9am Briefing: Digital switchover gets under way

The second last switchover to take place in Scotland means nearly 24,000 homes in West Linton and Penicuik, as well as in Fife, will now be able to watch Freeview for the first time after previously living in "digital blackspots", while picture quality will improve for many existing viewers.

The change requires every Freeview viewer to re-tune their TVs and boxes in order to regain BBC TV channels which were missing this morning.

The switchover will be completed on June 15, when the remaining analogue channels will be turned off.

THE Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will visit Edinburgh today as part of their tour of Scotland.

This morning, Camilla, known as the Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, will visit the Grassmarket Community Project in Edinburgh, which helps adults experiencing "deep social exclusion" by offering education programmes, drop-in services and other activities such as cookery, gardening and woodwork.

Camilla will then go on to meet staff at a Barnardo's vintage shop in the city, before reuniting with Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay, who is touring Glasgow, in the afternoon, to host a reception in aid of Scottish charities at the Palace of Holyrood.

They will also preside over a reception at the palace in the evening for newly elected MSPs, all 129 of whom have been invited.

AN 86-year-old man has been taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation following a chip pan fire in his Musselburgh home.

Fire crews attended Windsor Gardens at 6.50pm yesterday.

The fire was out before crews arrived and the pensioner was given oxygen by paramedics and taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment.