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Ultimate Rhythm And Blues 50th Anniversary Tour

Aberdeen City, Featured, Gigs and Concerts No Responses »

Feb 042014

The Zombies, Animals & Friends, The Yardbirds, Maggie Bell and members of The Spencer Davis Group have embarked on a UK tour which includes a concert in Aberdeen on 15th February.

With this amazing line-up that had 37 hit records in the UK charts for over 300 weeks you are guaranteed an unforgettable night. Come and celebrate 50 years of Rhythm and Blues with the artists that shaped music for generations to come.

Ultimate Rhythm and Blues 50th Anniversary Tour

The Ultimate Rhythm and Blues 50th Anniversary Tour brings together a one time line up of British Invasion rock royalty.

The Zombies, Animals & Friends, The Yardbirds, Spencer Davis and Maggie Bell clock up an amazing 37 hit records between them and can boast over 300 weeks in the charts!

The Zombies, led by Rod Argent on keyboards and Colin Blunstone on vocals, scored US hits in the mid and late 1960s with ‘She’s Not There’, ‘Tell Her No’, and ‘Time of the Season’. Their 1968 album ‘Odessey and Oracle’ is ranked 80 on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of all Time.

Animals & Friends are exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic No.1 hit single, ‘The House of the Rising Sun’, as well as by hits such as ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’, ‘It’s My Life’, and ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’. The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm and blues-oriented album material and were known in the US as part of the British Invasion, alongside the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Graduating three of the great PhDs of rock guitar; Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds were the bridge between the tributary white R&B of early 1960s London, and the pastures of the fuzz-toned psychedelia and power-chorded heavy metal much later in the decade and throughout the 1970s.

The line-up on this tour sees Chris Dreja replaced by original guitarist, Top Topham due to health issues.

Completing the line-up is Maggie Bell and Dave Berry has joined the package.

Maggie Bell is often referred to over her long career as ‘Britain’s Janis Joplin’ and known to millions as the voice of TV’s ‘Taggart’ theme, ‘No Mean City’.

So come along for an unforgettable night celebrating 50 years of hits with the artists that shaped music for generations to come.

Don’t miss this chance to hear the musical revolution of 1964.

February:

Wednesday 5th: TUNBRIDGE WELLS, Assembly Hall Theatre,
Crescent Rd Tunbridge Wells,Kent,TN1 2LU

7.30pm £27.50 01892 530613

Thursday 6th: CHATHAM, The Central Theatre, Chatham:
170 High St, ME4 4AS

7.30pm £27.50 £25 :01634 338338 boxoffice@medway.gov.uk

Friday 7th: NORTHAMPTON, The Royal & The Derngate,
Guildhall Road, Northampton, NN1 1DP 01604 624811

BoxOffice@royalandderngate.co.uk

Saturday 8th: CANTERBURY, Marlowe Theatre,
The Friars Canterbury CT1 2AS

7.30pm £27.50 ( Marlowe friends £25) 01227 787787

Sunday 9th: SOUTHEND, Cliffs Pavillion,
Station Rd Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS0 7RA

7.30pm £28.50 £26 01702 351135

Thursday 13th: PERTH, The Concert Hall, Perth
Mill St, PH1 5HZ 01738 621031

7.30pm £29.50 no concessions

Friday 14th: GLASGOW, The Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
2 Sauchiehall St, G2 3NY

7.30pm £27.50 £25.50 0141 353 8000

Saturday 15th: ABERDEEN, The Music Hall,
Union St, AB10 1QS 01224 632080

7.30pm £26.oo/£28.50

Wednesday 19th: MANCHESTER, The Bridgewater Hall,
Lower Mosley St, Lancashire M2 3WS

7.30pm £27.50 £25 0844 907 9000

Thursday 20th: SALISBURY, The City Hall,
Malthouse Ln Salisbury, Wiltshire SP2 7TU 01722434434

7.30pm £27.50 £25 Online tickets + £1.50 B/F per ticket tickets@wiltshire.gov.uk

Friday 21st: PLYMOUTH, Plymouth Pavilions
Millbay Rd, PL1 3LF 0845 146 1460

7.30pm £27.50, £25 + £3 booking fee per ticket

Saturday 22nd: POOLE, The Lighthouse, Poole
21 Kingland Rd, Dorset BH15 1UG

7.30pm £27.50 £25 0844 406 8666
Students and U18s £2 off ATL card holders and groups please call – 0844 406 8666 to book

Sunday 23rd: NOTTINGHAM, The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham Royal Centre,
Theatre Square, NG1 5ND 7.30pm 0115 989 5555

£27.50 £25 email tickets@trch.co.uk

Tuesday 25th: BIRMINGHAM, Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Victoria Square, B3 3DQ

B/O 0121 780 4949. 7.30pm £25, £27.50 plus transaction fee

Wednesday 26th: LLANDUDNO, Venue Cymru, Llandudno
The Promenade, LL30 1BB

7.30pm £27.50 £25 01492 872000

March:

