by Karrie Gillett AN ADVERT starring Sir Sean Connery and Olymipic hero Chris Hoy has been launched to promote Scotland’s year of Homecoming 2009. The 60-second film sees singing stars such as Sandi Thom and Lulu joining golf legend Sam Torrance and Scotland rugby players. The advert – which is being screened from Friday November [...]
By Alexander Lawrie SCOTS rocker Shirley Manson is grieving today after the sudden death of her “beloved” mother. Muriel Manson passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening at her Edinburgh home after a long illness. The Garbage star is rushing from her Los Angeles home to comfort her devastated father John. The recently engaged music star [...]
By Alexander Lawrie HEARTLESS vandals have desecrated a babies’ memorial in a “deplorable” attack. Thugs smashed commemorative vases and ripped a statue of a baby from its plinth before discarding it nearby leaving grieving parents “devastated”. The baby garden at Dunfermline Crematorium in Fife is a special area reserved for families to remember their infants. [...]
By Alexander Lawrie BY DAY she helps to save lives in one of Scotland’s busiest hospitals – and by night she strips off to further her career as a glamour model. Sexy nurse Kirsty McDaid will certainly be raising men’s blood pressure throughout the UK as she bids to be crowned FHM’s High Street Honey. [...]
By Alexander Lawrie ROD Stewart’s wild child son Sean has admitted he literally beat himself up – just so he could get easy access to drugs. The reforming hellraiser was so desperate to get high he went to extreme lengths to feed his addiction to painkillers. Stewart is now attempting to clean up his act [...]
By Alexander Lawrie REBUS author Ian Rankin has been suffering excruciating back pain – after pulling a muscle while hanging out his washing. The Scots writer was proving his ‘new man’ credentials by helping to hang out his smalls out at his Edinburgh home on Saturday. But just as he bent down to hang the [...]
By Michael MacLeod ART lovers have laughed off the credit crunch blues by spending millions in one weekend. An east versus west battle of the art events saw the organisers of Edinburgh’s annual Art Fair racing home with more cash this weekend than ever before. But Glasgow auctioneers McTear’s only sold 25 per-cent of the [...]
By Paul Thornton A CALLOUS yob has been jailed after he left a kitten to burn to death in his high rise flat. Rodney Wright, 36, was high on coke and booze when he torched his Edinburgh flat following a bust-up with his girlfriend. Before fleeing the blazing building he wrapped a kitten in a [...]
By Michael MacLeod MEET Fern, the police pooch armed with huge eyes big enough to melt the hearts of even the coldest criminals. At just eight weeks old, the sweet little Spaniel is Tayside Police’s newest recruit. The four-legged law enforcer will be trained to help investigators sniff out poisons and detect criminals’ hidden [...]
By Michael MacLeod SCOTLAND’S top karate star is home with a bronze medal from the world’s toughest fighting competition in Japan. But unlike his foreign competitors whose countries gifted them houses and cars for taking part, Calum Robb, 23, came crashing down to earth by going back to university the next day. The eleven-time Scottish [...]
By Alexander Lawrie REBUS author Ian Rankin has revealed he is working on the screenplay of a classic novel. The Fife-born writer is in talks with a well-known director and producer to create a film of The Confessions of Justified Sinner by James Hogg. And the next few months will be busy for the crime [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A BABY boom in Scotland’s capital has led to the expansion of the city’s maternity services. The arrival of hundreds of new babies will see the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary open up a brand new birthing centre. Services for new mums at St John’s in Livingston are also to be upgraded under [...]
By Alexander Lawrie SCOTS rockers Glasvegas were at the centre of a police drama when ten armed officers stormed onto their tour bus during a security scare. The four-piece were completing their European tour and were traveling through Germany when their bus was stopped and armed forces charged on board. The terrified band members were [...]
By Karrie Gillett SCOTLAND’s most famous tourist attractions are opening their doors for free to celebrate St Andrew’s Day. Admission charges at sites such as Edinburgh and Stirling castles, Dunfermline Abbey and Glasgow Cathedral have been waived to mark the national day. Linda Fabiani, Culture Minister, announced today at the castle esplanade in Edinburgh [...]
By Alexander Lawrie BLUR star Alex James has teamed up with a Scottish cheese maker to producer the world’s first ever square blue cheese. The former Britpop star has even named the cheese Blue Monday in honour of his favourite rock band, New Order. It has been described as tasting like “a hint [...]
By Alexander Lawrie ASDA have come under fire after unveiling plans to erect a massive 60 foot wind turbine in one of their store’s car parks. The supermarket giant has said they are keen to go green by installing the turbine next to their Kirkcaldy store. The machine’s blades will span almost 15 feet [...]
By Paul Thornton A PERVERT who preyed on three young girls at his home has been jailed. Vile James Enwood, 45, followed the girls into rooms, crept into a bedroom where they were sleeping and chased one round his living room telling her “no one will hear you scream”. In a string of attacks the [...]
By Paul Thornton A VILLAGE hall contaminated by deadly anthrax spores lay open to the public for months while the home of a man who died from the poison was sealed off despite no trace of the substance ever being found there. Mourners who attended the wake of Pascal Norris were tracked down and prescribed [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A PRIMARY school teacher faces being struck from the teaching register after admitting three charges of incompetency in a Scottish first. Susan Barnard, 55, is the only teacher to appear before the General Teaching Council for Scotland since laws were changed in 2006. During a hearing in Edinburgh, the shamed teacher [...]
By Alexander Lawrie A CYCLIST killed after a horror collision was on his way home from visiting a sick friend. Alan Finlayson, 40, was struck by a blue Transit van on the west-bound carriageway of the A92 around 5pm on Wednesday. He had been visiting friends in Kirkcaldy during the day before he cycled home. [...]