The World’s Most Famous Love Poet

They say love conquers all, but how many of us write about our conquests?

One such man did exactly that – Rabbie Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796.) He penned verse about the women he met as he travelled around Scotland, working in menial jobs.

Not only did his lovers provide him with a release from the drudgery, but they also became the muse for his poems and songs. One such song was My Love Is Like A Red, Red, Rose. It is based on traditional sources and American singer songwriter Bob Dylan said the song was the source of his greatest creative inspiration.

The birth of Rabbie Burns or Burns Night is celebrated on January 25th. So let’s have a wee dram to the man whose poems were an inspiration – Rabbie Burns.

O MY LUVE’S LIKE A RED, RED ROSE

by: Robert Burns (1759-1796)

MY Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June.
O, my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve,
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile!

 

 

 

The Man Who Wept Blood

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/343107

The oldest flag still in use

The Flag of Scotland, called The Saltire or St Andrew’s Cross, is a blue field with a white saltire; according to tradition, it represents Saint Andrew, who is supposed to have been crucified on a cross of that form (called a crux decussata) at Patras.

It is the oldest continuously used sovereign flag in the world, having been in use since AD 832.

According to legend, it was round about this time that Kenneth I, also called MacAlpin, became the the founder and first king of Scotland.

About 834 he succeeded his father, Alpin (reigned about 832-34), as king of the Gaelic Scots in Galloway. In a series of battles (841-46) he conquered the Pictish Kingdom and,
uniting it with his own, called his expanded domains Scotland. The kingdom is sometimes called Scone, after Kenneth’s capital.

Scone Palace

The Hill of Credulity became known as the Moot Hill and it was to here that Kenneth MacAlpin, the first King of Scotland, brought the Stone of Destiny, or Stone of Scone, in 843.

Replica of the Stone of Scone

The Stone of Scone was believed to have been Jacob’s pillow when he saw the angels of Bethel. It had been brought to the Scottish holy island of Iona by St Columba in the 6th century. In bringing it to Scone, Kenneth MacAlpin signalled the unification of the kingdoms of the Picts and the Scots under one crown. In later years, the king led six invasions of Lothian, southern Scotland, then part of Saxon Northumbria.

The Saltire became part of the Union Flag following the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603.

The image shows how the flags of England and Scotland were combined to form the Union Flag of 1606: and then with the flag of Ireland (below)

to form the 1801 Union Flag.

What’s the history of your flag – real or legendary?

 

 

The Man Who Wept Blood. A female sleuth is hired by her ex-lover who has a secret.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/343107

 

Why Scotland Should Be Independent

There has been so much propaganda in the  media about Scottish independence, not all of it positive. The anti-independence lobby claim that economically, Scotland could not function without Britain, namely England. This view is often expressed in the Scottish media via the BBC and two of our national newspapers:  The Scotsman and The Daily Record.

However, Scotland is the largest producer of petroleum in the European Union. Besides that,  the ‘Scotland’ brand  is one of the most famous in the world and it’s easy to list why: whisky, bagpipes, kilts, golf, J K Rowling of Harry Potter fame, ghosts, castles, and legends such as the Loch Ness Monster and of course, beautiful scenery.  For the average Scot some of these might sound tacky, but to the outside world it is a tourist attraction. After all, who goes to Egypt to see  modern architecture? The real draw is the pyramids.

Of course, Scotland can’t live by tourism and petroleum alone. Other industries are important, especially ones that make stuff. This is where export comes into it. Scotland once had a great a shipbuilding industry, decimated in the Thatcher era. As roads have become congested, the shipping lanes could once again open up, albeit using smaller craft. This takes backers, forward-thinking ideas and cooperation.

Technological advances  are another strong selling point, considering Scotsmen invented the telephone and television. Once again, backers could pool their resources and invest in youth education at university, which would  enhance innovative minds. It would also encourage students to see education as a way to well-paid employment and not just something to put on their CV, whilst languishing in bar work or call centres.

As  repeated above, cooperation is first and foremost, and this can only come about if people with fewer people who are on first name terms – easy in a country of just over five million people. Other small countries such as Scotland’s neighbours in Scandinavia have the highest standard of living.

Scotland would use the same currency as the rest of the United Kingdom, and not the ill-fated Euro, which looks like it is heading for extinction. However, should the country ever join an alliance of northern European countries, since they are closer geographically and politically than its southern European counterparts, then the issue of currency might be raised.