Saturday 1st: LIVERPOOL, Philharmonic, Liverpool.
Hope St, L1 9BP 0151 709 3789

7.30pm £33.50 £27.50 £25 + Booking fees

Sunday 2nd: BLACKPOOL, Opera House, Blackpool.
97 Church St City Centre, FY1 1HU

Doors 7pm £27.50 £25 B/O 0844 856 1111

Tuesday 4th: GATESHEAD, The Sage, Gateshead
St Mary’s Square, Gateshead Quays, Tyne and Wear NE8 2JR 0191 443 4661

7.30pm (hall 1) £27.50 £25.50 + (£2.50 handling fee)

Friday 7th: LEICESTER, De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Granville Rd, LE1 7RU 0116 233 3111

7.30pm £27.50 £25.50 Concessions £22.50 £24

The Stealing Of Sheep

Articles, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Jan 102014

Duncan Harley looks at the debate about the looming war with Wales.

The film Braveheart is held dear by some despite having been described by others as one of the most historically inaccurate modern films ever made.

Seemingly based on Blind Harry’s epic poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace, the epic story was adapted for the big screen by one Randall Wallace who, for reasons best known to Hollywood, chose to pair William Wallace up with the Princess Isabella despite the fact that she did not actually travel to Britain until 1307 a full two years after Wallace’s execution.

In the poem Blind Harry somewhat famously wrote:

“Till honour ennymyis is our haile entent
It has beyne seyne in thir tymys bywent
Our ald ennemys cummyn of Saxonys blud
that nevyr yeit to Scotland wald do gud.”

In the Hollywood film Mel Gibson somewhat famously shouted:

“Freedom.”

Directed by and starring Mel Gibson, the film Braveheart met with some positive reviews and won several academy awards. Indeed Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 81% with an average score of 7.1/10. The film’s depiction of the Battle of Stirling Bridge was listed by CNN as one of the best battles in cinema history, rivalling Stalingrad and even The Fall.

In the screenplay New Yorker Gibson portrays William Wallace, a 13th-century Paisley man from just outside Elderslie who led the Scots into the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England.

In truth, The English authorities saw Wallace as nothing more than a dangerous outlaw who had killed the son of an English constable in Dundee. In the film, however, Gibson invents everything that is Scotland in what to many of us chiels seems like re-run of Brigadoon.

In the May of 1297 Wallace was in Lanark. It is said that he was visiting his wife, the very beautiful Marion Braidfute, whom he had married in secret. Lanark Castle was then held by an English sheriff, Sir William Heselrig. When Heselrig’s soldiers learned that Wallace was with Marion they surrounded him.

Wallace escaped but Marion was captured by Heselrig. The English sheriff then had Wallace’s wife put to death.

That night Wallace and his men made their way back to Lanark Castle where under cover of darkness Wallace broke into Sheriff Heselrig’s bedchamber and hacked the Englishman to death with his broadsword. Justice was served.

over 5000 sheep have been rustled by agents of the Welsh office

In 1999, a full 694 years after the Scottish heroes brutal execution by the tried and tested means of being hung until almost dead then being ritually disembowelled before a baying crowd at London’s Smithfield market, Scottish hackers declared war on Wales following a sorry tale of sheep rustling.

After first warning the then First Minister Donald Dewar, an urban terrorist Scottish protest group calling itself the Hardcore Highland Haxxors (HHH) took control of the Scottish Executive Web site and renamed it as the “Scottish H4xecutive” after the web consultancy responsible for the security failings on the Scottish Parliament site with content including:

“The new civil servants charged with advising Scottish politicians and enforcing their policy have also accused the Welsh Office of rustling sheep. In retaliation, the HHH has declared that Scotland is now at war with Wales.”

“The Scottish Executive has estimated that over 5000 sheep have been rustled by agents of the Welsh office in the last six months. It is of our opinion that these sheep that were destined for the butchers of Carlisle will soon end up on the streets of Cardiff.”

“In force IMMEDIATELY is a state of WAR between us to put right the theft of our precious sheep.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said that although the incident was embarrassing there was “no threat to internal security” and “Our internal system is quite separate from the information on our Web site”, he said adding that all was being done to resolve the problem.

Newspapers around the world carried the story.

Spanish media’s www.noticias.com reported that:

“Un grupo hacker denominado “Hardcore Highland Haxxors” consiguió acceso al servidor web del gobierno regional de Escocia, reemplazando la imagen del Primer Ministro Donald Dewar con la del líder nacionalista Alex Salmond. Los administradores del sistema tuvieron que desconectarlo de la red para arreglar el daño hecho por los hackers.

“La nota del gobierno, sin embargo, no ha especificado si los hackers tenían algún motivo político. Salmond es el líder de la independentista Scottish National Party (SNP), la mayor oposición escocesa en el nuevo parlamento. Entre otras cosas, los hackers cambiaron el nombre del Scottish Executive por el de Scottish H4xecutive y declararon em broma la guerra a Gales, alegando el robo de 5.000 ovejas escocesas.”

