DATES IN
HISTORY
7 September
1921
The only British Cabinet meeting to take place outside London was held in
the Town House, Inverness. Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who was
holidaying in Gairloch, called an emergency session to discuss Ireland. The
Inverness Formula, which was agreed at the meeting, was used to form the
Anglo-Irish Treaty setting up the Irish Free State.
7
September 2006
The first Dandy annual, published by DC Thomson of Dundee in 1939, fetched
£6,230 at auction in London – a world record price for any comic annual on
general sale. At the same sale the world’s first Beano comic, from the same
publisher, fetched £8,525. The comic cost 2d when first published on 30 July
1938.
8 September
1853
The Deeside rail line was opened from Aberdeen to Banchory – it was extended
to Ballater in 1860, a total distance of 43 ¼ miles. The line was closed in
1966.
9 September
1898
Birth of Sergeant John Meikle, the only 4th Seaforth Highlander
to win a VC during the First World War, at Kirkintilloch.
10 September
1704
Largo-born Alexander Selkirk was marooned on Masa Terra, in the Juan
Fernandez group of islands, 500 miles off the coast of Chile. He remained on
the remote volcanic rock for four years and four months and his story
inspired Daniel Defoe to write the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
11 September
1789
New steamboat service was introduced on the Forth between Newhaven and
Grangemouth.
11
September 1912
Birth of Robin Jenkins, leading Scottish author of the 20th
century, at Flemington near Cambuslang, Lanarkshire.
12 September
2003
Statue of Scottish accordion maestro and band leader Sir Jimmy Shand was
unveiled in Auchtermuchty, Fife, by Lord Elgin. The bronze statue, a
representation of the accordionist in playing mode, was the work of Fife
sculptor David Annand.
12 September
2006
The bodies of 14 servicemen who had died when their Nimrod crashed in
Afghanistan were brought home to RAF Kinloss, Moray, with full military
honours.
13 September
2006
Scotland hit a five-year high in the FIFA world ranking of 34th
place. Under manager Walter Smith Scotland rose 54 places in eighteen
months, having slipped to an all time low of 88th in March 2005.
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"
|
This
week sees the 29th anniversary of the death of Scotland’s
greatest 20th century poet Hugh MacDiarmid (9 September
1978) and we celebrate his life with his ‘war-cry’ from his
autobiography ‘Lucky Poet’ published in 1943. The other quotations
all come from Scottish literary figures who also made their mark in
their chosen field during the last century. As an Aberdonian living
in Fife, I obviously have a great deal of sympathy with the
quotation from the late Dr David Rorie! |
John
Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir of Enfield (1875-1940)
Poverty is
the first and biggest fact in our history, and from that poverty the
Scottish race learned certain qualities which only come from a hard
school. It learned that nothing comes without effort, and that we value
most what costs us most…. Then again, poverty teaches self-reliance and
effort. It hardens the fibre of a man and toughens his character. And
most of all, it makes a man take risks in life. The more comfortable we
are the more likely we are to be sluggish and unenterprising and timid.
(Some Scottish
Characteristics 1924)
Neil M Gunn
(1891-1973)
In all
things pertaining to his land that move the Scot to his marrow you will
observe this note of tragedy, the singing of lost causes, of dead years,
of death.
(Whisky and
Scotland 1935)
Hugh
MacDiarmid (born Christopher Murray Grieve) (1892-1978)
My aim all
along has been (in Ezra Pound’s term) the most drastic desuelization of
Scottish life and letters, and in particular, the de-Tibetanization of
the Highlands and Islands, and getting rid of the whole gang of high
mucky-mucks, famous fatheads, old wives of both sexes, stuffed shirts,
hollow men with headpieces stuffed with straw, bird-wits,
lookers-under-beds, trained seals, creeping Jesuses, Scot Wha Ha’evers,
village idiots, policemen, leaders of white-mouse factions and noted
connoisseurs of bread and butter, glorified gangsters, and what ‘Billy’
Phelps calls Medlar Novelists (the medlar being a fruit that becomes
rotten before it is ripe), Commercial Calvinists, makers of ‘noises like
a turnip’, and all the touts and toadies and lickspittals of the English
Ascendancy, and their infernal womenfolk, and all their skunkoil
skulduggery, (I have said a good deal about the submersion, under
inferior types of the true Scotsmen. Having mentioned womenfolk, I must
say here that the race of true Scotswomen, iron women, hardy,
indomitable, humorous, gay shrewd women with an amazing sense of values,
seems to be facing extinction too in today’s Scotland.
