New Chapter

To the folk singer, arguably Burns’ Achilles Heel is the longer song. This is not a position always subscribed to by the literary critic. The latest chapter of my thesis will aim to explain this antisyzygy. Are these songs exceptions to Burns’ self-proclaimed methodology of conning over the melody throughout the production of the song? […]

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Winter Wonderment

Disappointment doesn’t come close to defining my emotions after some spectacularly heavy snow squashed my hopes of new-found fame in the Capital. I was thrilled to be booked to MC the city’s St Andrew’s Day celebrations on the 30th November, also performing some poetry at the site in St Andrew’s Square for the four-day lead-up […]

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Burns & Byron

Struggling through the worst winter in 100 years in the UK, I finally made it to University of Manchester for a conference jointly organised by the respective centres for Robert Burns – at my own Alma, University of Glasgow – and Lord Byron Studies, at Manchester. This was my first full academic conference and the […]

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The Whistle

A competition was once more held at Friars Carse, erstwhile home of the Poet Burns’ friend and Patron Robert Riddel of Glenriddel and the scene of a very different competition which inspired Burns’ song. Our speaking competition, judged by Wilson Ogilvie Past President of the Robert Burns World Federation, Mike Duguid, Immediate Past President of […]

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Fergusson’s Grave

James VII reinstated the order of the thistle in 1687, following various periods of desuetude, however it has continued unbroken since that period, although William and Mary did not call the order together during their reign. The present chapel, by Robert Lorimer appendant to St Giles is not however the first chapel used by the […]

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The Enlightenment

Peter Henderson is certainly one of a kind. As an impresario he has the most infuriating habit of running around dealing with a hundred other things when he ought to be attending to the business at hand. But then, Peter Henderson is not an impresario; he is a restaurateur and an Edinburgh icon. Henderson’s vegetarian […]

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World John Lapraik Competition

On occasion, I have to confess, I have been known to take liberties with the Bard’s poetry. If I believe that a point can be made more strongly by changing a nuance here or there – nothing big, you understand, but maybe toying with the punctuation or the odd pronoun – I don’t hesitate to […]

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Robert Fergusson Memorial Concert

When Robert Burns arrived in Edinburgh on the 28th November 1786, he was extremely keen to pay his respects at the grave of the man, who above all inspired his style and muse, Robert Fergusson. He was disgusted to discover that Fergusson lay in an unmarked grave and immediately sought the permission of James Gentle, […]

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The Cotter’s Saturday Night

The Henderson Gallery In this one hour production I discussed the fall from grace of The Cotter’s Saturday Night, described in the late 50’s by Maurice Lindsay as “The poem by which, a handful of songs apart, Burns is probably best known” (my stress). I explained the piece, contrasting it with Robert Fergusson’s The Farmer’s […]

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The Mighty Hough at Mull – Again!

Lordy, lordy! Weekends just don’t come any better than the best wee folk festival on the planet, The Isle of Mull festival at Robert Macleod’s iconic Mishnish Hotel in Tobermory. Time after time I seem to get lugged with the driving, but to be fair I don’t mind. You try remembering hunners o’ words once […]

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