ZDNet’ s Will Knight commented that the “Hardcore Highland Haxxors had made a serious political statement by replacing a picture of the First Minister of Scotland, Donald Dewar, with one of Alex Salmond leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party”.

A spokesperson from the Scottish parliament, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not consider the Welsh war declaration an earth-shaking matter.

“I don’t think the messages were really serious. I don’t really know what they were all about. I think it was some sort of abstract humour. It just shows that security needs to be a bit tighter.”

In the January of 2014 just after the bells had rung and a full 708 years or so after Wallace’s death, many of us Scots received a message from the current incumbent of the post of First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond. In a quasi HRM Queen Elizabeth II delivery Mr Salmond said that 2014 would be a “truly amazing year”.

You can view Mr Salmond’s New Year message at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/#slide/1/paused of course but in essence it says

“Happy Hogmanay from the National Library of Scotland. I am at an exhibition called The A to Z of Scotland. It highlights the contribution our country has made to the world from Dolly the sheep to the Dandy, penicillin, Harry Potter, television and tarmac roads.”

Penicillin is of course a life saving invention but the Dandy and Harry Potter? Dolly is of course thankfully deceased God rest her soul.

The discovery of Penicillin is often attributed to Sir Alexander Fleming, though according to Welsh history, Fleming’s friend and colleague Merlin Pryce may have been the actual discoverer.

No wonder the Hardcore Highland Haxxors were so keen to declare war on Wales back in 1999.

As for the Dandy and Harry Potter, many of us Scots hesitate to boast about either.

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Holburn West Church’s Faith And Culture Effort

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Nov 082013

Holburn West Church, in Ashley Park Drive, celebrates its sixth annual Church and Culture programme with another varied series of events bringing together faith and the arts, Alan Jackson tells Voice.

It meets at the church every Monday evening and Thursday afternoon throughout November. The series started on Monday 4 November when Hamish Mitchell read his poetry, describing moving childhood experiences of war and polio.

Future sessions will include discussions of Shakespeare’s history plays, C.S.Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, The Devil in Verse – Readings from Milton and Burns and a session of sacred music led by jazz-influenced John Montgomery.

Perhaps the highlight of the programme is a double drama bill featuring plays for voices, presenting Don’t Know Nothing, the story of Jo in Bleak House and a modern adaptation of The Parable of the Good Samaritan on Monday 18 November.

This will be followed by a discussion on poverty and compassion in our society.

All are welcome and full details of the programme can be obtained from the church website or by calling 01224-571120.

Waiting For The Magic: The Photography Of Oscar Marzaroli

Featured, History, Opinion No Responses »

Nov 082013

One of many stunning pictures capturing Scotland’s past in ‘Waiting For The Magic: The Photography of Oscar Marzaroli’

In a world where every living moment seems to be captured on a smartphone camera, it is a delight to revisit the work of a true photographic artist, writes Graham Stephen.

Oscar’s black and white images of people and places, many now long gone, have a dignity and sense of humanity perfectly captured by his meticulous sense of balance and instinctive eye for telling detail.

As Robert Crawford explains in one of the three specially-commissioned essays which complement the photographs, it was all about geometry, the artist’s eye for shape and patterns.

Oscar found this in the real world, in the shipyards, tenement demolition sites and backyards. Then he would wait patiently for the light, the face, the magic. Where others may take a scattergun approach to shooting, hoping for one great picture in a hundred, he would rely on the moment, trusting the shot.

And the results deserve to be preserved and savoured. A panorama of faces from the 1963 Scottish Cup Final, remarkably detailed, each one caught in a split second of life, echoing through the years, link us to a disappeared time. Three young boys, in the middle of an empty street, innocently play in their mothers’ high heels, Oscar subtly uses the light to draw our eyes to two young men talking on the street corner, the picture offering more dramatic intrigue than a year of River City.

The riches in the book are too many to count. As well as his signature shots of Glasgow buildings and people, we get friends and family, landscapes, workplaces and even a sunny-looking Fraserburgh beach.

As we have come to expect from Birlinn, the book is beautifully produced and designed, a fine companion to the great Shades of Grey and Shades of Scotland collections from the 1980s, if you can find them.

And if you’re listening, Santa, Waiting For The Magic will almost certainly be a more lasting gift than Jamie’s or Yotam’s or Hugh’s latest cook-tome.

Waiting For The Magic: The Photography of Oscar Marzaroli
Birlinn Ltd
£25.00

The Marzaroli Collection on Facebook

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Smithy’s Scribblins No. 11 – Aboot Chivalry

Aberdeenshire, Opinion No Responses »

Oct 282013

By Bob Smith.

A think it wis Edmund Burke the 18th century statesman, author an philosopher fa said “The age o chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded”.

