DATES IN
HISTORY
10 August 1842
The Mines Act was passed at Westminster forbidding women and children to
work underground.
10 August 1935
Birth of John MacLeod of MacLeod, 29th Chief of MacLeod, at
Esslemont, Ellon, Aberdeenshire. He caused an uproar in March 2000 when he
attempted to sell the Black Cuillin range on Skye in order to fund repairs
at Dunvegan Castle.
10
August 2006
The UK Atomic Energy Authority was fined £2 million after a radioactive
liquid was spilt at Dounray in September 2005.
11 August 1281
Princess Margaret, daughter of Alexander III, King of Scots, sailed for
Norway to marry King Erik II.
11 August 1985
The Hugh MacDiarmid Memorial, above his birthplace of Langholm, was unveiled
by his widow Valda Trevelyn Grieve. The memorial, in the shape of an open
book, was sculpted by Jake Harvey of Maxton.
12 August 2006
A record-breaking crowd of 50,000 attended the World Pipe Band Championship
in Glasgow. Irish band Field Marshal Montgomery won the Grade One
competition and the coveted World Title. Some 236 bands and more than 8,000
pipers and drummers from Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand took
part setting another record for the number of entrants.
14
August 1615
Three Edinburgh citizens convicted of helping Catholics, including John
Ogilvie, received a stay of execution; their sentences were commuted to
banishment.
14 August 2006
At Dundee Sheriff Court property tycoon and former owner of Dundee FC Angus
Cook (61) was fined £206,666 after he admitted masterminding a massive fraud
operation which stretched across Europe. He was ordered to pay almost
£600,000 in compensation to the many companies that he had defrauded of more
than £420,000 over ten months.
16 August 1890
The first Scottish Football League programme took place and four matches
were played – some 4,000 spectators at Ibrox watched rangers beat Hearts
5-2, 10,000 saw Celtic lose 4-1 at home to Renton, Cambuslang overwhelmed
Vale of Leven 8-2, and Dumbarton and Cowlairs drew 1-1. Both Dumbarton and
Rangers finished the season on 29 points and after a play-off ended 2-2 they
were declared joint Champions.
17 August 2006
Scotland won the inaugural Celtic Cup athletics meeting with a total of 43
points to Ireland’s 32 and Wales’ 25 at Grangemouth Stadium.
See Dates in History in our
Features Section
SCOTTISH QUOTATIONS
I like to have quotations ready for every occasions - they
give one's ideas so pat and save one the trouble of finding
expression adequate to one's feeling.
Robert Burns
Statements in prose and verse which reflect
all aspects of Scottish life and outlook from the 1st century to the present day.
New
quotes added every week. The
quotations are not restricted to native Scots but include observations
from abroad which help us, in the words of our National Bard, Robert
Burns, "To see oursels as others see us"
|
To
mark the first week of the third year of Scottish Quotations we pay
tribute to the greatest Scottish poet of the 20th century
– Hugh MacDiarmid. Born Christopher Murray Grieve on 11 August 1892
in Langholm, he adopted the literary name of Hugh MacDiarmid and as
the quotation from historian James Halliday fully shows he inspired
the Scottish Literary Revival. Like Robert Burns in his generation,
Hugh MacDiarmid in his did much to remind Scots that they are Scots
and should act as Scots. His friend and fellow poet Norman MacCaig’s
suggestion that the anniversary of his birth should be marked by
‘two minutes pandemonium’ is one which must have greatly amused Hugh
MacDiarmid. Given his stormy life, it is not a bad idea! |
Norman
MacCaig (1910-1996)
It turned
out
that the bombs he had thrown
raised buildings:
that the
acid he had sprayed
had painfully opened
the eyes of the blind.
fishermen
hauled
prizewinning fish
from the water he had polluted.
We sat
with astonishment
enjoying the shads
of the vicious words he had planted.
The
government decreed that
on the anniversary of his birth
the people should observe
two minutes pandemonium.
(After His
Death – for Hugh MacDiarmid 1973)
Hugh
MacDiarmid (born Christopher Murray Grieve) (1892-1978)
I have
known all the storms that roll.
I have been a singer after the fashion
of my people – a poet of passion.
All that is past.
Quiet has come into my soul.
Life’s tempest is done.
I lie at last
A bird cliff under the midnight sun.
(Skald’s Death
1934 – this poem is engraved on the caird beside the Hugh MacDiarmid
Memorial, Langholm, unveiled on 11 August by his widow Valda Trevelyn
Grieve)
No’
England, the United States, or the haill
British Empire even at its apogee
Has ha’en like Scotland at the yae time
A Burns and a Scott to croon its poetry.
(The Borders
1967)
I am a Scotsman and proud of it.
Never call me British. I’ll tell you why.
It’s too near brutish, having only
The difference between U and I.
Scant difference, you think? Yet
Hell-deep and Heavenhigh!
