Childhood holidays were always taken by train. It was the Great Western Railways from my home station in those days. All railwaymen took a professional pride in their work, so we all supported the trains. The compartments were self-contained with no corridor. Above the seats there were always three railway posters advertising what to me then, were exotic places. Porters carried your luggage and put it on the racks above the seats. Many would not accept a tip as it was their job.
Train journies to say the south coast of England could take up to 10 - 12 hours. There were no refreshments on the trains, unless you could afford the 1st Class Restaurant Car, so we ate sandwiches, tomatoes, apples, lettuce and cucumber, and had a flask of tea and often a bottle of lemonade. Colouring books and books to read including comics were the order of the day.
Spring sail down the Sound of Mull on the mv Sound of Mull.
On the way down the Sound of Mull.
White-tailed Sea Eagle near Dervaig, Mull.
Scottish Television's 'Balamory' (Tobermory) for lunch: cock-a-leekie soup followed by fresh local salmon and salad, washed down with a glass of Pinot Grigio - oh, and of course, a pot of tea.
Ben More, Mull, from the Holy Isle of Iona, by Francis Cadell.
The Tennis Party by Sir John Lavery (1885). It was painted at Cathcart Tennis Club, Glasgow.
Lady with a Red Hat (Portrait of Vita Sackville West, 1918) by Wm Strang, one of the 'Glasgow Boys.'
Dame Edith Sitwell by Roger Fry, one of the Bloomsbury Group.
The Orange Blind by F C B Cadell, one of the 'Glasgow Boys'. It was painted in a 'new town' house on Heriot Row, Edinburgh.
Music
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General music interests are -
Classical music in general, Anglican Church music, Gregorian chant, Gaelic psalmody, smooth jazz, Scottish Highland piping including the Piobaireachd, Scottish fiddle music, Scottish Clarsach players like Cynthia Cathcart of the USA, Hardanger fiddle music of Norway, Shetland fiddle music, port-a-beul (Gaelic mouth-music) and its Norwegian equivalent from the Vestlandet fjordur , as sung by Torhild Ostad, and Gaelic singing - often unaccompanied, e.g., Mairead Stuibhart of the Isle of Skye and Tain, Christine Primrose of Carloway, Isle of Lewis, Mary Ann Kennedy, James Graham, Karen Mathieson of Taynuilt. I also love British Brass Band music. My maternal grandad was a member of Birkenhead Temperance Silver Prize Band and I used to go with him to band practice near the Mersey Tunnel and revel in both him and the band playing to perfection. Now, when I hear a good Brass Band I am transported to that wee hut by Birkenhead docks and the enthusiastic band members playing so well and beautifully.
Here is a favourite psalm: Psalm 122 ( Laetatus sum ) or "I was glad, glad when they said..." to the setting by Sir Hubert Parry.
And below we have Karen Matheson, the lass frae Taynuilt in Argyll singing a favourite of mine:-
Puirt-a-beul evokes my heritage. Mary Ann Kennedy and Rhona Kennedy are fine Gaelic singers, accompanied by friends from Argyll:
Here is Mary Ann Kennedy again, this time with James Graham:-
Mairead Stuibhart (Margaret Stewart) from the Isle of Skye & Tain, Mary Ann Kennedy & friends:-
Next in our wee Ceilidh we have Alan & Iain MacDonald of Glenuig playing An Eas Bheag ( The Little Cascade):-
Sung Matins with the daily chanting of the psalms is lovely. Here is Psalm 50, (Deus deorum) appointed for the morning of the 10th day, sung by the choir of King;s College, although I often join in:-
Janine Jansens & the BBC Concert Orchestra playing The Lark Ascending by Raef Vaughan Williams at the Royal Albert Hall:-
Gustav Mahler - a favourite composer. Oh so passionate, so sensitive, yet so sad too in his life. Here is Zubin Mehta and the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra performing ther Adagietta from the 5th Symphony; 4th Movement.
Gustav Mahler again with his 4th Symphony and Klara Ek and Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting.