O coorse wi aa think o chivalry as bein connectit wi knights o aulden days fa gid aboot savin fair maidens fae dragons an sic like an upholdin a quine’s honour an chastity tho’ only if the lassie wis fae the same class system as thersels.

They warna interestit in the peasant quines ither than haein them as a ‘bit on the side’. Fooiver, thingies hiv moved on a bittie sin thae days an a wid like tae think there micht be a bit o 21st century chivalry in some o us.

A wis listenin tae a programme on the radio nae lang ago fin they teuk ess throwe-han. They war spikkin aboot chiels gien up their seat on a bus tae a wumman bodie or huddin the door open fer the female sex an wis ess noo a form o sexism. A lot o fowk hid differin opeenions wi the feminists scraichin awa aat it wis indeed sexist.

Some ither fowk thocht it wis an act o ‘chivalry’ tae gie up yer seat tae the opposite sex tho’ they widna gyaang as far as layin doon their coat or jaicket on tap o a puddle tae save a wifie’s feet gettin weet like yon Sir Walter Raleigh did wi Queen Bess. Na na the feminists war haen neen o’t.

They war weel capable o staanin on a bus or openin an waakin throwe a door thersels. A hiv tae say maist feminists, tho nae them aa, git richt up ma nib. On seein some feminists on TV a maan say they display aa the instincts o a female black widda spider.

Fit’s wrang wi gein up yer seat tae a puir quine traachlin wi a couple o geets or an auld wifie fair forfochan wi cairryin the messages? Ess wid be a chivalrous act in ma beuk tho nae doot some wid think it jist gweed mainners.

Noo masel fin a ging oot a waak wi the wife I try tae myn an bide on the kerbside o the pavemint. Ess sort o thingie his its origins awa back in the days fin gentlemen wore their swords on the left but unsheathed em wi their richt han. The ladies aye bade on the mannie’s left so he cwid draw his sword withoot her gettin in the wye. A hiv tae tell ye – a nae langer weer ma sword.

Maist war a bunch o thieving murderin cyaards

Later on in time bi bidin on the kerbside o the pavemint ess mint the mannie cwid protect his fair maiden or meybe his floosie fae the mud or dirt splashin up fae unner the wheels o cairrages.

A hiv bin kent tae escort auld wifies fa are a bittie shoogly on their shanks across the busy streets. Feminists nae doot widna leuk upon ess as bein an act o chivalry. Wid they prefer me tae leave the puir soul tae tak her chunces wi aa the mad buggers drivin aroon in cars nooadays?

Gyaan back a fyow decades in history the knights involved in the Crusades war leukit upon as chivalrous chiels. Naething o the sort. Maist war a bunch o thieving murderin cyaards faa war only interestit in foo muckle plunder they cwid git their hans on.

The Japanese Samurai fa war the military nobility o medieval an early modern Japan hid their ane form o chivalry ca’ed bushido fit some say dictatit aat fechtin hid tae be face tae face. Nae sneaky ambushes fae ahint rocks fer em.

Some dictionaries ca chivalry a knightly devoshun tae the service o weemin, (or wis’t a nightly devoshun tae servicin weemin), haen the inclination tae defend a weaker pairty or bein ‘gallant’.

In the 21st century a wid say the devoshun tae weemin cwid noo be describit as bein thochtfu tae the opposite sex bi offerin em yer seat fin they’re fair traachl’t an bein ‘gallant’ meanin helpin auld craiturs across the roddie.

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Dickens Fellowship And The Topicality Of Bleak House

Aberdeen City, Featured, Information No Responses »

Oct 172013

October’s monthly meeting of the Aberdeen Dickens Fellowship had a celebratory air about it.
Not only were we to discuss a further aspect of Bleak House, considered to be Dickens’s crowning glory as a novelist, we were also treated to the news that the Aberdeen group has been awarded its charter.
Aberdeen’s is now the only Dickens Fellowship in Scotland, and part of a global fellowship of thousands, united in their admiration of Dickens and his prodigious legacy of unsurpassed writing.

Further good news is that Aberdeen’s offer to host the 2016 Dickens Fellowship International Conference is the only offer received so far by the Dickens Fellowship Council and the bid is finding favour with Council members. What larks, indeed.

So, to the evening’s theme, The Topicality of Bleak House.

What were the contemporary events during Dickens’s planning, writing and publishing his ninth novel?