Sovereignty is another issue that irks some as like the rest of the United Kingdom, the Scottish have to pay taxes to maintain a royal family. Scotland would instantly become a republic, and for the first time in its history, throw off the outdated notion of hereditary royalty.

Edinburgh would remain the capital, although the country would not be Edinburgh-centric. As is, Britain is London-centric which comes at a price. The rest of the country is slowly decaying as their resources are drained  by London, where, some politicians prefer to live than in their constituencies. Even the Guardian, once called the Manchester Guardian, has set up shop in London.  Of course, for working class Londoners, their city’s elevated status in the UK has meant higher prices and economic hardship.

One selling point which is often ignored is language. The national language is English which is spoken all over the world. This gives many people the opportunity to teach English, another export, while absorbing the culture of the various countries in which they teach. Other young nationals from many countries want to come to Scotland to learn English, either through ERASMUS or living with a host family, while studying at a British school.

Finally, one myth bandied about by the media is that the Scottish are anti-English. This is a lie, since many Scots live in England, especially London. Many Scots are anti-British government and anti-royalty, as are many in the rest of the UK. We (yes, I am also Scottish) do not see the English as enemies, but as good neighbours. As anybody knows, it’s far better to get on with your neighbours than argue and fight with them.

The History Of Golf

Golf in its crudest form is thought to have its origins in the 1st century BC. The Romans played a game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a leather ball stuffed with feathers.

However, this is disputed by other historians who cite chuiwan (“chui” means striking and “wan” means small ball) as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries.

Chuiwan

A Ming Dynasty scroll dating back to 1368 entitled “The Autumn Banquet” shows a member of the Chinese Imperial court swinging what appears to be a golf club at a small ball with the aim of sinking it into a hole. The game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambuca in England and chambot in France.

This game was, in turn, exported to the Low Countries, Germany, and England (where it was called pall-mall, pronounced “pell mell”)

Pall Mall

Some observers^, however, believe that golf descended from the Persian game, chaugán. In addition, kolven (a game involving a ball and curved bats) was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier.

The modern game originated in Scotland, where the first written record of golf is James II’s banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery.To many golfers, the Old Course at St Andrews, a links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage.

Golf is documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East Lothian, Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest golf course in the world by Guinness World Records.The oldest surviving rules of golf were compiled in March 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later renamed The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which was played at Leith, Scotland.

The world’s oldest golf tournament in existence, and golf’s first major, is The Open Championship, which was first played on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club, in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Prestwick Golf Club

The Loch Ness Monster

Of all the legends about Scotland, none is more famous than the Loch Ness Monster or Nessie, which is reported to inhabit Loch Ness in the Highlands.

Nessie is a cryptid, which in cryptozoology and sometimes in cryptobotany (from the Greek “κρύπτω” (krypto) meaning “hide”) is a creature or plant whose existence has been suggested but is not yet recognized by scientific consensus. Famous examples include the Yeti in the Himalayas, the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, and Sasquatch in North America.

The earliest report of a monster associated with the vicinity of Loch Ness appears in the Life of St. Columba by Adomnán, written in the 7th century.

According to Adomnán, writing about a century after the events he described, the Irish monk Saint Columba was staying in the land of the Picts with his companions when he came across the locals burying a man by the River Ness. They explained that the man had been swimming the river when he was attacked by a “water beast” that had mauled him and dragged him under. They tried to rescue him in a boat, but were able only to drag up his corpse. Hearing this, Columba stunned the Picts by sending his follower Luigne moccu Min to swim across the river. The beast came after him, but Columba made the sign of the cross and commanded: “Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once.” The beast immediately halted as if it had been “pulled back with ropes” and fled in terror, and both Columba’s men and the pagan Picts praised God for the miracle.

The oldest manuscript relating to this story was put online in 2012.

Believers in the Loch Ness Monster often point to this story, which notably takes place on the River Ness rather than the loch itself, as evidence for the creature’s existence as early as the 6th century. However, sceptics question the narrative’s reliability, noting that water-beast stories were extremely common in medieval saints’ Lives; as such, Adomnán’s tale is likely a recycling of a common motif attached to a local landmark.

Nessie’s worldwide fame began on 2nd May 1933

when Alex Campbell, the water bailiff for Loch Ness and a part-time journalist, reported a sighting of Nessie in the Inverness Courier.

On 4 August 1933, the Courier reported another sighting by a London man, George Spicer, who had been motoring around the Loch with his wife.  George Spicer said that he had seen the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that he had ever seen in his life, trundling across the road toward the Loch carrying an animal in its mouth.  

