Big Yin's Aberdeen comeback

Published on Thursday 1 November 2007 01:17

AN OILRIG to be used for North Sea training in Aberdeen is to be named after Scots comedian Billy Connolly. The 105ft "he used to be much funnier 20 years ago" rig will be put up in the oil capital next week.

Apologies, Billy - that was a bit low. It's actually going to be called the Wee Jobby, sorry, the Big Yin, and it featured in the 1985 comedy film Water, which starred Connolly and Michael Caine (if you haven't seen it, don't bother - it's pretty woeful).

Caine is a British diplomat in the fictional colony of Cascara. Connolly plays half-English half-Cascaran islander Delgado Fitzhugh, who plays in a band including ex-Beatle George Harrison (whose Handmade Films produced Water) and Ringo Starr. The tiny, poor island is rocked when fine spring water is found at an abandoned oilrig - and deluged by global interest which upsets its tranquillity.

The rig from the film - shot in St Lucia and Devon - is to sit on top of a 1,000ft hole dug for training at the Altens industrial estate, Aberdeen. Frank's International, a company that provides tubing for oilrigs, bought the National T-20 rig, but has kept it onshore at Great Yarmouth until now. It has taken two and a half years to get permission to move the rig to its new location.

In 1965, after completing a five-year apprenticeship as a welder, Connolly accepted a ten-week job building an oilrig off the coast of Nigeria before returning to Scotland to focus on being a folk singer and comedian. The rest, as they say, is history.

Riches beyond wildest dreams

FAR be it for Alba to accuse the SNP of exaggeration, but how about this for progress. On Sunday, Alex Salmond claimed if oil revenues were taken into account, Scotland would be the third richest country in Europe and sixth in the world. Not bad - but not good enough for SNP MP Pete Wishart who put out a press release claiming that with oil revenues, Scotland would be the world's third richest country. Oil prices are going up, but not that much.

Even winter's late on trains

SUMMER time continued on parts of the Scottish rail network this week because engineers had not got round to putting station clocks back an hour. Staff at Anderston station in Glasgow said they were not allowed to change the clock - suspended some 8ft above the platform - despite it acting as the only reassurance to passengers that they haven't missed the last train. It had still not been corrected on Tuesday.

Dish that's pleased to meat you

SPOTTED on a special Halloween menu in an office canteen yesterday... "meatballs with a deference". Alba assumes this was meant to be "with a difference" but can't get the image out of his mind of meatballs doffing their meaty little caps and saying: "What a pleasure it is to be eaten by you, sir - I hope I'm not too chewy," in a deferential sort of way.