Singing the psalms daily is always joyful. Here is Psalm 121. Afterwards click on 'Menu' and listen to Psalm 150, the last psalm in the Scottish Episcopal Psalter to the setting by Rutter. This psalm of praise is perhaps the most uplifting in the Psalter.
Here is Cynthia Cathcart from Maryland, America, playing a lovely lilting piece on the Clarsach. She has the lilt of the Scottish tradition, rather than the Irish tradition - and she has a cat called Talisker! What more proof do you need? The piece is called New Claret.
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"DOON THE WATTER"
Everyone in Glasgow has, over the years gone down the River Clyde from Stobcross Quay on the Broomielaw to Dunoon, Kilcreggan, Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Tighnabruiach and home via the Kyles of Bute, accompanied perhaps by a jazz band onboard, tea and sandwiches, a wee 'refreshment' from "inspecting the engine room" and a good blether in the sun. The Clyde is a lovely river as you can see. The Waverley, that grand old lady from Victorian times, is the last sea-going, side-paddle steamer in the world and beloved of all Glaswegians. Enjoy your trip -and "move right down to the front and use both gangways please!"
University of Glasgow from Kelvingrove Park
Movies
Old black and white films as most are now classics. Epic films like the Longest Day or the Bridge at Remagen - both are semi-factual and are about historical events I witnessed and experienced. Out of Africa for the scenery, music and the story, the Englsh Patient for similar reasons, Gandhi with that epic story, acted so well by the man who looked just like Gandhi - Ben Kingsley, again I remember seeing Gandhi when he came to Britain, which led to Britain just walking out of India, at Gandhi's request. Henry V - an amazing film I first saw after the war with my school. I WAS Sir Laurence Olivier, rousing my troops and my Long Bowmen to arms. To me Olivier was the James Bond of his day, when I was at school.
Television
Channel 4 News is one of the best programmes on British TV. The rest of Channel 4 is absolute rubbish and I wonder how long it will last as it contains low-intellect boring reality shows and American violence films. BBC ( or, as we refer to it in Scotland - EBC )is biassed towards the larger England and is not really British in that sense, does however, have excellent Historical Costume Dramas and wildlife programmes produced by BBC Bristol.
BBC Radio is far better, informative and stimulating. I wonder why the TV Producers don't understand that? I listen a lot also to BBC Scotland and BBC Gaelic programmes, as well as RTE Dublin - Channel 1 and RTE Lyric Radio online. Classic fm and Radio 3 are also listened to in the car a lot or online.
Books
The poetry of Sir John Betjeman, OBE, Lt Wilfred Owen, MC ( old boy of my school ), Lt Siegfried Sassoon of Salop, the writings of George McKay Brown of Stromness, Neil Gunn,Graham Greene, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Gertrude Stein,for her Free Associational prosaic writings, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once writer for the Saturday Evening Post in the US, and writer of the Great Gatsby etc, ,John Masterson for his inspiring stories of his service with the Brigade of Ghurkas in pre-war times, H.E. Bates, Iain Niall ('BB'), for his stories in Country Life, J. Arthur Ransome, Nigel Tranter, Lady Antonia Fraser, Anton Chekov, V. Garshin, D K Broster, Sir Fitzroy MacLean of Strachur ( on whom the character 007 was based by Fleming ), R L Stevenson, the Icelandic Sagas, V S Naipaul ( The House of Mr Biswas) and Anita Desai (Fire on the Mountain), and so on - so may authors who have giev me pleasure over the years from childhood.
Heroes
Mahatma Gandhiji - he stood up to the British Raj and tackled the religious divisions within India - with pragmatic and simple love and
with common sense. Archbishop Desmond Tutu for standing up for the people of South Africa - the Rainbow People as he called all of them, against the white minority apartheid system of hate and division. Nelson Mandaela for holding on to similar virtues even though imprisoned for them - his influence of non-violence towards the white minority, including his prison Guard who held him in high esteem. Nelson Mandaela, now the ex-President of RSA is still a great figure to be admired. These three alone, in my lifetime, showed how you can stand up against oppression, and win. My first 'hero' was an old boy of my school who once lived near me - Lt Wilfred Own MC. I admired him for his honesty and the fact that despite the educational emphasis on maths and science as the only indicators of intelligence I, like Owen, excelled at English and the Arts, so we were both rebellious against that defunct educational system of those days.
