shifting 15,000 copies of his jaw- droppingly brutal DVD in its opening day, going on to be the fastest selling debut live DVD in comedy history. Strong rumour has it that Camilla wasn’t queuing up for a copy. (BD)
3 Tilda Swinton OSCAR CLUTCHING, FESTIVAL
SUPERSTAR
One time muse of artist Derek Jarman, Swinton’s trajectory this year is both a testament to her ability to straddle both the mainstream and the arthouse. The year started in style with her Oscar win for best Supporting Actress in Michael Clayton, then returned as the White Witch in the Narnia fantasy franchise, and excelled in the Coen brothers comedy Burn After Reading. This may seem a long way from the aesthetics of Saint Derek but that’s just what she did in her spare time. In 2008 she also starred in Erick Zonca’s enigmatic thriller Julia and wrote the narration for Issac Julian’s excellent Jarman documentary Derek. In August, Swinton took the helm [alongside Mark Cousins] of the first ever film festival in her home town of Nairn, ushering in a new age of boutique film festivals. (PD)
4 Frankie Boyle STRAWBERRY BLONDE
In Aussie comedy muso Tim Minchin’s recent show, he sings a song all about a taboo word. One with an ‘n’ an ‘i’, two ‘g’s, an ‘e’ and an ‘r’. That’s right, ‘ginger’. While there may still be some misplaced fear and resentment towards our ‘carrot topped’ brethren, one swaggering redhead blew the rest away this year and that was Glasgow’s very own Francis Martin Patrick Boyle. While Boyle may have been speaking out to exorcise more dark demons of his earlier life, it’s clear that the past just keeps on coming back at you. In the immediate wake of the Brand/Ross/Sachs ménage a trois, one particular tabloid went on the hunt of more enforced outrage. Yet all they could dredge up was a two-year-old slight (admittedly a nasty albeit hilarious one) on Queen Liz 2 by Boyle from Mock the Week. Intriguing then that by the end of the
year, he should take up the role of columnist on another (forgive me) red top. ‘Sell-out!’ you may cry. And sell- out he did, playing to packed houses across the land in this year’s tour and
S R E T U E R : O T O H P
P H O T O : N E A L E
S M T H I
ROCK’N’ROLL REBELS 1 Glasvegas A year in the life of. . . Caroline McKay, drummer ‘This year has been busy, busy, busy. It’s been incredible, but it’s been quite a steep learning curve. We’ve had the most exciting and bizarre things happen to us in the last year that we wouldn’t change for the world. We’ve released a debut album; nothing can beat that.
‘Recording the album was tough. We were only supposed to be in New
York for six weeks but we ended up being there for about eight weeks. We were almost novices as far as musicianship goes, certainly I was, so there were a lot of tears and snotters in that period, but we did it, and that’s why it’s such an achievement. ‘I think we’ve been quite blessed, all we did was make the album and once that’s done it’s in the hands of the gods. So it’s great for it to have had such a good reception, but even if it hadn’t we’d still have achieved our objective of just getting our first album out.
T in the Park was definitely one of the highlights, being told that if we didn’t
calm the crowd down we were going to get pulled off stage. Which, of course, you shouldn’t tell a band, it just excites them even more. But we’re surprised every day. We’re just back from a European tour and in Germany they’re singing back ‘Daddy’s Gone’ in a Scottish accent. It’s really bizarre.
‘The Christmas Album was great fun, we started it in New York then went to Transylvania to record. It was basically us in a studio that we’d built by ourselves in an old gothic courtyard. It certainly created a certain atmosphere that could only be created in somewhere like Transylvania. We recorded it in October but Christmas would be any time of year if it was up to me.
‘There’s always a cost and that cost is you miss your friends and your family. You don’t have the opportunity to see them as much as you would like, but you can’t really complain because it is a fantastic experience. Personally, meeting Debbie Harry was fantastic! And then we end the year playing Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, it’s just been amazing.’ (HN)
2 Chris Hoy OLYMPIC GOD
When it comes to Scottish sporting achievements in 2008, look no further than track cycling hero Chris Hoy. Having previously been an Olympic silver medalist and multiple world champion, Hoy raised the bar this year at the Beijing Olympics by becoming the first Briton in 100 years to win three medals at a single Olympic
games, winning three golds. Not only did this earn Edinburgh-born Hoy the title of ‘Scotland’s greatest-ever Olympian’ but in doing so he also became the most successful Olympic male cyclist of all time. Hoy will be honoured by the organisers of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games with the building of a new Velodrome in his name to recognise his achievements. (DA)
Contributors: Kelly Apter, David Armstrong, Hamish Brown, Paul Dale, Brian Donaldson, Kirstin Innes, Anna Millar, Henry Northmore, Melanie Paget, Camilla Pia, David Pollock, Allan Radcliffe, Donald Reid, Mark Robertson and Claire Sawers 11 Dec 2008–8 Jan 2009 THE LIST 33