The Rampant Scotland Newsletter - your weekly insight into what has been happening in Scotland, snipped from the Scottish media, for Scots in Scotland and abroad, bringing you news, events plus a Scottish magazine section. Printed with 100% recycled electrons.
Previous editions of this Newsletter are available in the Archive and the Index to the other pages of the Rampant Scotland site is available here.
The Scottish Snippets Newsletter in its original format began in April 1997 and continued in an unbroken series for 591 issues. Although no longer produced in that format there is now a regular update on the new and updated pages on the Rampant Scotland site and also "Scottie's Diary" on an intermittent basis, To receive this, kust send an e-mail to Scottie with "Subscribe Newsletter" in the subject line.
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Historical Affairs - Topical Items from Scotland's Past
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The "Magazine" section includes songs/poems of Scotland, Scottish humour and brief descriptions of Scottish Culture items added recently to the Rampant Scotland Website - with a link to the page where you can find the full feature, if you find the subject of interest to you.
In the days when children did not have their own bedroom, parents were far more likely to talk to their children to encourage them to get to sleep, as in this poem by Murdoch Maclean. Sleep Well Sleep weel, my bairnie, sleep.
The auld wife sits her lane
The bogie man's awa',
Sleep weel, my bairnie, sleep.
Meaning of unusual words:
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Where else would you like to go in Scotland?
Proposals were unveiled this week for a £100 million hotel, office and residential development on the site of the former Strathclyde Regional Council headquarters in India Street in the centre of Glasgow. The old offices have lain empty since local government reorganisation in 1995. The new building will have three separate towers, each higher than 20 storeys, housing a 320-bedroom four-star hotel, 72 luxury flats and office space for 1,500 people. The hotel will be operated by Macdonald Hotels and will include conference and leisure facilities and a rooftop restaurant.
Two of Glasgow's streets, only a mile apart, were named the best and the worst in Scotland in a BBC Radio 4 "Today" programme poll. Buchanan Street was named as the listeners' favourite street in Scotland, describing it as well-lit, clean, with good public seating and plenty of greenery as well as having great shops. Buchanan Street is free of traffic apart from roads cutting across it. But Duke Street, a mile further east in Glasgow, was voted the worst in Scotland. It was criticised for being dirty, poorly lit, largely derelict and a "wasteland" with walls covered in graffiti. It used to be one of the best shopping streets in the east end but has gone downhill in recent decades, particularly since the Forge shopping centre at Parkhead opened. The Great Eastern Hotel on Duke Street, which used to house homeless people was closed a few years ago and is now lying derelict.
The exclusive Italian Centre shopping centre in Ingram Street, Glasgow, is half empty after four retailers pulled out. The flagship Versace store has two empty units next door to their premises and Emporio Armani has moved out - although that is a temporary move to the former TSB Bank chief Glasgow office while refurbishment and expansion is being carried out. Top designer Ralph Lauren rejected the Italian Centre and is opening in the former Post Office building in George Square in November. The Italian Centre opened in 1990 and rental costs are high in the elegant building.
Members of the Scottish Parliament condemned the action of a chain of stationer's shops for advertising half-price fireworks at the end of September. The firework "season" is usually around Halloween at the end of October and Guy Fawkes on 5 November. The advert was being placed in shop windows across the country just as the Association of Chief Police Officers called for the law on the sale and use of fireworks to be tightened. Every year children are injured by fireworks and animals (and humans) are alarmed by the loud explosions as young people set off fireworks over a longer and longer time frame. The problem is now being extended by children buying fireworks when on vacation in Europe, where the laws on the sale and abuse of fireworks are even more lax than in Scotland.
A threatened bus strike by 1,000 drivers employed by Lothian Buses in Edinburgh was called off at the last minute when the management tabled an improvement on their previous offer of 15% over two years. The previous offer had been rejected because staff felt that there were too many "improved productivity" elements involved. The strike would have crippled transport in the capital, forcing many commuters to drive or walk to work. This was the second time within 10 days that a planned strike by the drivers had been called off at the last minute.
