The Stone of Destiny that some call The Wee Magic Stane is where Scottish monarchs sat to be crowned until it was stolen by Edward Longshanks in 1296 as a deliberate affront to Scottish Nationhood.
On Christmas Day 1950 four students from Glasgow recover the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey where it’s been since it was stolen.
The Stone of Destiny is then sent to London in 1952 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, and doesn’t arrive back in Scotland until 1996, 700 years after it was stolen.
A new monarch will be crowned on 06 May 2023, and the southern neighbour will ask to borrow a stone for their ceremony. Will it be the real one?
Kate’s Keekin-gless is a renowned Arran fairy tale written in the Scots language. The story is a bawdy romp around the Isle of Arran in the 18th century.
A beautiful but vain island girl bids to leave Arran – preferably with a rich husband, but not everything goes to plan after she receives the gift of a mirror, and the Wee-Folk turn against her.
Read along while you listen to the audio. A loose translation of the dialogue in Kate’s Keekin-gless that will help those who don’t have the Scots to understand the subtleties of the language and to follow the story. Scots speakers may even crack a smile.
The By The Way podcast is for lovers of Scotland. It’s a thoughtful and eclectic mixture of Truth, Fiction, Unsolicited Opinion and Extra Information from around the best country in the world.
JB meets a challenge to write 200 words inspired by each of the eight letters of an acronym – CLANGERS. The themes are Dr Phil Hammond‘s daily habits for wellbeing.
It was really a serious writing challenge with the strict discipline of sticking to 200 words. Mind you, I was always going to take the most cynical, least literal approach because that’s how my mind works.
I always write for audio nowadays, but I didn’t expect to produce such highly personal audio essays. There are heart-on-the-sleeve moments that took me by surprise. I had to think before I put them out there.
Each piece has its own sound design and Foley; everything from a pistol that’s actually a Mole-grip to the sound of a single engined plane from the flying school near where I live.
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I’m delighted to share the next episode in an Ayrshire Trilogy by Jill Korn with JB’s sound design. The Lady and The Poet explores the relationship between Robert Burns the poet and Mrs Frances Dunlop through their letters.
“Canny Rab, to send his book to Frances Dunlop! She was weel-kent in Ayrshire society, and she it was who made sure his fame would quickly spread about the county and beyond.”
