy
Comedy review: Simon Amstell, Numb, Queen’s Hall
“Young” Simon Amstell, as the man himself wistfully notes, was renowned for cheek, initially as a pop presenter on Nickelodeon and Popworld, before honing the art of celebrity disdain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Dara O’Briain comes to Edinburgh to film new DVD
YOU’RE Fired! Two words Dara O’Briain is unlikely to be hearing any time soon. The 6ft 4in giant of an Irishman has never been in greater demand.
Karen Koren: So that’s what became of Geraldine
I HAVE just had a wonderful time in Cornwall, a place I’d never been to before, and was pleasantly surprised. For a start, there was wonderful sunshine for the three days I was there.
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Review: Jo Caulfield’s Comedy Collective, The Stand
Billed as “experimental comedy”, the Comedy Collective is not nearly as excruciating as it sounds – instead it’s a chance for some familiar faces to try new material, explore character pieces and master the art of quick-fire improvisation.
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Karen Koren: What Katy did next is just the job
I’VE just had a lovely weekend in the south of France with my daughter Katy, who has managed to get her first full time job in London since leaving university with a good degree.
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Film
Cannes Film Festival review: The Angel’s Share
SIX years ago, Ken Loach won Cannes’ Palme d’Or with The Wind That Shakes the Barley – a film that stirred controversy at home with its sympathetic portrayal of the early IRA. This year, he and regular collaborator, writer Paul Laverty, have returned to the competition with a very different kind of movie, in the Glasgow-set comedy The Angels’ Share.
DVD reviews: The Descendants | Haywire
THE casting in The Descendants really shouldn’t work. It’s a film, after all, in which George Clooney plays a cuckolded husband who discovers his comatose wife was not only about to leave him for another man, but was about to leave him for another man played by a guy whose last significant role was as Shaggy in the live-action Scooby-Doo movies (Matthew Lillard).
Interview: Charlize Theron, actress
Don’t call Charlize Theron brave for appearing in a movie without make-up – the star of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is far too down to Earth to join the cult of celebrity, finds Claire Black
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Licence to twill – Bond Tweed’s secret formula
THE iconic Harris Tweed hacking jacket worn by Sean Connery in the Bond movie Goldfinger is to be recreated by the original tailor using cutting edge technology that could have been designed by Q himself.
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The bountiful game: Ewan McGregor on the fragile existence of babies who owe their lives to Soccer Aid and Unicef in India
WRITING exclusively for Scotland on Sunday, Ewan McGregor recounts an emotional visit to a pioneering unit saving tiny lives in one of the poorest parts of India
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Arts blog
The Smarts: Coming to the Fringe this year are... oh, you knew that already?
THE Edinburgh Fringe will launch its 2012 programme at the end of May. But will there be anything left to announce by then?
What might an album by Shirley Manson and Paul Buchanan have sounded like?
THE new albums by Garbage and Paul Buchanan seem like musical polar opposites - one is sleek, hard-edged guitar pop that seems tailor-designed for daytime radio. The other, as you’d expect from the former frontman of the Blue Nile, is music for listening to late at night - slow, sparse, full of quiet ache and longing.
What The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp reveals about Michael Powell
In November last year, Martin Scorsese regaled an audience at the British Film Institute in London with tales of Robert De Niro’s method madness.
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How the world woke up to The Wake
My earliest experience of The Wake – whose first album of new studio material since 1994, A Light Far Out, is released this week – came a few years ago through a vinylphile friend, who arrived at my flat proudly clutching a copy of their 1987 EP Something That No One Else Could Bring, the rare spoils of a day of crate-digging.
Why Simon Amstell as Simon Amstell beats Matt LeBlanc as Matt LeBlanc
Even if one day he becomes the first man to set foot on Mars, Matt LeBlanc will always be better known as “former Friends star Matt LeBlanc”.
TV and Radio
TV Preview: Man on Wire | Perfect Stranger | Blazing Saddles
Our TV critic previews upcoming programmes
TV review: 56 Up | Tales of Television Centre | Silk
PHEW, that’s a relief. Always with the 7 Up series there’s anxiety over how we’ll find the subjects, another seven years down the line.
Does exile on CBBC prove Blue Peter has finally lost its appeal for the young?
THE air of gloom was palpable. As news filtered through that Blue Peter – that custodian of myriad childhood memories – was to be axed from BBC1, generations raised on silver bottle tops and totalisers took to Twitter to lament its passing.