Dickens began writing Bleak House, for publication in monthly parts, in December 1852, the year after The Great Exhibition, the first time that thousands travelled to a centrally-organised event.
Stephenson’s Rocket had made its first journey in 1829. By 1840, thousands of miles of railway tracks criss-crossed Britain. So inadequate was the road system that Dickens’s first journey to Edinburgh in 1834 had been made by boat.
Whilst outwardly proclaiming to improve democracy, the much-anticipated 1832 Reform Act had done little to increase the franchise and improve representation.
The Exhibition was as much a celebration of the fact that the European revolutions of 1848 had not been replicated in Britain and it was a popular self-promoting celebration of the ‘transformational, dynamic prosperity’ of a mature industrial age.
Dickens hated it, and considered it ‘vulgar’. Bleak House, from its opening chapter’s evocation of an environment of mud and fog is almost deliberately ‘uncreative’ in contrast to the Exhibition’s boastful celebration of British creativity and global influence.
Chancery, the central bureaucratic monolith of Bleak House, originally devised as a charity to assist the less well-off access to legal representation, was failing. Myriad is the evidence of its failure to act on the behalf of the disadvantaged, as costs associated with never-ending cases swallowed whole estates and inheritances. The Times of the 1850s was running a campaign critical of Chancery. Dickens himself had fallen foul of the lack of protection as his work was plagiarised. The generations-old Jarndyce and Jarndyce case, the novel’s all -pervading brooding presence is, from Dickens’s pen, representative of all that was wrong in Britain in the 1850s.

Whilst it comprises 67 chapters in 20 books, this is an economical novel. Every character, sub-plot and dialogue is a contribution to the whole. Loose ends are not left untied or are clipped neatly. It is a work of supreme inter-connectivity.

Rather than join in the popular clamour of approval for establishment spin doctors’ views of British success, Dickens used Bleak House to shine a light on the vapid, self-consuming nature of public services, to address social deprivation, rounding on the privileged, and on rule-makers and enforcers,

‘Dead, your Majesty. Dead, my lords and gentlemen. Dead, Right Reverends and Wrong Reverends of every order. Dead, men and women, born with Heavenly compassion in your hearts. And dying thus around us, every day.’

he thunders on the pathos-laden death of Jo, the crossing sweeper. We agreed that as a social commentator Dickens had earned the right to address those in power who were shirking their social and community responsibilities.

He populates Bleak House with dysfunctional families, where children act as ‘parents’ to their own neglectful or inadequate parents, where the burden of orphanry is widespread, and in contrast to the celebration of free-market capitalism of 1851, floats the message that we have responsibility for looking after each other. He might have written, ‘We’re all in this together’.

Esther Summerson, in her narrator role, despite the bad hand she’s been dealt as a start to life, is the moral touchstone of Bleak House, demonstrating how to survive and prosper despite hardship and how not to exploit others in the process.

It was quite a night. It’s quite a book.

If this has whetted your appetite, new friends are always welcome to attend meetings. Membership of the Fellowship costs £20 for the 2013-14 period, or non-members can attend by paying £3 per meeting on entry.

The programme for the rest of the session is

Tuesday 12 November 2013, a lecture by Dr Dan Wall on The Serialisation of Bleak House, followed by a discussion seminar on numbers 11-15, chapters 33–49.

Tuesday 3 December 2013, Dr Paul Schlicke will, again lecture on the theme, Plots and Detecting in Bleak House, followed by a discussion seminar on numbers 16–20, chapters 50–67.

Tuesday 17 December, Dr Paul Schlicke will read A Christmas Carol

Tuesday 4 February, readings of favourite passages from Dickens’s writings by members of the local Fellowship

Tuesday 4 March, Malcolm Andrews lecture, ‘The Speech of the Sea is Various: Dickens, Turner and the Sea’.

Tuesday 8 April, seminar on selected journalism. Texts available on-line on John Drew’s website http://www.djo.org.uk/

Tuesday 13 May: Fellowship banquet

A warm welcome will be extended to all comers, and lively questioning and debate is almost certainly guaranteed. You can be added to the mailing list by e-mailing Dr Paul Schlicke, Fellowship Chairman at p.schlicke@abdn.ac.uk

For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/site/aberdeendickensfellowship/

– David Innes

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A Tour Of Bleak House

Aberdeen City, Information No Responses »

Sep 272013

I have a friend who divides the population into two categories, those who have read Steinbeck’s East of Eden and those for whom that is a pleasure in prospect. I’m pretty much of the same opinion, but with Bleak House as the tome in question.

So, it was with delight that I read chapters 1-16/numbers 1-5, pretty much untouched since I first read it in awe as an undergraduate in 1978. It was with even more delight that my fellow Dickens fans and I absorbed the wisdom of Aberdeen Dickens Fellowship’s guest Professor Grahame Smith, who effortlessly drew contributions from the Dickens devotees attending, enthused by his own passion for the author and the book. David Innes reports on the latest get-together of the Aberdeen Dickens Fellowship.

Grahame was obviously delighted to attend and to return to Aberdeen, where he studied, meeting friends old and new who share his enthusiasm for the master of novel-writing.
Bleak House, most Dickens readers would agree, sees the man at the peak of his powers as a novelist. Grahame pointed out that it followed David Copperfield in the author’s canon and that since he had honed his writing to literary perfection in that semi-autobiographical masterpiece, Bleak House gave him the confidence to experiment.