Other letters began appearing in the Courier, often anonymously, with claims of land or water sightings, either on the writer’s part or on the parts of family, acquaintances or stories they remembered being told.These stories soon reached the national, and later the international press, which described a ‘monster fish’, ‘sea serpent’, or ‘dragon’, eventually settling on “Loch Ness Monster^.’

On 6th December 1933 the first purported photograph of the monster, taken by Hugh Gray,

was published in the Daily Express, and shortly after the creature received official notice when the Secretary of State for Scotland ordered the police to prevent any attacks on it.

In 1934, interest was further sparked by what is known as The Surgeon’s Photograph.

In the same year R. T. Gould published a book, the first of many that describe the author’s personal investigation and collected record of additional reports pre-dating 1933. Other authors have claimed that sightings of the monster go as far back as the 6th century (see below).Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings.

How can such a large creature evade capture?

Loch Ness is a large, deep, freshwater loch which is the second largest Scottish loch by surface area at 56.4 km² (21.8 sq mi) after Loch Lomond, but due to its great depth, it is the largest by volume.

Its deepest point is 230 m (755 ft),deeper than the height of London’s BT Tower at 189 m (620 ft) and deeper than any other loch except Loch Morar. It contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined,and is the largest body of water on the Great Glen Fault, which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south.

So it’s certainly big enough. However, whether Nessie exists or not, one thing is certain, its fame has  catapulted it into legendary status .

Red Kites Flying High

While its larger cousin, the Golden Eagle, is revered as a national symbol in many countries, the red kite is seen as an outlaw. Its infamy was mentioned by Shakespeare when King Lear describes his daughter Goneril as a detested kite. He goes on to say, “When the kite builds, look to your lesser linen.” This was in reference to them stealing washing hung out to dry in the nesting season.

Under Tudor ‘vermin laws’ many creatures were seen as competitors for the produce of the countryside and bounties were paid by the parish for their carcasses. In the mid-15th century King James II of Scotland decreed that they should be ‘killed wherever possible.’

So it is no wonder that the red kite became extinct in Scotland in 1886.

The very first Scottish reintroduction was on the Black Isle, north of Inverness,

Black Isle

in 1989, when around 100 birds, from Scandinavia, were released. In 2007 30 birds were released on the outskirts of Aberdeen, and the last kites were released in Aberdeen in 2009, taking the total there to 101 birds. The figure increased to 214 nesting pairs across the country last year.

Despite the birds being protected, occasionally people take the law into their own hands. In the north of Scotland, illegal poisoning was hampering the reintroduction efforts. Farmers had labelled them a nuisance and a threat to livestock, particularly pheasants. The onset of spring and the arrival of the lambing season heightened such fears.

However, the RSPB state that red kites lack the power, strength and speed to take anything larger than a young rabbit, never mind a lamb. Besides that, they do not hunt mobile prey, but prefer to feed on meat scraps, earthworms, carcasses, frogs and the occasional mouse or rat.

Some Scottish farmers have listened to their advice and have established feeding stations on their sheep farms, which have become popular visitor attractions. Feeding stations exist on the Galloway Red Kite Trail and at Argaty Red Kites in Doune.

Doune

The Galloway Kite Trail (Opening times 2013 (01/01/2013 – 31/12/2013) has attracted an estimated £33m in visitor spending since its launch in 2003, which also demonstrates the contribution that these scavenger birds make to Scottish Tourism.

The Galloway Kite Trail

Red kites decorate their nest with unusual items such as soft toy racoons, mouse traps, toy lemurs, tennis balls, toy dogs, and a toy rats. This is all in addition to the usual gloves, wool and socks.

Red kite nest

Local primary schools choose names for the red kite chicks. There are around 75 chicks named by schools such as Echt Happy Chappie, Elmo, Professor Feathers and Kingswells Bullet.”

Facts and Figures

• Their wingspan stretches almost two metres and they typically weigh about 1kg (2-3lb).

• They start to breed at the age of two or three, and their eggs are usually laid in March, although first-time breeders might not lay until April.

• They typically lay between one and four eggs, each laid three days apart, and the incubation period is 31 to 35 days.

• When they hatch, the chicks can be quite aggressive and the larger chicks will peck at the younger chicks. This sometimes results in the youngest chicks dying, either from starvation, or from pecking.

