the dangers of smoking

Britain Closes Airspace as Volcanic Ash Spreads

British civil aviation authorities ordered the closure of the country’s airspace as of noon on Thursday to shield aircraft from a high altitude cloud of ash drifting south and east from an erupting volcano in Iceland. The plume of ash shut down airports and forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in a wide arc from Ireland to Scandinavia.

I imagine all my traveling friends are very glad to have missed *this* little catastrophe.

(no subject)

from the FootStompin.com newsletter

Kenneth McKellar, RIP

Since our last newsletter, we are sad to report that Scottish singer Kenneth McKellar has died, aged 82. He was one of Scotland's greatest ambassadors of song, a tenor who could shatter one's heart with his rendering of 'My Love is like a Red Red Rose'.

Kenneth was born in Paisley in 1927. He originally studied Forestry at Aberdeen University, after graduation working for the Scottish Forestry Commission. After a couple of years McKellar decided to devote himself to music. He gained a top scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where he won the Henry Leslie singing prize. Among his contemporaries were Joan Sutherland and the future founder of Scottish Opera, Alex Gibson. Kenneth's great talent as a singer first came to public notice in 1947 through a broadcast with the BBC in Glasgow. "It was the ballad opera 'The Gentle Shepherd', by the early 18th century Scottish poet Allan Rarnsay," he recalled. "The music for it was arranged by Cedric Thorpe Davie, who was Professor of Music at St. Andrew's University. I sang the main tenor part in that. It was very beautiful. That was my introduction to broadcasting." He did not enjoy his time with the Carl Rosa Opera Company and left them to pursue a career singing traditional Scottish songs and other works. A year after he left opera for good; he signed with the Decca Record Company, where he remained for over 25 years during which time he recorded some 35 or more LPs which have sold many millions of copies throughout the world. He was a star of both radio and television and even represented the UK in the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest. His 'Songs of Robert Burns' album is regarded in Scotland as the definitive Burns collection. His recordings in Paisley Abbey, 'Sacred Songs and Hosana', are among the best-loved ever to come out of Scotland.

redactrice, we used to have one of his albums on cassette, 'Songs of the Jacobite Risings', with McKellar on the cover in jacket and plaid, looking a little like Joe Davis...