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BOOKS Big congratulations to the all-female shortlist for this year’s Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition, set to be hosted at the 2011 Edinburgh International Book Festival. Five poems have now been selected from 1200 submissions, with Jane Yeh, Jane McKie, Gillian Andrews, Lydia MacPherson and Sarah Jackson fighting it out for awards totalling £6550. Elsewhere, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, the Scottish Storytelling Centre has launched a new phase in its day events, interweaves Scotland’s tradition of music, song, story and dance. Look out in our Around Town pages in the coming weeks for more. FESTIVALS Following news that the Belladrum Festival is becoming fashion forward this year with a full-on catwalk strand, The List were more than a little delighted to see them adding yet another string to their bow, following revelations of a further literary arm. Held in Beauly from 4–5 Aug, this year’s annual jamboree will now feature writer Alan Bissett, with hopes high that Christopher Brookmyre and Louise Welsh may make appearances before the Inverness Book Festival the following week. Pleasing. see tartanheartfestival.co.uk. MUSIC Arm bands at the ready: Deep Sea World has launched a series of live music events. Saturday Soundwaves will be held throughout the summer every Saturday from 10am–4pm. See deepseaworld.com for more. Elsewhere, Julia Roberts’ ex Lyle Lovett will headline this year’s Southern Fried Festival in Perth For more
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at (22–24 Jul). He joins Blind Boys of Alabama, Paul Malo and more. See southernfriedfestival.co.uk. SHOP Dundee-born designer Brian Rennie has become a bit of a local hero in recent months, a status given further clout as he unveiled his debut collection for German fashion house Basler at Mercedes-Benz Berlin Fashion Week this July. Fans of Rennie’s style can check out his pieces at the Basler Boutique on Thistle Street or as part of the Basler collection at House of Fraser in Glasgow. TELEVISION They have previously given us everyone from Katie Price to this month’s hate figure James Murdoch, and this year’s guest speaker the Edinburgh International Television Festival has the potential to cause just as much controversy, as Ricky Gervais steps up to the plate to discuss his career to date. Masterclasses on Miranda, Downton Abbey and The Killing will also feature. VISUAL ART A giant star sculpture will feature on the Scotland- England border after Cecil Balmond’s Star of Caledonia was chosen by judges. Panelist and Creative Scotland chief executive Andrew Dixon said the design was ‘rooted in Scotland’s scientific contribution to the world’ and would ‘provide millions of future visitors with an iconic welcome and an ever-changing contemporary symbol of a confident, creative Scotland.’ The project – entitled The Great Unknown – is being developed and produced by Wide Open (South Scotland) Ltd for The Gretna Landmark Trust.
Ricky Gervais will be appearing at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival
Channel Hopper
Dispatches from the sofa, with Brian Donaldson
■ Let’s get this straight: here we have a modern BBC drama about a 1950s BBC news programme called The Hour with each of its six episodes lasting an hour? Yes, The Hour (BBC2, Tue, 9pm) may originate from a confusing place, but through the spandex-tight writing of Abi Morgan, you’ll be on board quicker than you can say ‘warped news values’. Ben Whishaw is Freddie Lyon, a prickly reporter whose inability to compromise is both his strong suit and Achilles heel. When longstanding cohort Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) is offered the job of producer on a new current affairs TV show, she tries to drag him along, but the ‘slick and smug’ photogenic presenter Hector Madden (Dominic West) stands for everything Freddie hates. Whenever West furrows his handsome brow (which is often), Wire fans will lean slightly forward in anticipation of him yelping, ‘what the fuck did I do?’
But the real drama is going on away from the autocues and make-up dabbers. It’s 1956 and the Suez Crisis is brewing, while on the home front, paranoia and assassinations are afoot with an academic slain in an Underground tunnel. The murder is brought to Lyon’s attention and after initial disdain at talk of conspiracies and ‘they’, the opening episode’s shocking finale leaves him hellbent on uncovering the truth. Only the all-too inevitable sexual tension between the three key characters will loosen the grip Morgan has applied in 60 short minutes.
10 THE LIST 21 Jul–4Aug 2011 Time flies