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CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November
1926)
"Promoting all that is best in Scottish
Nationalism and all that is best in Scotland."
Content of the Flag in the Wind Web Site is the copyright of the Scots
Independent Newspaper.
[
Issue 425 - 25th July 2008] |
Compiled by Peter D Wright |
Lots of great information to
read and enjoy under our
Features Section:
Scots
Language | Scottish Food |
Dates in History |
Scot Wit and lots more
DATES IN
HISTORY
25 July 1843
Death of Charles Macintosh, chemist who developed and patented waterproof
fabric.
25 July 1848
Birth of Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, politician and
statesman, Conservative Prime Minister (1902-1905), at Whittinghame, East
Lothian.
 25
July 1980
Sprinter Allan Wells, Edinburgh, won the 100m Gold Medal at the Moscow
Olympics.
25 July 2007
Alex Salmond was sworn in as a Privy Councillor and became the first First
Minister of Scotland to speak in the House of Commons.
26 July 1994
The National Audit Office reported that construction of the Trident
Submarine Complex on the Clyde had overshot its budget by £800 million.
26 July 2007
Highland Council granted a dangerous wild animal license to Alladale Estate,
Sutherland, to allow the estate to a maximum of 50 wild boar. The intention
of the owner Paul Lister was to eventually also re-introduce wolves, bears
and lynx to Scotland.
28 July 2007
Heart of Midlothian attracted their biggest-ever crowd for a home game –
57,857 – a friendly against Barcelona played at Murrayfield. The Catalan
visitors, who had spent a training week at St Andrews, recorded their second
win (3-1) in three days against Scottish opponents. Two days previously they
had defeated Dundee United 1-0.
28 July 2007
The European Pipe Band Championship, the biggest next to the World
Championships, was held in Inverness for the first time. The contest was
staged in the Bucht Stadium as part of the Year of Highland Culture 2007 and
featured 4,500 pipers and drummers. In pouring rain Irish band Field
Marshall Montgomery won the Grade One competition and European title.
30 July 1938
The first edition of the Beano comic, published by Dundee-based family firm
DC Thomson, went on sale.
31 July 2007
Scotland retained the Celtic Cup at Grangemouth, with 37 points to Ireland’s
30 and Wales’ 17. Team captain Lee McConnell led by example in winning the
200 metres.
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"
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A
plethora of outstanding 20th century Scottish poets this
week plus a Scot who rose to be Prime Minister – Arthur Balfour, 1st
Earl of Balfour, who was born today (25 July) in 1848 (see History
Dates). He has been the only Scottish Secretary of State to also
serve as Prime Minister. During his short term as Scottish Secretary
in 1886 he firmly resisted agitation for crafting reform but is
perhaps best remembered for his tenure as Foreign Secretary for
making the historic Balfour Declaration in 1917 in favour of a
Jewish homeland in Palestine.
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Arthur James
Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (1848-1930)
Our
Scottish theory…is that every country has need of Scotchmen, but that
Scotland has no need of the citizens of any other country.
(1904)
George Mackay
Brown (1921-1996)
One senses
a growing coldness – the coldness of people who have received the fatal
blessing of prosperity.
(The Broken
Heraldry 1970)
Robert Garioch
Sutherland.’Robert Garioch’ (1909-1981)
You may
find more intellectual honesty at Murrayfield than at a Burns Supper.
But in neither of these places do you find any genuine Scottish feeling.
(1934)
Norman MacCaig
(1910-1996)
Experience
teaches that it doesn’t.
(Bruce And
That Spider – The Truth 1983)
See Scottish Quotations in
our Features Section
SONGS
OF ROBERT BURNS
A collection of some of the best known songs by Scotland's greatest
songwriter and National Bard, Robert Burns (1759 - 1796)
THE RANTING DOG, THE DADDIE O’T
O, wha my babie-clouts will buy?
O, wha will tent me when I cry?
Wha will kiss me where I lie? -
The rantin dog, the daddie o't!
O, wha will own he did the faut?
O, wha will buy the groanin maut?
O, wha will tell me how to ca't? -
The rantin dog, the daddie o't!
When I mount the creepie-chair,
Wha will sit beside me there?
Gie me Rob, I'll seek nae mair -
The rantin dog, the daddie o't!
Wha will crack to me my lane?
Wha will mak me fidgin fain?
Wha will kiss me o'er again? -
The rantin dog, the daddie o't!
Flagnote: Our National Bard
wrote of this song - "I composed this song pretty early in life and sent it
to a young girl, a very particular acquaintance of mine, who was at that
time under a cloud." The girl referred to was his 'bonnie Bettie' -
Elizabeth Paton, a servant at Lochlie, who was carrying the poet's child.
Named after her mother 'Dear-bought Bess' was acknowledged by Burns as his
daughter and was raised by his mother.
See the SONGS OF ROBERT
BURNS in our features section
SING
A SANG AT LEAST
(compiled by Peter D Wright)
"That I for poor auld
Scotland's sake
Some useful plan or book could make
Or sing a sang at least ........"
- Robert Burns
KILLIECRANKIE
Robert Burns
Whare
hae ye been sae braw, lad ?
Whare
hae ye been sae brankie, O ?
Whare
hae ye been sae braw, lad ?
Cam ye by Killiecrankie, O ?
Chorus ;
An ye had been whare I hae been,
Ye wad na been sae cantie, O ;
An
ye had seen what I hae seen,
On the braes o Killiecrankie, O.
I foucht at land, I foucht at sea ;
At hame I foucht my auntie, O ;
But I met the Devil and Dundee,
On the braes o Killiecrankie, O.
The bauld Pitcur fell in a furr,
An' Clavers gat a clankie, O ;
Or
I had fed an Athole gled,
On the braes o Killiecrankie, O.
Footnote:
The
Battle of Killiecrankie, 27 July 1689, resulted in an overwhelming
Jacobite victory but their leader, John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount
Dundee ( Bonnie Dundee ), was fatally wounded.
SCOTTISH FOOD, TRADITIONS
AND CUSTOMS
 This week we
continue the description of our recent visit to the new £9 million National
Trust for Scotland Culloden Visitor and Exhibition Centre. Having left the
splendid new building we made our way to the Leanach Cottage which stood
within the Hanoverian lines and proceeded to walk, on the new footpaths, to
some of our favourite spots on the battlefield.
Walking
towards the Culloden Memorial Cairn, you pass the Well of the Dead. Here the
brave leader of Clan Chattan, Alexander MacGillivary of Dunmaglas, died
crawling towards the well. His regiment was the first to charge and break
through the first Hanoverian line but the impetus of the Highland Charge was
gone by the time they hit the second line. The devastating fire of the
Government forces turned Drummossie into a killing zone. In spite of her
husband and Clan Chief being a serving Hanoverian officer, Lady Anne
Mackintosh raised Clan Chattan for the Prince under the command of Alexander
MacGillivary. Red Alexander, Alistair-Ruadh-na Feille, paid the ultimate
price for his loyalty to the Stewart cause. After the battle his body was
removed from the battlefield and his betrothed, Elizabeth Campbell,
allegedly arranged for his secret internment under the doorstep of Petty
Church. She died of a broken heart on 22 August 1746.
 From Red
Alexander’s dying place, you proceed passed the Clan graves as marked in
1881 by Duncan Forbes, 10th Laird of Culloden, to arrive at the
Memorial Cairn he erected, from his own pocket, in the same year. He was a
descendant of the famous Duncan Forbes, 5th Laird of Culloden and
Lord President of the Court of Session, who did so much to avert the 1745
Rising and prevent its success. The cairn stands approximately mid-way
between the lines of the opposing armies and carries an inscription which
fails to convey the full story of the 1745 Rising, but does serve as an
appropriate salute to loyalty and bravery –
THE BATTLE
OF CULLODEN
WAS FOUGHT
ON THIS MOOR
16th
April 1746
THE GRAVES OF
THE GALLANT HIGHLANDMEN
WHO FOUGHT
FOR
SCOTLAND
AND PRINCE CHARLIE
ARE MARKED BY
THE NAMES OF THEIR CLANS
Next week we
will look at a few more notable spots on the battlefield and as last week’s
recipe referred to the German-led Hanoverians, this week’s Potato Gnocchi is
a reminder that Prince Charles Edward Stewart was Italian-born. This is
basically a Scottish potato scone mixture shaped and cooked differently.
