Movie star’s brother opens the Military Tattoo

Ex-RAF pilot Colin McGregor was the special guest who opened this year’s show at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. He performed the moving poem ‘High Flight’ – a special tribute to the late servicemen and women of the RAF. Colin was joined in the Royal Gallery at Edinburgh Castle by his brother, actor Ewan McGregor,…

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Shetland author returns to island for final book

Bestselling crime author Ann Cleeves is visiting Shetland to launch her latest novel – and say a bittersweet farewell to detective Jimmy Perez. Wild Fire is the eighth and final book in the Shetland series, which has been adapted into a hit BBC series. Ann launched her first Perez novel – Raven Black – in…

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Celebrating 40 years of the Beechgrove Garden

For 40 years, the team at the Beechgrove Garden have been advising us on how to keep our gardens in shape. It has been a perennial fixture on the mantlepiece of Scottish life since 1978. To celebrate, BBC Scotland is to screen The Beechgrove Garden Story next Sunday, 19 August. Old video tapes have been…

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A magical place called Ardnish is well worth a visit

A peninsula, jutting out from Moidart, pointing to Eigg, Muck and Rum, cliffs along both sides until the westerly end where the communities of Peanmeanach, Laggan and Sloch used to house the two hundred MacDonalds, Gillies, MacVarish, MacEachan and MacQueens. Nellie MacQueen was the last to leave Peanmeanach in 1943 and the beautiful sandy beach with the…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe: comedian Simon Evans

Prepare to be depressed and entertained at the same time with some of the driest and most acerbic comedy on offer in this year’s Fringe. Brighton-based Simon Evans has been a circuit comedian for years, and those of you who are regular listeners to BBC Radio 4 will be familiar with his particular style of…

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Singer will mark 80th birthday with a live performance

A Scots singing star is to celebrate his 80th birthday in style with a concert on Skye. As part of next month’s Blas Festival, a nine day festival celebrating Highland music and culture at venues across the Highlands and Islands, Gaelic star Alasdair Gillies will be performing. Alasdair has been described as one of the…

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Fringe review: Nicholas Parsons’ Happy Hour

With slightly less of Nicholas Parsons this year than I’d hoped for, it’s still an hour of fun, none the less. No checking the watch in this show…. For this year, unless you can pick up a cancellation, prepare to be disappointed as it’s sold out, so the best advice is to book now for…

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British Army is performing as part of the Fringe

Think of the British Army, and the chances are, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival isn’t something you’d immediately associate with it. However, prepare for a surprise, as, for the second time ever, they will be participating in the Fringe with their own productions. Brigadier Robin Lindsay, Commander, 51 Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland, believes it’s an…

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Glengoyne toasts its history at the Fringe

Peter Ranscombe raises a glass to Glengoyne’s Fringe show and food pairings at Contini’s Cannonball restaurant. “SLOW” isn’t a word you’d normally associate with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. During August, 56,796 performers will stage 3,548 shows in 317 venues across Scotland’s capital city, from the biggest theatres all the way through to the tiniest church…

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The secrets of global crime with McMafia writer

The writer of hit BBC series McMafia is coming to Edinburgh to lift the lid on global organised crime and its corrupt political networks. Based on his best-selling book, McMafia, and the BBC TV drama it inspired, author and award-winning journalist Misha Glenny takes his audience on a tour through the dark depths of world…

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