What we learned this week….
Highlands one of the best in world for nature
It won’t be a surprise to anyone who lives in the region, but National Geographic chose the Scottish Highlands as a top destination for 2023 for anybody interested in nature.
The magazine’s Best of the World list, which outlines its leading places to travel for specific interests such as culture, nature, family, adventure and community, highlighted the beauty of the landscapes, diversity of the wildlife and rewilding projects as leading factors. Let’s hope it sparks a tourist boom in the New Year.
What is St Crispin’s Day?
Most people write the date in numerical fashion when they are sending a letter.
But not former Tory business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, whose resignation missive to new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on October 25 was dated St Crispin’s Day.
After much head-scratching, it later emerged this marks a day in the Christian calendar, which takes its name from the saints Crispin and Crispinian, who were tortured and beheaded by the Roman emperor in AD 286.
Nothing sinister about that at all.
Scotland football internationals could come to Aberdeen
Scottish football bosses have confirmed that more internationals could come to Aberdeen if a new stadium at the beach is given the go-ahead.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell said the proposed £80m ground would make the Granite City a “viable option” for regular international matches.
The plan has attracted mixed views, but Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce said the arena would boost the city’s economy by £1bn in its first 50 years.
King was moved by The Repair Shop
King Charles III was visibly moved to see a cherished piece of ceramics being restored by the team at BBC One’s The Repair Shop.
The work was carried out for a special show to mark the corporation’s centenary and was filmed when Charles was still a prince.
He said the restoration of a Wemyss Ware piece made for Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee was “fantastic”.
Presenter Jay Blades’s visit to Dumfries House in Scotland highlighted a shared passion for training young people in heritage craftmanship.
Sir Alex the best sports psychologist in the world
Gothenburg Great Gordon Strachan has described his former manager Alex Ferguson as the “best sports psychologist the world has ever seen.”
Asked by host Chris Kamara if the ex-Aberdeen and Manchester United boss ruled by fear, Strachan replied: “[We were] absolutely petrified of him, the lot of us.
“Nobody ever got injured, because if you went in on a Monday and had something wrong and had to miss training, you went into the North Sea with your injury.
“And if you fell out with him badly, he would send you to the North Sea at night, standing there with your parka on, freezing.”
Most northerly tea plantation
It’s maybe not the first place you associate with a cuppa, but the production of tea from a small crop in Orkney has been described as a “dream come true” by the woman who brought it to the brew.
Lynne Collinson has grown the leaves in what she believes is the UK’s most northerly tea plantation at Shapinsay.
She told the BBC she was delighted with the quality of the initial batch, which has now been processed. Mrs Collinson added that while her plantation will not be a major commercial enterprise any time soon, she hopes it will inspire others on the islands.
New work from Aberdeenshire director
Peterhead-born film director Jon S Baird has revealed that we’ll see his latest drama series about the disgraced former Labour MP, John Stonehouse, early in 2023.
In what was one of the biggest scandals of the time, Stonehouse unsuccessfully attempted to fake his own death in 1974 and ended up in prison.
The series will star Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes and be broadcast at the start of January.
Arrested for protesting in Qatar
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell was stopped by police in Qatar while staging a demonstration against the Gulf state’s criminalisation of LGBTQ+ people.
The incident happened less than a month before the start of the Fifa World Cup, which is expected to attract 1.2million visitors from around the world.
It was reported that two uniformed police officers and three plainclothes officials arrived at the scene, taking possession of his placard and photographing Tatchell’s passport and other papers, and those of a man accompanying him.
It comes as fears increase that authorities will clamp down on political protests at the event.
World plumbing finalist
Aberdeenshire youngster, Connor Cruden, is heading to Germany to represent the UK in the world plumbing finals next week.
The Turriff-based former apprentice will be one of 20 participants at the WorldSkills event in Lahr after securing his place in the contest at the SkillPLUMB UK finals in 2019, where he was declared Britain’s most accomplished apprentice plumber.
His speciality is bending. Not the rules, but pipes.