The payment of death duties has crippled many large estates in the UK. In 1974, when Ian Campbell, the chief of the clan Campbell, inherited the estate from his father, he was forced to meet enormous demands due to such taxes. But the late Duke of Argyll has shown how to organise his affairs so that the government does not take a large chunk of these ancestral estates. His will says that he left a mere £100,000 but the bulk of his estate, including Inveraray Castle, worth an estimated £30 million, is in trust for his children. So it is not liable to tax which would have otherwise taken £12 million. The title of 13th Duke of Argyll is now held by his son, Torquil Campbell, who works in the whisky industry in Hong Kong. Earlier this year Torquil married Eleanor Cadbury, a member of the family that made its fortune from chocolate. 
Scottish tourists going to Florida are being advised not to display the Scottish Saltire flag on their clothes as an extreme right-wing group known as the League of the South has adopted the symbol as part of its tactics to establish a political system run by Celtic "kith and kin" and "revitalisation of a general European cultural hegemony". Members are given a Saltire lapel badge and the flag is also displayed on the society's website. The cross of St Andrew, on which the Saltire flag is based, was adopted in the 9th century when a cloud formation was seen in the sky as an omen when a combined army of Scots and Picts defeated a larger force of Northumbrians. It is thus probably the oldest national flag in the world. St Andrew was adopted as the patron saint of Scotland after his relics were said to have been brought to the Pictish settlement of Kilrymont (later renamed St Andrews) in Fife.
The last clan chief of the MacArthurs died in India in the 1780s. He had no obvious male heir and so the hereditary chiefdom of the clan seemed to have died with him. But 220 years later, and after more than 15 years of painstaking genealogical research, the clan has a leader once again. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, who vets all such appointments, has finally agreed that James Edward Moir MacArthur should be confirmed as chief of the Clan Arthur. He was appointed by the clan as Commander back in 1991 but it has taken until now for all the checks to be carried out by the Lord Lyon. The new chief is 87 and lives in Edinburgh and he did not seek the title - the research was initiated by a group of senior clan members. The genealogist had to go back to the 16th century to find a common ancestor for the last chief, Charles MacArthur of Tirivadich. The Lord Lyon has further decreed that the Chief of Clan Arthur's shield should be "three antique crowns Or (gold) set on an Azure (blue) background". The silver cross molene which, up until now, was thought to form part of the Clan Arthur Chief's shield, has been omitted. James MacArthur's coat of arms now reverts to the earliest, original arms of Clan Arthur, a shield identical to the description given in ancient manuscripts for the legendary King Arthur's blazon.
The Scottish tourist agency, VisitScotland has a grading scheme covering over 900 attractions across the country. A 5 star award is the highest accolade and only around 3% of the locations achieve this level in recognition of an exceptionally high standard of facilities and services for visitors. Blair Castle in Perthshire, the stronghold of the Clan Murray, has just become one of these. Home to the Atholl Highlanders, Britain's only private army (purely ceremonial, of course) Blair Castle is not only a most attractive building, inside and out, but it has a fine Hercules Garden and a new visitor centre with excellent catering facilities. With 150,000 visitors a year, it is Scotland's most-visited private home. Having recently visited Blair Castle myself, my reaction on hearing about the five-star grading was "What took VisitScotland so long to make the award?"
A haggis eating contest is being held at the Celtic Classic Festival this week in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The winner is the contestant who manages to finish off a pound and a half of the "Great chieftain o' the Pudding Race". Despite its reputation, the main ingredient of haggis is oatmeal and the added spices give it a pleasant taste. Two former champions of the contest, who have both won twice in the past, will be going head to head this time. One contestant says he will starve himself for 24 hours before tackling the haggis contest.
For over 60 years there have been peacocks roaming freely in the West Lothian village of West Calder, 16 miles from Edinburgh. Locals have grown used to the colourful birds strutting through the village and local children regularly feed them. Peacocks are more usually found in the grounds of country houses or in country parks, rather than in a quiet village. While most of the villagers are happy with their unusual resident, one home owner maintains that the piercing calls made by the birds have resulted in his family being unable to sleep and he claims that the birds have been "charging at his children." Now Scott McCroskery has won a court order forcing his neighbour, Jock Russell, who looks after the birds and pays for veterinary care, to relocate the two peacocks to a country park or another suitable environment. But Jock says he is going to fight the decision and many of the villagers say the village would not be the same without the birds and that they should stay.