(The
Difference 1971)
James Halliday
Then in
August 1922, there appeared ‘The Scottish Chapbook’, in which the young
poet Christopher Murray Grieve demanded that Scots writers should begin
to ‘speak with our voice for our own times.’ They should engage in a
serious examination of profound themes seen through Scottish eyes.
Thanks to grieve – or ‘Hugh MacDiarmid’ as he called himself – and a
generation or more of men and women inspired by his example, Scottish
writing ceased to be provincial and trivial as it had become for some
fifty preceding years, becoming rather the source of a new national
intellectual reawakening, reminiscent of the days of the Enlightenment.
What followed might be unfamiliar by English standards, but in Europe
and Ireland a cultural revival followed by political action was a
familiar experience.
(To Be or Not To Be –
Scotland: A Concise History 1990)
See
Scottish Quotations in our Features Section
SONGS AND BALLADS
from The Blairgowrie Festival - 1968
Twenty-one Scottish songs, as sung by a variety of traditional singers at
the Blairgowrie Festival in August 1968 and published by The Traditional
Music and Song Association of Scotland, priced 1/- (5p).
Traditional
as sung by Daisy Chapman
My
name is Jamie Raeburn, frae Glasgow toon I came;
My
place and habitation I'm forced tae leave wi' shane;
From
my place and habitation I now maun gang awa',
Far
frae the bonnie hills and dales o' Caledonia.
It was
early one morning, just by the break of day,
We
were 'wakened by the turnkey, who unto us did say -
"Arise, ye hapless convicts, arise ye ane and a',
This
is the day ye are to stray from Caledonia."
We all
arose, put on our clothes, our hearts were full of grief,
Our
friends who a' stood round the coach, could grant us no relief;
Our
parents, wives, and sweethearts, their hearts were broke in twa,
To see
us leave the hills and dales o' Caledonia.
Farewell, my aged mother, I'm vexed for what I've done,
I hope
none will cast up to you the race that I have run;
I hope
God will protect you when I am far awa,
Far
from the bonnie hills and dales of Caledonia.
Farewell, my honest father, you are the best of men,
And
likewise my own sweetheart, it's Catherine is her name,
Nae
mair we'll walk by Clyde's clear stream or by the Broomielaw,
For I
must leave the hills and dales of Caledonia.
If e’re we chance to meet again I hope it will be above
Where Hallelujahs wiil be sung to Him who reigns in love
Nae earthly judge shall judge us there but He who rules us a’
Far frae the Bonnie Hills and Dales o’ Caledonia.
Flagnote: This is one of the best known of the countless songs written
about transportation. Jamie Raeburn is reputed to have been a baker in
Glasgow, sentenced for petty theft, of which, in popular imagination at
any rate, he was innocent.
Aberdeenshire-born Daisy Chapman (1912-1997) learned her many songs from
her mother and granny and began singing in public after the death of her
husband in 1959 and came to the notice of the folk song world through
the Aberdeen Folk Club.
See the
SONGS AND
BALLADS in our
Features section
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
We repeat the second ever recipe in this feature – a great Scottish dish
Skirlie which goes a treat wi champit tatties.
In by-gone days before the turnip was introduced as winter food for animals, Martinmas, 11 November, was the time of year for killing the animals which Scots could not afford to keep during the winter. It was a busy time of year as families strove to ensure that nothing was wasted. Meat was salted down and the innards made into black and white mealie puddings.
Most people now-a-days buy puddings at the butcher but Skirlie is still made at home. Skirl-i-the-pan is made with the same ingredients as mealie puddings but is fried in a pan rather than boiled in a
skin. Also known as Poor Man's Haggis, Skirlie is splendid with neeps an tatties and also be used as stuffing for any kind of poultry or game. Here is the Aberdeenshire and North-East Scotland method of cooking:-
Skirlie
Take oatmeal, suet, onion, salt and pepper. Chop two ounces of suet finely. Heat a pan very hot and put in the suet. When it is melted add one or two finely chopped onions and brown them well. Now add enough oatmeal ( about four ounces ) to absorb the fat - a fairly thick mixture. Season to taste. Stir well till thoroughly cooked ( a few minutes ). Serve with potatoes.
A KIST
O FERLIES
A Keek
at the Guid Scots Tung
By Peter & Marilyn Wright
(Note: All words
underlined in this section are RealAudio links)
A KIST O
FERLIES
Please repeat
24 August 2001 except fir wee quote
aumrie: cabinet; chest; cupboard; pantry
belyve: presently; soon; by and by
glaikit: foolish
hauf: half
rive: rend; rip; wrench; burst; grapple; tear;
split
slap: gap in wall; pass between hills; gate
He winna rive his faither's bunnet: He will never fill his father's shoes.
Separatism
If there's a sword-like sang
That can cut Scotland clear
O a' the warld beside
Rax me the hilt o't here.
Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library