Posts Tagged ‘Orkney’
British MP is taking John Rae into Westminster Abbey
STROMNESS, ORKNEY – A John Rae plaque is going into Westminster Abbey. Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney in the British House of Commons, announced this evening that in 2014, a plaque will be mounted in the Abbey recognizing the Orcadian explorer as “the discoverer of the final link in the Northwest Passage.” Carmichael made the…
Read MorePortrait of the colourist in Orkney . . . with dog
Sheena Fraser McGoogan “is a colourist, but a colourist on steroids,” the art critic writes. “Her work reminds me in a way of L.S Lowry, but on acid. Her paintings leap off the wall at you. They demand to be noticed. They are bold to the point of fearlessness, using bright colours to make a…
Read MoreCliffside scramble dates back beyond the Vikings
We almost didn’t tackle the climb. But the idea of seeing a ruined medieval chapel dating back to before the Vikings — we’re talking the mid-900s, more than 1,000 years ago — well, who could resist? We climbed the narrow, rocky path that leads to the top of the Brough (pronounced Brock) of Deerness. This…
Read MoreThe real magic happens at the Ring of Brodgar
People get excited about visiting Stonehenge, that remarkable series of standing stones just off a major thoroughfare in the south of England. But the real magic happens here in Orkney at the Ring of Brodgar. These standing stones are between 500 and 1000 years older than Stonehenge. And as you can see from Sheena’s photo,…
Read MoreExploring Orkney with a celebrated story-teller
Here’s Our Hero at the Broch of Borwick in Orkney, shortly after a visit to the Brough of Bigging. Both initial B-words are pronounced the same, but the Broch is an iron-age round tower, while the Brough is a fortified headland difficult of access. I say these things on the authority of our expert guide,…
Read MoreThe Royal Society of Edinburgh
Our Hero is bringing John Rae back to Scotland, figuratively speaking. Ken has been invited to lecture about Rae at the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), Scotland’s National Academy. On April 22, he will give a talk entitled John Rae: The Forgotten Hero of Arctic Exploration. Rae was born in Orkney, northern Scotland, in September,…
Read MoreJohn Rae gains recognition in London
John Rae has a gained a plaque in London, England. Friends of the Scottish-Orcadian explorer, who lived in that city from 1869 to 1893, recently mounted an historical plaque on the wall of his long-time home in Addison Gardens. I visited that site while researching Fatal Passage, and I remember feeling outraged that Rae —…
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