Click here to see more
Culloden pictures
Potato Gnocchi
Ingredients: 1 lb/500 g floury potatoes (cooked and mashed finely); 6
oz/175 g plain flour; salt and pepper/ ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
Method:
Mix all together thoroughly and roll into a long sausage about a finger
diameter. Cut into 1 inch lengths and make a dent in the middle of each so
that it curls a little. Bring salted water to the boil and drop in a few at
a time. Cook each batch about 3-5 minutes or until they rise to the surface.
Scoop out with a perforated spoon and put into a buttered ovenproof dish.
Keep hot until all are cooked. Dot with butter and sprinkle with parmesan
cheese. Serve with tomato sauce.
See
our
Scottish Food, Traditions and Customs
in our Features section
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)
brou: brow; brim; overhanging bank
I am na fou sae muckle as tired - deid dune.
It's gey and hard work coupin gless for
gless
Wi Cruivie and Gilsanquhar and the like,
And I'm no juist as bauld as aince I wes.
COMPLETE POEM
The
Tryst
by
William Soutar
Read by Marilyn Wright
Click
here to listen to this in RealAudio
 William
Soutar (1898-1943)
Born
in Perth, Soutar served in the Navy during the First World War, before
taking a degree in English at Edinburgh University in 1923.
He suffered from a progressive spinal disease which kept him at
home thereafter, and from 1930 he was confined to bed.
He kept diaries, journals and dream books throughout his long
illness, selections from which have been published as ‘Diaries of a
Dying Man’. He was a
socialist, a pacifist and a Scottish Nationalist.
Convinced that cultural revival could only come by making the
Scots language accessible to children, he wrote ‘Bairnrhymes’,
riddles and ‘Whigmaleeries’ with that audience in mind, as well as
songs and poems much influenced by the ballad tradition.
A close friend of Hugh MacDairmid, Soutar played an important
part in the Scottish Literary Revival.
O
luely, luely cam she in
And
luely she lay doun:
I
kent her be her caller lips
And
her breists sae sma’ and roun’.
A’
thru the nicht we spak nae word
Nor
sinder’d bane frae bane:
A’
thru the nicht I heard her hert
Gang
soundin’ wi’ my ain.
It
was about the waukrife hour
Whan
cocks begin to craw
That
she smool’d saftly thru the mirk
Afore
the day wud daw.
Sae
luely, luely, cam she in
Sae
luely was she gaen
And
wi’ her a’ my simmer days
Like
they had never been.
See Scots Language in
our Features Section
for other poems, stories, songs, sayings, jokes and words in the Scots language
SCOT WIT
Enjoy a Scottish Joke every week and
listen to it as well
Not Going
The village joiner was nearing his end. The
family was all in attendance, and it seemed clear to all that the old
man was finally breathing his last. Controlling her emotion, his
wife ventured to mention the question of funeral arrangements to her
eldest son.
"We'll best juist get Lachie Morrison
fir awthin. Yir faither an him werena sae vera frienlie bit....."
She was interrupted by a voice from the bed.
Raising himself on his elbow, stubborn to the last, he managed to say -
"Git that craitur Morrison ti mak the
coffin gin ye like. Bit gin ye dae, A'll no pit a fit in't."
Click here to listen to this joke Read and listen to Jokes in our
Scot Wit section
Gordon & Carmen Wright
Second-hand, Fine & Rare
Scottish Books.
Regular
catalogues issued by email.
To subscribe, email us at:
Gordon.Wright11@btopenworld.com
 Gordon
Wright’s Scottish Photo
Library
Spanning forty-five years
and featuring a wide variety
of illustrations in colour
and black and white covering
all aspects of Scottish life
from Orkney to the Border
country. Thousands of
personality portraits.
Images for reproduction.
Prints for collectors.
Gordon.Wright11@btopenworld.com
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