No one quite knows what the SNP’s policy position was when the inaugural Edinburgh festival came along in 1947, their politicians featuring but infrequently in accounts of that great event. But here in the 21st century, you can hardly move for the Nats.
Big Eck Salmond, ex-MP-turned-cabaret artiste has already sold out his run on the fringe, despite the fact that his ticket is one of the two most expensive in the programme (the other, since you ask, is an “immersive” version of Trainspotting).
But it’s not just the big guy. Nicola Sturgeon, his successor as first minister, has once again pitched her tent at the book festival on Charlotte Square, where she will appear at a couple of events.
As for Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary, she was in the mix right from the start, chairing a debate on the festivals last week, featuring the various directors of Edinburgh’s great event.
It was the “cabsec’s” birthday too, and she was presented with a bunch of flowers. So was she actually one of the very few Nats around for the first festival frolics back in ’47? “I’ll have you know, I’m not 70!” barked Ms Hyssie.
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Happy endings
What would Trainspotting the movie have been like if a director like Ken Loach had got involved in the project and not Danny Boyle? It was a question Irvine Welsh, the novelist, right, had to consider when he was contemplating selling the film rights, way back when, in the 1990s.
“Lots of people wanted to do Trainspotting when the book came out; just about every film maker,” reveals Big Irv, in town with a couple of shows, and a ticket or two for Easter Road. “Nine out of ten of them wanted to a Ken Loach social-documentary-drama kind of thing.
“I didn’t really get that side of it, I thought, ‘This is not a downbeat book.’ It wasn’t ‘drugs screw everybody up’ a book with some kind of social message. To me Trainspotting was much more about: ‘We are at the lowest point in our lives, we have no money, we are hooked on heroine, but we are still actually having a great life.”
Fair enough. Loach himself wasn’t in the queue, apparently, “but loads like him” says Welsh. Then, Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge showed up. “They were on exactly the same page as me.” So just like the book, a happy ending.
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Keeping out of the kitchen
It’s fair to say that Gordon Ramsay is a cut above as a chef, and no mean performer on the small screen either. Now, it seems, one of his kids is following him, fleetingly at least, into the public eye.
Step forward Jack, chef’s 17-year-old son, and a student at Dulwich College. He’s joined a group of young actors who’ve brought The Curse of Cranholme Abbey to the Pleasance. Asked if he would consider a career in acting, Jack said: “It’s definitely an option, I really enjoy it.”
When asked what his dad thought of him taking to the stage rather than the kitchen, he said his dad was supportive either way. “My dad just says find your passion and pursue it.” So what’s the Curse of Cranholme Abbey about? The playbill is tantalising. It tells us: “Distant screams echo from the east wing, Time stands still.” On consideration, not unlike a typical episode of Kitchen Nightmares.