In the early part of the week there was a fair amount of sunshine and temperatures held up well. Edinburgh reached 20C (68F) last Saturday and Glasgow had a total of 37.5 hours of sunshine in the four days from Saturday to Tuesday. Temperatures dropped on Wednesday, however with Edinburgh and Glasgow reaching only 13/14C (55/57F). While it became a little milder later in the week there was not much in the way of sunshine though the east coast, including Edinburgh enjoyed some sun on Thursday.
According to recent research, William Topaz McGonagall was not only the master of doggerel, but he was also guilty of a great deal of poetic licence about his own life. There has always been some confusion over his age and where he was born - much of it created by McGonagall himself. According to the census records in 1841, when he lived in Dundee, his father said that William had been born in Ireland in 1826. But ten years later, McGonagall told the census collectors that he had been born in Edinburgh. Ten years later and the poet had "lost" two years from his age and by 1881 he claimed to be only 52. But by 1901 he was now telling the census recorders that he was 78 - three years more than his true age. But he may have been telling his wife a different story - she recorded his age as 62 when he died in Edinburgh in 1902. McGonagall used to give people his business card which described him as "LIAR" - Lyric Inditer and Reciter. 
The annual Doors Open Day, which allows members of the public to see inside buildings which are normally closed to them, was pronounced a resounding success in Glasgow this year. The biggest attraction proved to be the Britannia Panopticon Music Hall in Trongate. The theatre was where British-born Stan Laurel first took to the stage and entrance tickets were sold out within hours of being made available. 7,000 people who enquired later were disappointed and were turned away. Over 60 other sites were open last weekend and 50,000 people had the opportunity to look behind the scenes in places ranging from Charles Rennie Mackintosh interiors hidden in BBC Scotland's headquarters to Scotland's traffic control centre.
Plans by developers to create a series of modern glass and steel penthouses and a towerblock as part of the redevelopment of the Grade-A listed Venetian-style Templeton Building in Glasgow have outraged conservation and heritage organisations. The original design of the Templeton building in 1889 (it was originally a carpet factory) was based on the Doge's Palace in Venice when the architect got frustrated by rejections of his earlier designs. The exterior of the building is made out of multi-coloured brick and has been described as the "most extravagant polychromatic building in Britain." Although some other old buildings in Glasgow (such as the former main Post Office building in George Square) have sprouted glass and steel penthouses as developers try to squeeze the maximum from the old buildings, it is hoped that the present proposals will be resisted by the city planners. For more on the Templeton Building, see the 
Artist John Bellany and poet John Bruce are paying tribute to the coastal communities in which they grew up with an exhibition "Women of the North Sea" during October. Bellany was raised in Port Seton in East Lothian and Bruce in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, two places steeped in the history of the sea industries, with the characters and stories, which surround the coastal culture. The exhibition is touring the islands of Skye, Barra and Uist and shows a series of prints by Bellany, as well as a painting specially loaned for the tour. The prints are large monochrome etchings, which capture the images of Port Seton stores through the eyes of Bellany as a young boy. Bruce's poetry accompanies the artwork, and the two have become known for responding to each other in their creative work. Bruce won the Saltire prize for best book of the year, after he recently turned ninety years of age. His last book "Today Tomorrow: The Collected Poems of George Bruce 1933 - 2000" was the focus for the collaboration with Bellany.
The growing prominence of Scottish actors and actresses is celebrated in the innovative exhibition 'Scots in Film' at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery until October 13th. It displays photographic portraits of time-honoured Scottish talent including Brian Cox, Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane and Robert Carlyle (pictured here). These famous faces are displayed alongside the emerging generation of younger Scots who have come to enjoy top Hollywood status such as Ewan McGregor, Kelly MacDonald, Dougray Scott and Daniella Nardini. 
The Odeon cinema chain tripled the number of staff at their call centre this week when advance ticket sales for the next Harry Potter movie went on sale - over a month before the film opens. The film goes on general release on November 15 but tickets are also being sold for special previews on November 8, 9, 10 and 14. The film covers Harry Potter's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.