My maternal grandmother, Christiona Sutherland, called herself Kirsty Sudrland. A gaelic speaker she learned to understand and to speak English but could not read it or write it. She and my maternal grandfather, Rabaird Ros Sutherland (Sudrland) who also did not read or write English, had little English. As he explained through the interpretation of my grandmother 'There is little call to know a foreign language here.' They came from Halkirk in Caithness.
Who I'd like to meet: W.H. Hudson, Richard Jeffries, James Joyce, Conor Cruise O'Brien, Wm Butler Yeats, Lt Wilfred Owen MC, ( Old Boy of my Grammar School ), his friend Lt Siegfried Sassoon, V.S. Naipaul, Anita Desai, Edwin Muir, George McKay Brown, Sorley MacLean, William Somerset Maugham, John, Cardinal Newman, Anton Chekov, Dr Melanie Klein, Dr Hanna Segal ( to meet her again), Dr Donald Winnicott, Alan Garner, children's writer from Cheshire, Mahatma Gandhiji, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu ( I have met him, but would love to meet him again ), Charles F. Tunnicliffe of Cheshire, wildlife artist, Sir Peter Scott, wildlife artist and founder of the Wetlands Trust, Lady Antonia Fraser, historical writer, Anita Brookner, Mairi Hedderwick, children's writer and speaker, ( I listened to her talking to children on the Isle of Harris), Uncle Jock Sinclair and Angus Morrison, to hear them both once again play the Piobaireachd and to recite Gaelic poetry, Samuel Beckett, Dr Bruno Bettleheim for his insight and respect for the integrity of the personality, Luke the Physician, Fr Aidan of Iona, later Bishop of Lindisfarne, Fr Aidan Mayoss CR again, the Very Revd Jonathan Swift, Dean of Dublin, Paul of Tarsus, Tent Maker, Rabbi, Christian, Roman Citizen, Greek citizen - an inclusive guy of his day if ever there was one, my Friends on MySpace whom I have not actually met offline. In addition I shall meet those who attend the periodic dinners such as this one, held at Killiecrankie House by Pitlochrie, hosted by Mrs Henrietta Fergusson. The Fergussons are a 'well-kent' family in the glen over some centuries and Henrietta is a most welcoming host who runs a first-class house.
The guests gathered in dribs and drabs at Killiecrankie House but we all got to know each other over afternoon tea or drinks in the bar. Guest speaker after dinner on the Friday was Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu who gave a searching yet most humorous talk which everyone enjoyed. He and Fr Thomas Merton, one time Anglican too, both had a quiet chuckle afterwards. It was great to see folk from the world of film and stage, all on holiday and not 'in the media', also Drs Melanie Klein, Hanna Segal, Edna O Shaunessy and Elizabeth Bott Spillius - all well-known psychoanalysts and eminent in their fields. The Princess Royal loves Scotland and is here most weeks and is most supportive and knowledgeable about us. The two Royal Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice of York were commandeered by my friend John Woodhouse, Parish Church Organist at Coulsdon, Surrey and Server / Crucifer at Westminster Cathedral. He was really taken with them and they with him. Sir John Betjeman has a tremanendous sense of humour and he and James Robertson Justice were in good spirits joking at the bar.
Vrnda Mhairi and Natalya are always lovely company and they were seen chatting to the film stars as they are film-makers themselves. Henrietta Fergusson was on hand to ensure her guests were comfortable and had everything they required. Gustav Mahler and James Robertson Justice were seen striding off towards Loch Faskally on a brisk walk. All in all, an excellent weekend with musical backgrounds provided by Norio Maeda and Karen Mathieson. We shall be back at Killiecrankie House.