• Red kites can live for up to 20 years.

Something light to read:

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The Fall Of The Golden Eagle

In Scotland, a new offence of Vicarious Liability came into force in January 2012. It is designed to deal with landowners and managers who turn a blind eye to employees committing offences against wild birds on their land.

Thanks to the new wildlife crime legislation targeting landowners, poisoning incidents fell from 10, involving 16 birds, in 2011 to three in 2012, according to the latest figures. But the RSPB warned that there were still concerns birds could be killed using other methods that are more difficult to detect.

The latest figures, released by the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (Paw) Scotland, showed that two buzzards and a golden eagle died through poisoning during the first year of the new legislation being in force.

One victim of  poison is the Golden Eagle – the most common national animal in the world, with five nations—Albania, Germany, Austria, Mexico and Kazakhstan—making it the national animal. It is also a common motif in the national symbols of countries that have not officially made it the national animal or national bird.

Albania

Egypt

Mexico

Among European countries, the Golden Eagle was the model for the aquila, the most prominent symbol of the Roman legions and more generally the Roman civilization that had such a powerful impact on Western culture;

 

Eagle of Roman Empire

This association of the Golden Eagle with Rome has also led to the adoption of similar symbols in other countries; for instance, the adoption of the related and physically similar Bald Eagle as the national bird of the United States was inspired by the conception of the United States as a modern reincarnation of the Roman Republic, a theme that recurs in other elements as well (including the prevalence of neoclassical architecture in American public buildings and the use of Roman terminology—such as naming the upper house of Congress.

Great Seal of the United States

The Golden Eagle uses its agility and speed combined with extremely powerful talons to snatch up a variety of prey, including rabbits, marmots, ground squirrels, and large mammals such as foxes and young ungulates.^[4] They will also eat carrion if live prey is scarce, as well as reptiles. Birds, including large species up to the size of swans and cranes have also been recorded as prey.

For centuries, this species has been one of the most highly regarded birds used in falconry, with the Eurasian subspecies having been used to hunt and kill unnatural, dangerous prey such as Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) in some native communities. Due to their hunting prowess, the Golden Eagle is regarded with great mystic reverence in some ancient, tribal cultures.

Facts:

Golden Eagles can grow to 33 to 38 in (84 to 97 cm) with a wingspan of 6 to 7.5 ft (1.8 to 2.3 m) and weigh6 to 15 lbs (3 to 7 kg.) They maintain territories that may be as large as 155 km² (60 sq mi) and are monogamous. Pairs may remain together for several years or possibly for life. Golden Eagles nest in high places including cliffs, trees, or human structures such as telephone poles. They build huge nests to which they may return for several breeding years. Females lay from one to four eggs, and both parents incubate them for 40 to 45 days. Typically, one or two young survive to fledge in about three months. Their average life span in the wild

Hopefully, the Golden Eagle will be as respected as it was in the past.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Something light to read:

http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Your-Poison-Other-ebook/dp/B00AW9C0Phttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view/268978C

Secrets And Sinners

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The adventures of Elfis

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Sean Connery – Greatest Living Scot

Sean Connery is Scotand’s Greatest Living Scot. He was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh and named Thomas Sean Connery after his grandfather. His mother, Euphemia McBain “Effie” (née McLean), was a cleaning woman, and his father, Joseph Connery, was a factory worker and lorry driver. He was generally referred to in his youth as “Tommy”.

Connery’s first job was as a milkman in Edinburgh with St. Cuthbert’s Co-operative Society. He then joined the Royal Navy during which time he got two tattoos, of which his official website says “unlike many tattoos, his were not frivolous—his tattoos reflect two of his lifelong commitments: his family and Scotland. …One …reads “Mum and Dad,” and the other “Scotland Forever.”

Connery was later discharged from the navy on medical grounds because of a duodenal ulcer, a condition that affected most of the males in previous generations of his family. Afterwards, he returned to the co-op, then worked as, among other things, a lorry driver, a lifeguard at Portobello swimming baths, a labourer, an artist’s model for the Edinburgh College of Art, after a suggestion by former Mr. Scotland, Archie Brennan and a coffin polisher. The modelling earned him 15 shillings an hour, Student artist Richard Demarco who painted several notable early pictures of Connery described him as “very straight, slightly shy, too, too beautiful for words, a virtual Adonis.”

Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18 and from 1951 time trained heavily with Ellington, a former gym instructor in the British army. While his official website claims he was third in the 1950 Mr. Universe contest, most sources place him in the 1953 competition, either third in the Junior class or failing to place in the Tall Man classification.