(Lucky Poet
1943)
Alastair Reid
…and there
is no doubt that Scots do get spread to a quite amazing degree over the
face of the earth. There has always been a drift away from the stony
barrenness of the home ground out into the expansive world; yet for
wandering Scots the homeland never quite disappears. The odd thing is
that almost everything said about the Scots is true, but never the whole
truth – their character has so many sides to it.
(The New
Yorker 1964)
Dr David Rorie
(1867-1946)
Aiberdeen
an’ twal’ mile roon.
Fife an’ a’ the lands aboot it.
Ta’en frae Scotland’s runkeld map
Little’s left, an’ wha will doot it?
Few at
least ‘at maitters ony,
Orra folk, it’s easy seen,
Folk ‘at dinna come frae bonny
Fife or canny Aiberdeen.
(A Per Se
1935)
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).
THE
HAIRST O’ RETTIE
Traditional as sung by Jimmy Rettie
I have
seen the Hairst o’ Rettie boys an’ twa or three aff the throne
I’ve heard o’ sax and seiven weeks the hairsters girn an’ groan
A covie Willie Rae wi’ a mouthie an’ a day
Sends a’ the merry haisters singin’ blithely doon the brae
Oh a
mouthie and a day ma lads the like was never seen
It beats to sticks the fastest strips o’ Vicker’s best machine
The Speedwell she brings up the rear and the Victory clears the way
And twenty acres daily yields laid doon tae Willie Rae
For
he’ll drive them roon’ and roon’ the fields at such an awful rate
And steer them canny oot an’ in at monys a kittle gate
He’ll wile them saftly owre a stane and monys a hidden hole
And he’ll come by nae mischanter gin you leave him wi’ a pole
Oh
he’ll sharp their teeth tae gar them bite an’ tap them on the jaw
An’ when he feels them dowlie-like he’ll brawly ken the cause
A boltie here an’ a pinnie there an’ keep them aye in tune
He will shortly stop their wild career an’ bring the clashek doon
Oh
he’ll whittle aff the corners an’ mak crookit bitties stracht
He likes tae see that man and beast are equal in the draught
An’ a’ the stages neat and square an’ nae a sheaf agley
He will count wi’ ony dominie fae the Deveron tae the Spey
Oh
he’s nae made up wi’ mony words nor kenned tae puff an’ lee
But just as keen a little chap as ony did see
If ye’re in search o’ hairvest wark upon market day
Tak my advice be there in time an’ look for Willie Rae
Noo we
hae got it in aboot an’ a’ wir things be ticht
We’ll gaither roon’ the festal board tae spend a joyful nicht
Wi’ Scottish sangs an’ mutton broth tae charm a’ cares away
We shall drink success tae Rettie an’ oor banister Annie McLean
Oh
before I close ma hamely screed I canna weel forget
The faithful dames that gairds the hoose an’ keeps the folk in meat
Lang may they boil the kail and stir the porritch weel
May they never want or need for nail tae keep the timmer hale
Oh
come a’ ye sturdy Rettie blades a ringin’ cheer Hurrah
A band o’ better workin’ folk a gaffer never saw
They’re aye sae willin’ for tae pairt an’ for the free
It was them that made the boattie row that was steered by Willie
Rae
Flagnote:
The hairst (harvest) in days langsyne was very hard work and labour
intensive and this important part of the farming season was marked by many
Bothy Ballads including this well-known song. As a farm labourer Portsoy-born
Jimmy McBeath would have known at first-hand just how hard work the hairst
would be and have learnt monie a Scottish sang forbye. He saw service as a
Gordon Highlander during the First World War in England, Ireland and Egypt
as well as France. During the Depression he went on the road and earned a
bawbee or twa from his vast repertoire of song. He was ‘discovered’ by Dr
Hamish Henderson and American Alan Lomax in Elgin during a collecting trip
in the summer of 1951. Jimmy went on to be one of the stalwarts of the
Scottish Folk Song Revival and regularly appeared at the Aberdeen Folk Club
and festivals all over.