1 commentTributes to tragic Big Brother star
Davina McCall led tributes yesterday following the death of former Big Brother contestant Sophia Brown.
Performing Arts
Romeo and Juliet goes trailer trash
William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet is to be turned into a pop-rock opera.
Interview: Alan Cumming, actor
Back from Hollywood with his one-man Macbeth, Alan Cumming talks goats, poodles and murder. By Anna Burnside
Dance review: Breakin’ Convention, Edinburgh Festival Theatre
RETURNING to the Festival Theatre once again, annual celebration of hip-hop dance theatre Breakin’ Convention is a showcase like no other.
Life is a cabaret for winner of Pop Idol
SINGER Will Young is heading to the West End to star in the stage show Cabaret in October.
A–level question on... Frankie Boyle
SCOTTISH comedian Frankie Boyle has been featured in an A- level General Studies question by an English exam board.
Visual Arts
Scottish Cup final: The talk of the toon are the Hearts in maroon Picture gallery
EDINBURGH’S famous Royal Mile is normally a beacon for tourists drawn by the street’s rich history and gothic beauty. However, as hundreds of jubilant Heart of Midlothian fans gathered around the police cordon and open-top bus yesterday, it was all about history in the making.
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Annular eclipse: Skies light up in ring of fire over Asia and US Picture gallery
THE sun and moon aligned over the Earth in a rare astronomical event on Sunday - an annular eclipse that dimmed the skies over parts of Asia and North America, briefly turning the sun into a blazing ring of fire.
Images of Scotland: Bass Rock, Firth of Forth
This photograph of the Bass Rock lighthouse in the Firth of Forth with gannets flying overhead was taken by Walter Baxter from Galashiels
Lothians in Pictures: Yellowcraig Beach
Reader Angus N Bathgate took this photograph as a rider enjoyed the conditions at Yellowcraig Beach in East Lothian
Images of Scotland: Portobello beach, Edinburgh
Eighteen-month-old Ben McMurtrie from Leith takes his wellies for a toddle on chilly Portobello beach, as photographed by his father, John
Fashion
Fashion: Summer prints
The high street has caught tropical fever. It’s all about hyper prints on slinky shift dresses, tailored shorts and pyjama pants. Blazers are soft and romantic in fit while heels are high with a hint of toe cleavage.
Lynne McCrossan: Forget flip-flops - it’s a coat and gloves summer
STANDING shivering on the jetty overlooking a derelict Fountainbridge it was pretty hard to believe we’re currently mid-May.
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Interview: Morag Macpherson, textile designer
FOR a designer inspired by the world around her – travels to Japan, Cambodia, Morocco, the US – it should be no surprise to discover that Morag Macpherson’s most important commission to date is from Manhattan's newest, chicest destination hotel.
ECA Fashion Show preview video
Moths, machines and the faded façades of Tuscan cities – fashion students at Edinburgh College of Art take inspiration where they find it. Now we showcase catwalk creations from the final collections of eight stars of the future – you saw them here first. By Janet Christie
Licence to twill – Bond Tweed’s secret formula
THE iconic Harris Tweed hacking jacket worn by Sean Connery in the Bond movie Goldfinger is to be recreated by the original tailor using cutting edge technology that could have been designed by Q himself.
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Homes and Gardens
Style Doctor: Painting fine wood surfaces and garden furniture
Q: I have a number of fitted wardrobes and drawers in my bedroom and they are in a dark rosewood shade. I would like to brighten the room up, by painting them. Is there a specialist paint that I should use or is there a company in my area that could do it?
Pat Elliott: ‘Choose a timeless design in white and add colour’
Although the approach of summer tends to turn thoughts to outside spaces, this can be an ideal time to plan and execute larger home-improvement jobs like bathroom revamps.
Gardens: The garden at Gallery, in Angus that doesn’t hedge its bets
IT’S a cold spring day at Gallery, in Angus, and the wind is blowing in from the north-east, bringing with it showers of icy rain. John Simson hurries out with an umbrella, apologising for the weather, concerned the garden won’t be at its best, while head gardener Ron Stevenson peers anxiously at the grey sky.
