RSE brings ‘Food for Thought’ programme to Inverness

The RSE, Scotland’s National Academy, brings two days of food workshops, discussions and practical sessions  to the capital of the Highlands in the latest instalment of RSE@Inverness. Taking place over two days (21 & 22 February) at the Inverness Royal Academy, the Food for Thought programme brought together by the RSE includes an evening panel…

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Prince Charles’ woven watercolour

A tapestry depicting a watercolour by HRH The Prince of Wales was presented to Prince Charles at an Ayrshire country house he saved 12 years ago. A woven interpretation of The Duke of Rothesay’s work Abandoned Cottage On The Isle of Stroma, Caithness, was crafted by Edinburgh weaver Ben Hymers of Dovecot Studios. The tapestry…

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Rewind Scotland festival to return to Scone Palace

Rewind Scotland celebrates music legends of the 80s and beyond… Following the festival’s 10th anniversary celebration last year, Rewind Scotland returns with a legendary line-up celebrating music icons of the 80s and beyond. With Foreigner and Bryan Ferry headlining over the weekend, playing the festival for the first time, it is one not to be…

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Scotland launches A Year of Conversation

The national launch of ‘A Year of Conversation’ will take place with a day-long event hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy, to celebrate and explore the way we speak to one another. The Scottish and international initiative, led by its creative director the poet Tom Pow, brings together high-profile partners in…

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Heritage sector generated £4bn for Scotland’s economy

Scotland’s historic environment is continuing to make a strong contribution to the nation’s economy, according to Historic Environment Scotland’s (HES) latest annual report. Income generated by Scotland’s historic environment sector from 2017 to 2018 has risen to over £4bn, with the growth attributed to increasing tourist numbers, particularly international visitors. As well as economic value,…

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Record breaking ticket sales for Whisky Festival

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival has got off to a world-class start, breaking its own records. A surge in demand for tickets for the annual Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival generated sales of £209,449 in the first 24 hours of release. With 173 events completely selling out in one day, ticket sales hit an…

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Scottish clan is like a phoenix from the flames

Over the centuries Clan Oliphant, as much as any Scottish clan, has seen its fortunes rise and fall against the backdrop of turbulent historical events. Richard Eric Laurence Oliphant of that Ilk, who was recognised as the 34th Clan Chief in 2003, is now on a mission to raise the profile of what was once…

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How the true face of Robert the Bruce was discovered

Scotland’s most legendary and romanticised king, Robert the Bruce, has become a symbol of national pride for many Scots around the world. Immortalised in countless paintings and statues, banknotes and romantic novels, television dramas and, perhaps most famously in the 1995 epic movie Braveheart and last year’s Netflix film Outlaw King, we all have an…

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Out of the ashes came an incredibly rare artefact

At first glance it looked like a bundle of rags, scrunched up into a ball, encrusted with dirt and eaten by insects. It had been stuffed up a chimney as a makeshift draft excluder and was discovered during the renovation of a house in Aberdeen. But when conservation staff at the National Library of Scotland…

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Sir Walter Scott’s lasting legacy for the whole nation

No author has ever had as much influence and impact as Sir Walter Scott. With his narrative poems and his series of stories, latterly called the Waverley Novels, he did not just change what the world thought of Scotland, he radically transformed literary culture. When I wrote about his long shadow in my book Scott-Land,…

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