A maritime disaster a century ago still casts a shadow over the Isle of Lewis. On New Year’s Day 1919, HM Yacht Iolaire sank near the mouth of Stornoway harbour, a mere 20 yards from the shore in what remains the greatest peacetime disaster at sea since the Titanic sank. The Admiralty yacht, with 24…
The “Daft-Days” of Hogmanay
Sixty years ago in 1958, Christmas Day became a public holiday in Scotland for the first time. Until the 16th century, when religious reformers banned it, Christmas was celebrated as enthusiastically in Scotland as elsewhere in Europe. But the Protestant Reformation changed all that. In 1581 new legislation outlawed carol singing and other Yule-tide customs…
Making a drama out of a staircase
Perhaps my title should more accurately be “Making a theatrical performance out of a staircase” because the image below is of the staircase in the foyer of the Theatre Royal in Glasgow, and it is nothing if not dramatic. I visited the theatre recently for the first time since it was refurbished and a new…
Disruptive technologies, art and the power of print
This year saw the 550th anniversary of the death of Johannes Gutenberg and to mark the occasion, the National Library of Scotland used Book Week as an opportunity to display its copy of the famous Gutenberg Bible. Printed around 1455 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg’s bible was the first book in Europe to be printed with movable…
Surprising literary references #2: Robert Louis Stevenson
Today (November 13) is the 168th anniversary of author Robert Louis Stevenson’s birth so I was intrigued to find this unusual reference to him on a recent visit to Stirling. The owner of this car might not be paying tribute to a much-loved author, he or she might simply have a name with the same…