Ann Burns: ‘Hakonechloa macra looks like a beatnik hairstyle’
I have a fairly large paved area at the back door that faces north-east and gets a minimal amount of sunlight – but being close to the house, it is well used. Last year we started planting up containers, and the past 12 months have been quite successful with colour from both foliage and seasonal flowers. If you need some ideas for container-planting for shade, then you might wish to try some of the following;
Interiors: Never a dull moment at Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s farmhouse video
THE transformation of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s grade II former farmhouse was never going to be a dull affair, and even he admits there is a lot going on
Health
Nil by mouth: Opening up to oral hygiene
ORAL health – or the lack of it – is an indicator of general well-being, so it’s time to sort out your hygiene regime
1 commentHealth & Beauty: Stick the boot in
It may be springtime, but when the frightfulness of the weather is matched by the rolls of fat accumulating around one’s belt, an indoor boot camp holds tremendous appeal. There will be no press-ups in the rain, or knees caked in mud.
Ruth Walker: It’s more than skin-deep, cosmetic tattooing changes lives
TATTOOS. It seems that everyone has one these days. Whether it's a tramp stamp à la Christina Aguilera, something a little more esoteric, like Jessica Alba’s (she has the Sanskrit symbol for a lotus flower on her wrist), or a full-on body inking in the David Beckham league, all the celebs are now wearing their art on their sleeves.
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Health: Serums - helping you stay forever young?
SERUMS promise to brighten dull complexions and impart a youthful glow, but do they deliver?
Interview: Dr Andrew Murray, GP and long-distance runner
Endurance runner extraordinaire and Scotland’s fitness champion, Dr Andrew Murray tells Roger Cox why he considers public health a very individual challenge
Technology
Gadget review: Verbatim Executive Portable Hard Drive
Personal data storage is essential. These days technology affords us the luxury to be snap happy. We rattle off hundreds of pictures in a blink of an eye and can even shoot HD video with our smartphones, video being the most space-hungry medium and the most likely one to swallow up all that free space on your hard drive.
Gadget review: Ninja Master Prep Pro
Regular readers will know that I’ve experimented with a list of kitchen gadgets that eclipse Bruce Lee in the chopping stakes.
Five useful apps for your cup final visit to Glasgow
We’ve put together a famous five of apps to make your Hampden cup final visit a thouroughly heart-warming experience.
Games firm breaks record with sales of 1.2 million
A TINY games firm based in an East Lothian village has smashed the Xbox sales record.
Broadband providers urged to be more open with consumers on speeds
BROADBAND providers are being called upon to improve the information they give consumers about speeds during the sales process.
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Heritage
Rare Canna stone’s a blessing and a curse
AN ANCIENT “cursing stone” used by Christian pilgrims more than a thousand years ago to bring harm to their enemies has been discovered on Canna.
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Notes of interest: A history of printed money in Scotland
THE Royal Bank of Scotland has led the way in
the issue of banknotes and, finds Brian Ferguson,
that history is about to be celebrated as part of
the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations
The explosive history of Canongate’s cannonball Picture gallery
IT HAS a strong claim as one of Edinburgh’s most intriguing buildings, with a chequered history as a merchant’s home, a slum, a church house and a brothel.
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Scottish quote of the day: Jimmy Reid, Glasgow University, 1972
Trade union activist and politician Jimmy Reid was the spokesman and one of the leaders of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in of 1971-72 in which workers refused to accept the liquidation of the company and continued to work without pay in protest.
Plans afoot to tell Aberdeen’s granite story Picture gallery
AMBITIOUS plans have been unveiled for a heritage centre that will allow visitors an unprecedented clifftop view into the biggest man-made hole in Europe.
1 comment
Pictures
Scottish Cup final: The talk of the toon are the Hearts in maroon Picture gallery
EDINBURGH’S famous Royal Mile is normally a beacon for tourists drawn by the street’s rich history and gothic beauty. However, as hundreds of jubilant Heart of Midlothian fans gathered around the police cordon and open-top bus yesterday, it was all about history in the making.
47 comments
Annular eclipse: Skies light up in ring of fire over Asia and US Picture gallery
THE sun and moon aligned over the Earth in a rare astronomical event on Sunday - an annular eclipse that dimmed the skies over parts of Asia and North America, briefly turning the sun into a blazing ring of fire.
Images of Scotland: Bass Rock, Firth of Forth
This photograph of the Bass Rock lighthouse in the Firth of Forth with gannets flying overhead was taken by Walter Baxter from Galashiels
Lothians in Pictures: Yellowcraig Beach
Reader Angus N Bathgate took this photograph as a rider enjoyed the conditions at Yellowcraig Beach in East Lothian
Images of Scotland: Portobello beach, Edinburgh
Eighteen-month-old Ben McMurtrie from Leith takes his wellies for a toddle on chilly Portobello beach, as photographed by his father, John
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Weather for Edinburgh
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