The use of a narrator, interwoven with chapters by the main character and conscience of the novel, Esther Summerson, was bold, although as one contributor on the night pointed out, Dickens had to be careful not to alienate a large and appreciative readership as a consequence of experimentation.

Radiohead and the transition from OK Computer to Kid A is the best contemporary comparison I could make.

Is Esther credible, too good to be true? We mused on this. One of our number commented that her background of psychological abuse was similar to that experienced by many young people with whom he has contact, and her reactions and motives are not untypical of similarly unfortunate young people in the 21st century.

She is also fairly unique, it was agreed, in being a strong female character and major protagonist in Dickens’s fiction.

As well as his Dickens scholarship, Grahame also has a fascination for the cinematic. He believes that the best potential Dickens film adaptations might have been directed by Orson Welles, which is no longer a possibility, sadly. He feels that perhaps Spike Lee could do Dickens justice, a controversial view perhaps, but one which chimed with some of the Fellowship who shared Grahame’s interest in cinema.

It really was the best of times.

Bleak House is the biggie, of course, and in more ways than one, given its labyrinthine plot, range of characters and ground-breaking fiction-writing technique. It’s also large in volume. To do it justice, therefore, the next three meetings will consider it further, and allow those of us with limited reading time to read it cover to cover. That is no hardship.

The Fellowship’s programme between now and the end of 2013 will be:

Tuesday 15 October 2013: lecture by Paul Schlicke, on the topicality of Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 6-10, chapters 17–32.
Tuesday 12 November 2013: lecture by Dan Wall, on the serialisation of Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 11-15, chapters 33–49.
Tuesday 3 December 2013: lecture by Paul Schlicke, on plots and detecting in Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 16–20, chapters 50–67.
Tuesday 17 December 2013: Paul Schlicke will read A Christmas Carol

All meetings will be held in Grampian Housing Association’s offices, situated at the corner of Huntly Street and Summer Street, Aberdeen, where there is ample free parking. Each evening’s proceedings will start at 19:00 and finish at 21:00. We’ll be delighted to see you.

The Aberdeen Fellowship intends to affiliate to the International Dickens Fellowship. We’ll carry details of that here when everything’s finalised, but https://sites.google.com/site/aberdeendickensfellowship/ is the place to go to keep up to date.

To be added to the circulation list for information on local Fellowship activities, contact Dr Paul Schlicke p.schlicke@abdn.ac.uk , newly elected chair of the Aberdeen Dickens Fellowship.

Mad Jack’s Son – Truth, Myth And Pub

Aberdeenshire, Featured, Opinion No Responses »

Aug 302013

With somewhat uninspiring opening lines such as ‘O Thou! Who rollest in yon azure field’, ’When energising objects men pursue’ and ‘We do not curse thee, Waterloo!’ it’s a wonder that anyone reads Byron nowadays, unless forced by academic requirements, or perhaps an over-enthusiastic zeal for the great days of the celebrated Romantic Poets. Duncan Harley looks at the truth and myths surrounding this enigma.

Gight Castle. Image Credit: Duncan Harley

Gight Castle. Former home of Byron’s mother. Image Credit: Duncan Harley

Byron remains popular and his following is undiminished. He wrote of course, amongst other works, Don Juan.
In the classic version, Don Juan is portrayed as a wealthy Lothario and libertine who devotes his life and soul to the seduction of women. His life is also punctuated with bouts of extreme violence, instances of murder and, almost inevitably, lots of gambling.

The tale’s ending depends on which version of the legend one reads.

Tirso’s original play has been interpreted as a religious parable warning against Don Juan’s sinful ways and ends with him dying, having been denied salvation by God. Other authors and playwrights have interpreted the ending in their own fashion. Espronceda’s Don Felix walks into hell and to his death of his own volition, Zorrilla’s Don Juan asks for a divine pardon. The figure of Don Juan has inspired many interpretations.

Byron’s version, however, reverses the classic womanising image of legend, portraying the protagonist not as a womaniser, but as a man easily seduced by women. Written over 16000 lines of verse, Byron himself called it an ‘epic satire’ which indeed it is.

There is much more to the poet though. Born in 1788 in London, and still regarded as one of the greats of British poetry, in Greece he is still revered for having fought for Greek independence from Ottoman Empire rule. In some ways, his life, if you discount the numerous love affairs, aristocratic excesses and that slightly scandalous sexual affair with his half sister, mirrors that of Eric Blair, the author George Orwell.

Blair’s experiences in the Spanish Civil War might not be too different from those of Byron in the Greek Civil War of Independence. Between 1821 and 1832, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and several other European powers fought the Ottoman Empire. Byron was for the Greeks and against the Turks and went so far as to die for the cause in April 1824, aged just 36.

he could have reversed the state of anarchy amongst the Greeks

In truth, he died of fever and not of heroic battle wounds, but given his romantic disposition, had he been able to tell of his own demise he would no doubt have immortalised his death in heroic romanticised stanzas.