One of the other competitors mentioned that auditions were being held for a production of South Pacific; and Connery landed a small part. While in Edinburgh, Connery was targeted by the notorious Valdor gang, one of the most ruthless gangs in the city. He was first approached by them in a billiard hall on Lothian Street where he prevented them from stealing from his jacket and was later followed by six gang members to a 15 ft high balcony at the Palais. There Connery launched an attack single-handedly against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and another by a biceps and cracked their heads together. From then on he was treated with great respect by the gang and gained a reputation as a “hard man”.

Connery was a keen footballer, having played for Bonnyrigg Rose in his younger days. He was offered a trial with East Fife. While on tour with South Pacific, Connery played in a football match against a local team that Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United, happened to be scouting. According to reports, Busby was impressed with his physical prowess and offered Connery a contract worth £25 a week immediately after the game. Connery admits that he was tempted to accept, but he recalls, “I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23.

Looking to pick up some extra money, Connery helped out backstage at the King’s Theatre in late 1951. He became interested in the proceedings, and a career was launched.

In 1957, Connery played Spike, a minor gangster with a speech impediment in Montgomery Tully’s No Road Back alongside Skip Homeier, Paul Carpenter, Patricia Dainton and Norman Wooland. He then played a rogue lorry driver Johnny Yates in Cy Endfield’s Hell Drivers (1957) alongside Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins and Patrick McGoohan.[27] Later in 1957 Connery appeared in Terence Young’s poorly received MGM action picture Action of the Tiger opposite Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom and Gustavo Rojo; the film was shot on location in southern Spain. He also had a minor role in Gerald Thomas’s thriller Time Lock (1957) as a welder, appearing alongside Robert Beatty, Lee Patterson, Betty McDowall and Vincent Winter, which commenced filming on 1 December 1956 at Beaconsfield Studios.

In 1958 he had a major role in the melodrama Another Time, Another Place (1958) as a British reporter named Mark Trevor, caught in a love affair opposite Lana Turner and Barry Sullivan. During filming, star Lana Turner’s possessive gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, who was visiting from Los Angeles, believed she was having an affair with Connery. He stormed onto the set and pointed a gun at Connery, only to have Connery disarm him and knock him flat on his back. Stompanato was banned from the set. Connery later recounted that he had to lie low for a while after receiving threats from men linked to Stompanato’s boss, Mickey Cohen.

In 1959, Connery landed a leading role in Robert Stevenson’s Walt Disney Productions film Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) alongside Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, and Jimmy O’Dea. The film is a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with leprechauns. Upon the film’s initial release, A. H. Weiler of the New York Times praised the cast (save Connery whom he described as “merely tall, dark, and handsome”) and thought the film an “overpoweringly charming concoction of standard Gaelic tall stories, fantasy and romance.”.[36] In his book The Disney Films, film critic and historian Leonard Maltin stated that, “Darby O’Gill and the Little People is not only one of Disney’s best films, but is certainly one of the best fantasies ever put on film.

He also had a prominent television role in Rudolph Cartier’s 1961 production of Anna Karenina for BBC Television, in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.[38]

Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (1962)

Connery’s breakthrough came in the role of secret agent James Bond. He was reluctant to commit to a film series, but understood that if the films succeeded his career would greatly benefit. He played the character in the first five Bond films: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), and You Only Live Twice (1967) – then appeared again as Bond in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Never Say Never Again (1983). All seven films were commercially successful.

Sean Connery’s selection as James Bond owed a lot to Dana Broccoli, wife of Cubby Broccoli, who is reputed to have been instrumental in persuading Cubby that Sean Connery was the right man.[39][40] James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, originally doubted Connery’s casting, saying, “He’s not what I envisioned of James Bond looks” and “I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man,” adding that Connery (muscular, 6′ 2″, and a Scot) was unrefined. Fleming’s girlfriend told him Connery had the requisite sexual charisma. Fleming changed his mind after the successful Dr. No première; he was so impressed, he created a half-Scottish, half-Swiss heritage for James Bond in the later novels.

Connery’s portrayal of Bond owes much to stylistic tutelage from director Terence Young, polishing the actor while using his physical grace and presence for the action. Lois Maxwell (the first Miss Moneypenny) claimed that, “Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat. The tutoring was successful; Connery received thousands of fan letters a week, and the actor became one of the great male sex symbols of film.