By ALEXANDER LAWRIE SCOTS pop princess KT Tunstall has just unveiled her only summer festival appearance this year – on a PIG farm. KT will play hits such as Suddenly I See at the ‘Harvest at Jimmy’s’ festival to be held on the Suffolk farm where the popular BBC2 show Jimmy’s Farm is filmed. The [...]
By Cara Sulieman NEW LIGHT has been shed on the friendship that has blossomed between Sandi Thom and Alex Salmond. After recommending her second album to Sir Sean Connery, the first minister has shown himself to be a staunch supporter of the Banff-born singer and has even sung a duet with her. The letters reveal [...]
By Cara Sulieman A FIRE has ripped through a British Heart Foundation shop in the capital, just 500 yards from the Balmoral Bar where firefighter Ewan Williamson lost his life. Exactly a week after his tragic death, firefighters were called out to 56 Dalry Road where smoke was coming out of the roof of the [...]
By Cara Sulieman SCOTTISH holidaymakers who need to get a last minute passport are being forced to make a 260 mile round trip to Belfast or Durham as the Glasgow office struggles to cope with the rush. The Identity and Passport Service says the summer rush is to blame for the mishap, but an angry [...]
By Cara Sulieman SATURDAY night ended badly for a man who impaled his knee on a railing and had to be freed by firefighters. It is thought the 40-year-old was trying to get over the fence into Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh when he slipped, impaling his knee on a spike. The ambulance service were [...]
By Alexander Lawrie GLASGOW Airport hero John Smeaton married his American sweetheart Christy MacPhedran at a historic Scots castle yesterday. (Fri) The couple wed in the atmospheric, candle-lit chapel in the crypt of the ancient Balgonie Castle, near Markinch, in Fife. Guests were welcomed with the sight of the Stars and Stripes flying alongside the [...]
By Alexander Lawrie THE FUNERAL for a hero fire-fighter killed tackling a pub blaze as he helped save 20 people from a burning tenement building is to be held at Edinburgh’s historic St Giles Cathedral. Ewan Williamson, 35, died after a floor collapsed as he and colleague Oliver Carrigan entered the burning Balmoral Bar in [...]
By Cara Sulieman SCOTTISH supermarket customers have cut the number of carrier bags they use by HALF over the past three years. The seven big players in the market – Asda, Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose – say they have reduced the number of bags handed out by 49 per cent [...]
By Michael MacLeod CHILDREN have been banned from watching the long-awaited new Harry Potter film at a Scots cinema – quicker than you can say expelliarmus. Special adult-only screenings of the Half-Blood Prince blockbuster – which has a 12A certificate – begin today (Friday) after film fans complained that kids were too noisy. They said [...]
By Paul Thornton THE widow of a Scottish man who was killed by the Air France plane crash in May is to lay his body to rest next week. Graham Gardner was 52 when he the Airbus A330 from Brazil crashed while he was on board. The master mariner, from Gourock, Renfrewshire, was making his [...]
By Cara Sulieman A DOG with a rare eating disease has finally found a loving new home – after being put on display by desperate animal workers at the Royal Highland Show. Blue merle collie Skye suffers a rare condition that means she finds it difficult to eat and needs to take daily medication. The [...]
By Cara Sulieman AMAZING deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie drummed up an honorary degree from Edinburgh Napier University yesterday. The Aberdonian picked up her Honorary Doctorate of Music alongside hundreds of graduates from the university, and used the scrolls for an impromptu display of her world famous talent. She was delighted to receive the award, and [...]
By ALEXANDER LAWRIE SCOTTISH football legend Jim Leishman is to become a grandad for the first time – just months after losing his wife to cancer. Big Leish’s daughter Kate has delighted the former-Dunfermline manager with the news she is expecting a baby next year. The Fife club’s director of football has admitted he is [...]
By Cara Sulieman IT WAS a double celebration yesterday when identical twins graduated from the same course as each other. Agnieszka and Katarzyna Cynert, both 23, collected their degrees in Energy and Environmental Engineering from Edinburgh Napier University. And the bright pair achieved impressive grades, with a 2:1 for Agnieszka and a 1st for Katarzyna. [...]
By ALEXANDER LAWRIE A SIX-YEAR-OLD Scots girl who had a quarter of her brain removed in a bid to stop her suffering from as many as 20 crippling epileptic seizures each day has been told by doctors she has been cured. Brave tot Millie Mackenzie underwent a pioneering operation at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital [...]
By Oliver Farrimond ZOOKEEPERS at a West Lothian zoo are celebrating the birthday of Stumpy – quite probably the oldest lemur in Europe. Stumpy has reached the grand old age of 23, despite most lemurs only living until 20. Staff at the Five Sisters Zoo near Polbeth, believe he may even be the oldest, and [...]
By Cara Sulieman THE NOSE behind one of Scotland’s most iconic brands is being retired. Master Blender John Ramsay has announced that he will be leaving Famous Grouse at the end of the month after almost 20 years with the company. And he has spent two and a half years training up the successor to [...]
By Cara Sulieman SCIENTISTS at a Scottish university have found a DNA ‘tool kit’ inside the body that repairs damage to the cells. And because DNA damage is one of the main causes of cancer, it is hoped the discovery can help develop treatment for the deadly disease in the future. The proteins detect abnormalities [...]
By Cara Sulieman THE SCOTTISH Government is dishing out £400,000 in grant money to help haggis makers Macsween invade England’s dinner tables. The cash – for a new packing facility – will see the company up its exports south after a surge in interest for so called stealth foods like haggis pakora, haggis pies and [...]
By Cara Sulieman MOTORISTS faced with long tailbacks whilst eight weeks of roadworks hit the M8 will be able to get text message updates on the jams. Construction company Amey are refurbishing the Arkleston Bridge near Glasgow Airport and are offering road users the updates in a bid to reduce the chaos. But while motoring [...]