The good folk of Greece, and in particular the folk of Missolonghi where Byron died, still commemorate his arrival in January 1824, during a lull in the war with Turkey. There are those who to this day feel that he could have reversed the state of anarchy amongst the Greeks and brought the conflict to a swifter end.

Who was this man?

A poet obviously and a great one. A romantic, of course, who lived life to the full.

An Aberdonian? Well almost.

Byron’s mother was one Catherine Gordon of Gight. There are, of course, a whole lot of Gordons, from Moray to Aberdeenshire who ruled and feuded for centuries. A Gordon fell at Flodden, another in Flanders and they murdered each other without mercy over the years, waging war amongst themselves with predictable results. There are many Gordon Castles in NE Scotland and most are in either ruins or new ownership.

Catherine Gordon of Gight however topped the lot in some ways.

Gight Castle is a ruin nowadays. Set in a place of some beauty and difficult to get to, it was described by Cuthbert Graham in his Grampian: the Castle Country as being associated ‘from first to last’ with a race whose story was ‘crowded with murder and sudden death’.

George Gordon built Gight Castle in 1560. In line with the defensive thinking of the time, it resembled Delgatie Castle in design, measuring around 70ft by 50ft and built on an L-plan and may have been commissioned from the same architect. Unlike Delgatie, it has not survived the ravages of the last half millennium.

Catherine Gordon had the misfortune to marry a man known as Mad Jack Byron, a conspicuous gambler and Coldstream Guards Officer.

After Mad Jack had squandered most of her fortune and deserted her, Mrs Byron took her infant son to Aberdeen, where they lived in lodgings on a meagre income.

Meanwhile, Mad ‘Foulweather’ Jack died in 1791 aged 35 at Valenciennes in Spain. Lord Byron would tell friends that his father had cut his own throat, but that may be an exaggeration.

Byron junior attended school in Aberdeen and lived for a while in Queen Street. Whilst his impoverished mother drank, he attended Aberdeen Grammar School before launching himself into what some consider to be a romantic repeat of his father’s attempts to gain happiness and fulfilment in a life misspent.

The lands and castle of Gight were sold to pay off Mad Jack’s gambling debts and the rest is history. The ruin remains and nowadays sheep graze on what might have been Lord Byron’s legacy. Perhaps I prefer the poetry though.

There is, I am told a pub in Aberdeen’s Northfield named after the man. Now, that is an accolade indeed.

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Agri-ed, A Terrific Turriff Show

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Aug 082013

Turriff’s resident population of 5,743 received a welcome boost over the weekend of 4 and 5 August when the 149^th annual Turriff Show was held at The Haughs, just outside the town centre. The Turra Show as it is called locally, is one of the highlights of the farming and agricultural year in NE Scotland, and quite rightly so, writes Duncan Harley.

Farming folk from all over the UK descend on the town during the show weekend seeking livestock prizes, farming machinery and, quite frankly, lots of fun. Bargains are struck, tractors and combines are purchased and, just occasionally, wedding matches are made – just as they have been for the last century and a half of the Show’s history.

With a claimed entries total of over 802 horses and ponies plus some 43 goats on the Sunday, over 450 cattle and 580 sheep, including the return of the Bluefaced Leicester Progeny Show sheep, Turra Show is perhaps the biggest show of its kind in Scotland still going strong after 150 years of traditional agricultural shows.

The Open Dog Show on the Sunday, complete with the ever popular rabbit and cavy sections, is now affiliated and upgraded to 2-star official status. Added to this, the poultry show and the popular Companion Dog event on the Monday makes this a completely irresistible event for the non-agricultural breeders and pet fanciers of the area.

The quite exciting sideshows, funfair and extreme catering franchises also make Turra a Mecca for those seeking a weekend of bacchanalian beer and wine-soaked revelry.

With over 249 trade stands, a very well attended food fayre plus the indoor shopping mall to tour around, Turra Show is a family fun-filled affair indeed. The show exhibition hall with its lifestyle theme and the ever popular home cookery demonstrations will, as ever, attract the homemakers.

And why not?

Those seeking extreme fun should head for that Special Forestry Area and the Special Educational Area to entertain and even educate the children amongst us.

The Industrial Marquee at Turra Show is one of the largest in the country with over 1745 home-based craft exhibits and an excellent horticultural show featuring large turnips and a few enormous marrows to salivate over.

The Turriff Show is always a veritable feast and a huge fun weekend for all the family. Each of the two show days has an extensive ringside entertainment programme with many special attractions including in 2013, the awesome Quad and Motorcycle Flying Daredevil Stunt Show by Jason Smythe’s Adrenaline Tour.

Jason comes from a professional racing background in Motocross. He started competing when he was seven, progressing from multiple regional champion to British schoolboy champion, British amateur support class winner before turning pro at eighteen.

