Posts Tagged ‘Life with’
Life 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 MoreLife With Jonny & the Baptists: ‘Scotland is just a very wonderful place all round’
Musical comedy duo, Jonny & the Baptists (Jonny Donahoe and Paddy Gervers) on their love of Scotland, their new show The Happiness Index and their guilty pleasures. Where did you grow up? Jonny: I grew up in Reading, where many people have changed trains. Queen Victoria hated Reading so much she insisted her statue…
Read MoreLife with Màiri MacMillan: ‘You don’t need to speak Gaelic to enjoy the music’
Traditional Scottish singer Màiri MacMillan on growing up in Uist, the music of her childhood and why you don’t need to speak Gaelic to enjoy the music. I grew up in South Uist in the Western Isles, but I live on the Southside of Glasgow now. I don’t believe in mainland ghosts, but there…
Read MoreLife With Maria MacDonell: ‘Acting was always my first love’
Scottish actress Maria MacDonell on getting older, the best advice she has ever been given and working as an artist’s model at 60. I grew up in the Highlands on the Black Isle. I remember the days of the Kessock Ferry before the bridge was built. I studied hard at school, played music and…
Read MoreLife With The Orkney Island Games: ‘Organising a huge event on a Scottish island presents logistical challenges’
We catch up with Kirsty Talbot, director of the Orkney Island Games, to find out about her life on Orkney, how life compares to Glasgow, and the experience from working at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games she’ll be taking into this year’s event. Moving from Glasgow to Orkney has been incredible for us, we…
Read MoreLife With St Andrew Botanic Gardens: ‘The answers to society’s biggest challenges all involve a different relationship with plants’
Harry Watkins, director of St Andrew Botanic Gardens, on growing up with gardeners as a child, experimenting with new ideas and how what we thought we knew about nature is being challenged. I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors, my mum is a great gardener, and her passion has been a massive influence on how I…
Read MoreLife With Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home: ‘You can try not to get attached to the dogs, but it’s inevitable’
Rachel Halliday a kennel assistant at Edinburgh Dog and Cat home talks to us about her love of animals, the joy of seeing dogs being rehomed and how emotionally demanding the job can be. I have always loved animals of all shapes and sizes. Some of my earliest memories are of my grandparent’s dogs…
Read MoreLife With Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh: ‘Climate change means we’re working against the clock to conserve plants’
Professor Olwen Grace talks to us about working with specimens collected by Charles Darwin and how she choose the one millionth specimen in the Herbarium to be digitalised. I was raised in quite a rural setting in South Africa and spent my childhood immersed in nature, exploring on horseback and learning about the plants…
Read MoreLife With Dumfries House: ‘King Charles wills you to do your very best, I have never had a boss with so much passion’
Head of horticulture for The King’s Foundation, Melissa Simpson, talks to Scottish Field about her love of gardening as a child, her work overseeing the gardens at Dumfries House and Highgrove and what makes King Charles such a special boss As the daughter of a father who served in the forces, I grew up…
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