Scotland

William Wallace is a Scots folk hero who, it is believed, was born around April of 1270. Wallace was a Knight who fought for Scottish independence from English rule, and was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film Braveheart, at least in name. Braveheart, while an entertaining drama, is about as factual on Scottish history as a tub of Cool Whip is the equivalent to Whipped Cream.

Braveheart’s soundtrack, while pleasant, is also a modern composition, in the style of Scottish music but not containing a single actual Scots tune. This begs a greater question: what’s the difference between Scottish Music and Irish Music? Aren’t they the same, but with bagpipes? The question might just get you decked for saying that.

Truth is, they are quite similar, passing traditions back and forth. If you listen to folk steeped in the music, there are subtle differences in rhythms, traditional Scots music tends to be in the key of A (there’s only so much you can do on a bagpipe), while the Irish prefer drums and the key of D. Scots tunes tend to be more “snappy,” while the Irish are more “driving” (the Clancy Brothers version of “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye” all but jumps out and strangles you through the speakers). But, as in anything, the styles change song to song. Each will tell you theirs is better.

Irish music tends to be better known for several reasons. Far more people have emigrated from Ireland than Scotland, a country with the same population as Dallas-Fort Worth. The Irish tended to have more children than the Scots, so they beat them on sheer numbers as well. Many of Scotland’s great ballads get lumped in with English, but Scottish music is far from unknown. Amazing Grace, played on bagpipes though it’s an English hymn, is a funeral standard. Pipe bands are often a staple of parades. There is the Broadway play Brigadoon by Lerner and Loewe, complete with kilts and dancing. There’s a 1954 film version, but even for its day it’s rather awful. If any film needs a full Hollywood reboot, this one is 60 years overdue.

If Ancient Scottish Ballads aren’t your thing, and you think bagpipes sound like boiling witches, there’s a much better chance you’ve enjoyed modern Scottish music. So many of the songs we hear today and think of as American or British acts are actually the work of Scots, since accents aren’t always that obvious in song. Perhaps the best known Son of Scotland would be Rod Stewart, the gravel-voiced rock singer who worked his way from rock to swing music. Annie Lennox of The Eurythmics is a Scottish lass. Sheena Easton, KT Tunstall, Mark Knopfler, now solo but formerly the lead singer of Dire Straits, David Byrne of The Talking Heads, the folk group The Corries, Average White Band, and current smooth hit-maker Paolo Nutini (yeah, that had me fooled, too – his father was Italian, his mother Scotch, and he was born in Scotland). Add in Ian Anderson (lead singer for Jethro Tull), Lulu (you might remember her for the theme from the Bond film “Man With the Golden Gun”), Big Country (a one-hit wonder in America), Gerry Rafferty, Simple Minds, and the Celtic folk group Capercaillie.

That’s a lot of tartan pride!

So whether you like traditional Celtic folk, the plaintive reels of a good piper, or feel like rocking out to Maggie May, sit back and raise a pint to old William Wallace, a patriot who died keeping his country and culture from being lumped with Ireland and England.

Ian Fleming

Happy birthday to Ian Fleming, born May 28, 1908!

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Fleming is the author behind the James Bond series of thrillers, but did you know he also wrote the children’s classic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? He also wrote several non-fiction books, some of which, like The Diamond Smugglers, arose from his background research for his stories, in this case, Diamonds are Forever.

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Fleming was not necessarily the inspiration for James Bond, but he had more than enough experience to rely on for creating his character. Educated not only at English prep schools but in Munich and Geneva as well, he was pulled into the British Naval Intelligence during World War II. He worked on several secret missions – including one code-named Operation Goldeneye, the name he would give to his home in Jamaica.

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Fleming’s 1950’s, post-war design of Bond was to have a dull, every-man character that events seemed to happen to. He stole the name James Bond from the author of an ornithology manual he owned, a name he thought was as dull and plain and ordinary as could be. It wasn’t even until the second film that he began to give Bond a nationality and sense of humor. His books have had mixed reviews over the years, yet sold more than 30 million copies before his death. Two were published posthumously – Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy and the Living Daylights. He ranks number fourteen on the list of “50 Greatest British Authors since 1945.” Fleming was a notoriously heavy smoker and drinker, and died of a heart attack at age 56.

Although he wrote only twelve novels and 10 short stories, his stories have inspired more than 23 major films spanning fifty years. Their total adjusted gross is more than $10 billion, placing them behind only the Harry Potter series as most profitable film series in history. Fleming, however, left little family to benefit from his fortune. He had a daughter who died at birth, and his son Caspar, for whom he wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (also a classic film), died in 1975 at the age of 23. His widow, Ann, died in 1981.

For a dull, middle-aged nobody, James Bond continues to entertain us for more than 50 years, 25 films, and 7 actors and inspire generations of authors and fans. In addition to his original novels and films, there are several licensed tie-in series, such as Charlie Higson’s “Young Bond” children’s novels.

Who is your favorite Bond?

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