In the professional ranks he has competed in all three classes at World Championship, 125cc, 250cc and 500cc and the World Supercross Tour as well as becoming Luxembourg national champion.

At Turriff, Jason thrilled the crowd by powering his quad bike over 31ft in the air above his articulated rig before landing safely, to loud applause.

On Sunday, Turra’s family day featured some exciting Terrier Racing with Cyril the Squirrel, fine sulky-trotting, pony carriage driving and of course the famous Turriff Pipe Band.

The same day’s Showground grand finale was, as always, the Vintage Tractor and Vehicle Parade featuring agricultural vehicles from the past century, including vintage Fergusons and the local Anderson collection of Field Marshall Tractors.

A sight to salivate over indeed!

On Turra Monday the Parade of Champions was, as is fitting, a splendid climax to what must be the finest surviving agricultural show in NE Scotland.

Norman Christie of Woodside Croft, Kinnellar, Aberdeenshire came best of show in the 2012 Turra Show with his Clydesdale Anguston Amber and in this years show Norman’s quite majestic Amber Anguston came show best reserve.

This year’s best of show was Arradoul Ellie May from Buckie owned by Ian Young. The cattle “Aberdeen Angus” section was headed by Idevies Kollar of Ellon and the British Blonde champian was Whistley Dollar entered by former Turra Show chief Eric Mutch. The sheep and goats also won prizes but were unnamed as were the cavies.

Turriff, of course gained international fame almost 100 years ago as the Scottish town which stubbornly resisted Lloyd George’s National Insurance Act and its provisions for medical and unemployment benefits for farm workers and their families.

Both Lloyd George’s Liberal government and the Marxists of the time rallied against the stance of Robert Patterson of Lendrum Farm who, perhaps unwittingly, became both the focus and the willing local hero of this often humorous but politically quite sad affair. That of course is another side of the Turriff of years gone by.

The anniversary of the Turra Coo is fast approaching though, but that’s another story.

Further Reading.

Turra Show results 2013: http://turriff.showbiz-software.co.uk/results/classes
Turra Show tractors: http://www.flickr.com/photos/duncanharley/9442575037/
Turra Coo: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2019452
Jason Smyth: http://www.adrenalinetour.co.uk/show/index.php

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Dickens Fellowship: Autumn Events Announced

Aberdeen City, Events, Information No Responses »

Jul 262013

With thanks to Dr Paul Schlicke.

The exhibition on 19^th century journalism, trailed in Angela Joss’s recent article will be on display in the foyer of the Duncan Rice Library at the University of Aberdeen for the remainder of the summer.

It really is worth visiting for an insight into how the goings-on at a time of great political upheaval were documented.

In a time where there is an overbearing 21^st century political and constitutional question to be answered, the exhibition provides a means of gauging how journalism has changed, even if the fervour of political argument is no less intense.

The exhibition was brought to Aberdeen largely due to the considerable efforts of Dr Paul Schlicke who is also working hard to have a Dickens Fellowship established in the city. He has been in touch with details of the autumn programme which looks to be extremely rewarding for Dickens addicts.

Dr Schlicke says,

“Our schedule for autumn is now firmed up, and you should all get cracking with your reading of what is arguably Dickens’s greatest novel, Bleak House.

“Taking the cue from members who participated in the seminars on Hard Times in spring, each of the meetings will be prefaced by an informal lecture.

“I’m delighted to announce that Grahame Smith, Professor Emeritus from Stirling, has agreed to give the opening lecture. Professor Smith is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen, and for several years has been external examiner for the University’s Department of English. He is also past president of the international Dickens Fellowship.

“He has written books, articles and reviews on Dickens, most notably Dickens, Money and Society (1968), Charles Dickens: Bleak House (1974), Dickens: A Literary Life (1996), and Dickens and the Dream of Cinema (2003). It is a great pleasure to welcome him back to Aberdeen.

“Other speakers will be myself and Dan Wall, recent PhD from the University of Aberdeen and specialist in 19^thcentury periodicals.”

All meetings will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7–9 pm, in the Grampian Housing office, at the corner of Huntly St and Summer St, with plenty of free parking in the Grampian Housing car park. There is no charge for attending the seminars.

Tuesday 17 September 2013 – lecture by Professor Grahame Smith, introduction to Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 1-5, chapters. 1–16.
Tuesday 15 October 2013 – lecture by Dr Paul Schlicke, the topicality of Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 6-10, chapters 17–32.
Tuesday 12 November 2013 – lecture by Dr Dan Wall, the serialisation of Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 11-15, chapters 33–49.
Tuesday 10 December 2013, – lecture by Dr Paul Schlicke, plots and detecting in Bleak House, followed by seminar on numbers 16–20, chapters 50–67.

A warm welcome will be extended to all comers, and lively questioning and debate is almost certainly guaranteed. You can be added to the mailing list by e-mailing Dr Schlicke at p.schlicke@abdn.ac.uk

For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/site/aberdeendickensfellowship/

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