Duncan Harley

Richard Morrison writes in today’s Times in Scotland about how the about to be wed royal couple can learn a thing or two from long dead poet Philip Larkin. Seemingly the Windsor wedding day falls on Whit Saturday and the theory, at least, suggests that the wearing of white is appropriate for the Pentecostal weekend. Larkin’s take on the state of marriage is, he writes, ‘really, a meditation on marriage and what lies ahead for the travelling couples’. As the wedding train finally arrives at its destination Larkin, always the pessimist perhaps, writes gloomily about ‘a sense of falling, like an arrow shower, sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain.’ As for Whit Saturday. Well, Google directs searchers to White Saturday which is seemingly the day after Black Friday which is the day when stores hike up prices to a level to which only the rich can aspire. Google aside, Richard suggests that the church festival of Whit Saturday was in fact well known in those heady pre-Google days ...

Celebrated each year on January 25 th  Burns night is an annual Scottish fixture extraordinaire. The supermarket shelves are full of the traditional and, of course, essential accompaniments to the bard’s memory. Not perhaps for the faint hearted, the haggis features strongly on eye-level shelves and on the dinner tables of those who choose to recall the impact the bard had on the folklore of the Scottish Nation. In his short time on this earth, Burns commented on every subject known to man at that time - from winsome witches to wee timorous beasties. He even inspired an Inverbervie born ship-designer to name The Cutty Sark in his memory. Robert Burns was of course almost certainly a fan of a dram as this extract from John Barleycorn clearly illustrates: “John Barleycorn was a hero bold, Of noble enterprise; For if you do but taste his blood, 'Twill make your courage rise. 'Twill make a man forget his woe; 'Twill heighten all his joy; 'Twill make the widow...

I see that Victoria and Abdul - the movie - is available on both Blue-Ray and DVD from Monday. Starring Dame Judy Dench – yes, the same Judy Dench who was killed off in Skyfall – and Ali Fazal, the film seems to have attracted rave reviews. The Times gave it massively a huge four star review as did the Radio Times and Total Film. The Daily Mail termed it ‘Brilliant’ and perhaps oddly Good Housekeeping used the word ‘Dazzling’ when reviewing it. Women & Home were less enthused, saying simply ‘Judi Dench is superb’ which could be a reference to anything. Perhaps Dame Judy is a superb painter & decorator or maybe she excels in interplanetary art. Who could know. No matter, I am sure that the film is an entertaining one but I am a wee tad jealous. I featured the tale of Abdul Karim in my new book and yes, I have had some really positive reviews – but nothing on the scale of those four-star commendations. In case you can’t wait until Monday to watch the DVD, or indeed the Blu...