See the
SONGS AND
BALLADS in our
Features section
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
In commemoration of the 303rd anniversary (10 September 1704)
of the marooning of Largo-born Alexander Selkirk in the Juan Fernandez
group of islands, 500 miles off Chile, we repeat a previous story
concerning the character on whom the story of Robinson Crusoe was based
by Daniel Defoe. Since the feature first appeared Largo Community
Council did agree twinning links with Robinson Crusoe Island.
The proposed twinning between a Fife community and a Pacific island is a
reminder that Scots get everywhere and the fact that English writer Daniel
Defoe based his famous book 'Robinson Crusoe' on the exploits of
Largo-born seaman Alexander Selkirk. Largo Area Community Council has
decided to explore the possibility of twinning Largo with Robinson Crusoe
Island in the Juan Fernandez group, which lie several hundred miles off
the coast of Chile. This follows the visit to Largo of Swiss-born
photographer Daniel Bruhin who is now resident on Robinson Crusoe Island.
During his visit to Fife he gave talks and slide shows to the local
primary schools and suggested a permanent twinning arrangement between
Largo and his adopted island home because of the unique link with
Alexander Selkirk.
Born in Lower Largo in 1676, the son of a cobbler, by all accounts
Alexander Selkirk was a rather hot-tempered chiel who after several close
calls with the authorities fled to sea at the age of 27. He joined the
hydrographer, navigator and explorer-turned-buccaneer William Dampier and
became sailing master of the Cinque Ports. In 1704, having quarrelled with
his captain, Selkirk requested to be put ashore on an uninhabited island
in the Juan Fernandez group, where he lived alone for four years and four
months, before being rescued by another privateer under the command of
Woodes Rogers. He returned to Largo in 1712 and an account of his
experiences published the following year inspired Daniel Defoe to write
'Robinson Crusoe'. Defoe, of course, was no stranger to Scotland and the
Scots, having been an English spy in Edinburgh in the run-up to the
incorporating Union of 1707between England and Scotland. Selkirk, unable
to resettle on his native heath, returned to sea and at his death in 1721
was a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. A suitable statue of Alexander
Selkirk, dressed as 'Robinson Crusoe' stands on the site of the cottage
where he was born and is a popular tourist attraction. The local hotel is
also suitably named 'The Crusoe'.
This week's recipe , Port of Ness Cod, comes from an island, but one
rather nearer home than Robinson Crusoe Island, the Isle of Lewis in the
Outer Hebrides. It is a simple way of cooking and serving cod.
Port of Ness Cod
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb ( 750 g ) cod, on the bone; salt and peper; 2 oz (
50 g ) butter; 2-3 tbsp milk; 2 lb ( 1 kg ) potatoes, boiled and mashed;
garnish - parsley
Method: Put the cod into a pan and just cover with water. Season with salt and
pepper and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-5 minutes, depending on the
thickness of the cod. Remove cod from the pan, skin and bone. Put flakes
into a large heated ashet and put pats of butter on top. Moisten with a
little of the cooking liquor and sprinkle liberally with chopped parsley.
Add the milk and a little of the butter to the potatoes and cream them.
Serve round the fish on the ashet.
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)
deoch-an-dorus: stirrup cup; parting drink
donnert: stupefied: stupid
gash-gabbit: glib-tongued
hing: hang; knack; burden
juist: just
juist that: precisely; quite so
A fiddler's biddin: A last-minute invitation
Juist a wee deoch-an-doris,
Juist a wee yin, that's a',
Juist a wee deoch-an-doris
Afore we gang awa.
frae "Juist a Wee
Deoch-an-Doris" - Harry Lauder
Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library