Culture
Life With Victoria Crowe: ‘I’ve drawn ever since I was a small child and even then it was a kind of conversation with myself’
One of Scotland’s leading painters and most recognised artists, Victoria Crowe, on her childhood, art being her first love, and her time in Venice. I’ve lived in the Borders ever since we moved up to Scotland in 1968. I have a studio there and also one in Edinburgh. I grew up in Kingston which…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart: ‘Keeping readers enthralled as to what might happen next should be the focus of any storyteller’
Dugald Bruce-Lockhart on not reading War and Peace, his love of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and the books of his childhood. The first book I remember reading: Other than the Ladybird book of dinosaurs, the first proper story I remember reading was Shadow the Sheepdog, by Enid Blyton. Along with Gerald Durrell’s novels, my…
Read MoreLife With Mairi Campbell: ‘Hearing my version of Auld Lang Syne in the Sex And The City was surreal’
Mairi Campbell chats to us about bringing her Pendulum Trilogy together for the first time, the music she listens to at home, and her song being featured in Sex And The City. I grew up in Edinburgh. My mum’s family is Edinburgh; my dad is West Highland. I grew up in the city –…
Read MoreDalkeith Palace to host exhibition by Paul Martin
The eighteenth century splendour of Dalkeith Palace will play host to an exhibition by Paul Martin this June. The exhibition will feature the final works of this remarkable artist, seen for the first time, alongside a retrospective of 50 years of painting and printmaking. Paul Martin began his studies in the late 1960s at Birmingham…
Read MoreLife With Damien Warren-Smith: ‘Gary’s my alter ego. He’s me if I had zero inhibitions. He’s my Sasha Fierce’
Damien Warren-Smith, aka Garry Starr, on his Scottish roots, his alter ego and the Monty Python sketch he wished he’d created. I was born in Inverness but sadly left Scotland when I was less than a year old. My Dad worked for BBC Radio Scotland, but my Mum was from the northern beaches of…
Read MoreLife With Linwood Barclay: ‘Sir Ian Rankin took me for a drink at The Oxford Bar, it was special’
Author Linwood Barclay on being take to The Oxford Bar with Ian Rankin, the books he always recommends and his time in Scotland. I was born in Darien, Connecticut, but my parents moved north to the suburbs of Toronto, in Canada, just before I turned four years old. And when it was time to…
Read MoreAlan Cumming and Forbes Masson to reprise roles from The High Life after more than 30 years for stage show
Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson will reprise their roles from 1990s cult TV series The High Life after more than 30 years, for the stage. The pair will star as Sebastian Flight and Steve McCracken in High Life The Musical, which will tour Scotland next year. The show was first broadcast by the BBC 30…
Read MoreDocumentary on Trainspotting writer Irvine Welsh to close Edinburgh International Film Festival
An intimate documentary focusing on Trainspotting writer Irvine Welsh will close the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Reality Is Not Enough will follow the best-selling author at a crossroads in life where he is acutely aware of his mortality and accepting that his ‘hedonistic days’ are drawing to a close. The documentary is said to be…
Read MorePainting by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe sells for more than £381,000 at auction
A painting by Scottish Colourist Samuel John Peploe which once hung in his patron’s drawing room has sold for more than £381,000 at auction. Roses In A Green Jug went under the hammer in the Scottish art sale at Bonhams in Edinburgh. It sold for £381,400 including buyer’s premium, above the estimate of £250,000-£350,000. ‘Peploe’s…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Heather Darwent: ‘I will never tire of Donna Tartt, she’s my favourite writer’
Heather Darwent on her favourite book of the year, the novels she always recommends and reading to her son. The first book I remember reading: The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin. I loved the whole series – I couldn’t wait to be a babysitter. This was followed quickly by Sweet Valley High… A…
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