The Steeple Times

Tag: Edinburgh

  • Stick A Sock On

    Stick A Sock On

    Matthew Steeples criticises ‘The Telegraph’ for suggesting men can wear loafers without socks

    According to this morning’s Telegraph, “2020 is the year of the loafer, apparently.”

     

    The paper’s Adrian Clark, this development has been “[cited] to a return to smarter dressing and the revival of the classic Ivy League look,” but where the author goes wrong is in stating: “As for the socks or no socks question, well that’s up to you.”

     

    As I have observed previously, not wearing socks is the preserve of the naff and foolish in a damp, cold country like Britain. Rightly banned in an Edinburgh pub named The Dreadnought for “making the place look scruffy,” going sockless also will result in “sweaty and stinky feet as well as some nasty smelling shoes” according to Hespoke Style.

     

    Frankly, unless you want to look like a prized berk, do the right thing. If you’re going to wear loafers, jolly well invest a natty pair of socks to accompany them.

     

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    Stick A Sock On – Loafers and the socks or no socks question – Matthew Steeples criticises ‘The Telegraph’ for suggesting men can wear loafers without socks.
    One has to ask a man (who plainly is not a gentleman) who sports loafers with turned up trousers: “Can you not afford a pair of socks?”
  • Congratulations Bill

    Congratulations Bill

    ‘Songwriter to the Stars’ Bill Martin to perform for first time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; he will enlighten his audience about his successful career

     

    Glasgow born Bill Martin MBE – whose chart topping hits have included Congratulations, Puppet on a String and Shang-A-Lang – is performing a nightly show at The Dome during this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.

     

    Pop songwriting legend Martin, who has worked with amongst others The Bay City Rollers, Cilla Black, Elvis Presley, Sandie Shaw, Midge Ure and Ken Dodd, will “tell the untold stories behind working with some of the biggest names in the music industry.”

     

    Of his Fringe show, five times Ivor Novello winner Martin – whose autobiography Congratulations, Songwriter to the Stars will be launched at the end of the month also – told The Steeple Times:

     

    “I have been writing songs for a long time and throughout my career I’ve had the honour of working with many musical icons – and with that comes a lot of anecdotes.”

     

    “I was the first Brit to write a Eurovision winning song back in 1967, and since then I have never looked back. I’m proud of having had number ones in every country in the world and this is an achievement that will continue to keep pushing me.”

     

    “Those who know me will be able to tell you that I don’t hold back and therefore my show will be a bit of a reveal-all of what it was like working with the biggest names in the business, especially during the Sixties and Seventies when the music scene was really vibrant.”

     

    “This is the first time I have appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and I can’t wait to get started. Over the past few years I have travelled the world on Cunard cruise ships with the show and now it’s time to bring it home to Scotland.”

     

    To book tickets, priced at £12.50, to the nightly (excluding Mondays) event click here. The show runs until 27th August at The Dome, George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PF and is an hour long (8.15pm to 9.15pm).

     

  • Robert Adam

    Robert Adam

    With such a name, this suave gent just had to design landmarks. University of Westminster educated and Hampshire based Robert Adam (born 1948) followed his more famous namesake (1728 – 1792) and became a designer of “progressive neo-classical style buildings” in 1975. He won “the richest prize in architecture” in January 2017 and counts the Sackler Library at the University of Oxford, a “miniature Baroque mansion” at Eastwood Farm – complete with a lion on the roof – in Herstmonceux, East Sussex and the “KGB proof” Ingliston House on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey amongst his notable works.

      (more…)

  • An Epic Estate

    An Epic Estate

    Scottish sporting estate, once home to Sir Walter Scott, for sale; it comes with nearly two miles of fishing on the River Tweed, 863 acres of land and seven houses

     

    The Scottish estate where Sir Walter Scott, Bt. (1771 – 1732) wrote his narrative poems Lay of the Minstrel and The Lady of the Lake and his epic, Marmion, has recently been placed for sale for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million).

     

    Offered by Savills and leased by the novelist, playwright and poet from 1804 to 1812, Ashiestiel House in Selkirkshire stands above in 863 acres above the River Tweed and is 35 miles from the centre of Edinburgh. It comes with six further dwellings, 1¾ miles of salmon and sea trout fishing on the River Tweed, an in-hand stock farm, commercial forestry, a pheasant shooting, duck flighting and equestrian facilities.

     

    An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)
    Sir Walter Scott, Bt. (1771 – 1732) was the tenant of Ashiestiel for eight years prior to moving to Abbotsford, an estate he eventually expanded to some 1,000 acres

    An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)
    An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom

     

    Extending to 10,360 square foot and renovated in 2011, the estate’s Grade A listed main residence includes 5 reception rooms, 9 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. It dates to the 17th century and amongst its features are a peel tower and space described as suitable for entertaining “on a grand scale”.

     

    Ashiestiel was last placed on the market – with just 24 acres of land and its two gate lodges – for £1.75 million in 2009 (the equivalent of £2.15 million, $2.79 million, €2.48 million or درهم10.26 million today). At the time, then owner and joint master of the Buccleuch hunt, Robert Claydon, told The Telegraph:

     

    “I’ve come back from cubbing and caught a salmon at the end of the garden. It’s very wild countryside – south of us you won’t hit a road for 10 miles. It was the best move we ever made coming here. We escaped the rat race – people understand the countryside up here”.

     

    An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million) An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million) An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million) An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million) An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million) An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)An Epic Estate – Ashiestiel, Clovenfords, Lauderdale, Selkirkshire, Scotland, TD1 3LJ, United Kingdom – For sale through Savills for £5.5 million ($7.1 million, €6.4 million or درهم26.2 million)

  • A Right to Rape

    A Right to Rape

    That a man who raped a 12-year old child has walked free is an utter disgrace

     

    Daniel Cieslak met a 12-year old child in a taxi queue in Edinburgh city centre at 4am on 31st July 2015. He took her to a friend’s flat, had sexual intercourse with her and on being arrested “became distressed” and told detectives he had been led to believe she was 16.

     

    On the 17th March, Cieslak, a Polish born, 21-year old student at Napier University, pleaded guilty to rape but was shockingly discharged without sentence and without requirement to sign the sex offenders’ register at the High Court in Glasgow.

     

    The judge in the case, Lady Scott, took what she described as the “wholly exceptional” decision to “discharge [Cieslak] absolutely” despite the fact that she accepted that a victim under 13 years is “deemed incapable of consent”. She remarked: “Whilst there is no defence to this offence because of strict liability, the fact is that you would have had a defence if the victim had been a few months older”.

     

    That Daniel Cieslak escaped punishment is an utter disgrace. It is true that the girl he raped lied to him and told him she was far older than her years, but that he claimed he did not know the true age of what essentially is a child seems a little far-fetched. In response, Isabelle Kerr, manager of Glasgow’s Rape Crisis Centre told The Scottish Sun:

     

    “The law really can’t be any clearer. If someone is under the age of 16 they cannot give consent – therefore a 12-year old is not able to consent”.

     

    “It’s a concern to be talking about someone of that age as an ‘active participant’. It’s going down the road of victim blaming, something we’ve been working to tackle”.

     

    “I would be concerned that young women might be deterred from reporting rape if they feel they are not going to be believed or not taken seriously”.

     

    Whilst Lady Scott may be of the view that “justice [has been] best served” by her judgment, we agree with those who say that she got it wrong. That Daniel Cieslak walked free is entirely wrong and that a website named Tabloid Corrections claimed that he is an “innocent man” is even worse. As with the case of the convicted but not jailed paedophile Andrew Picard, all this result does is to bring shame on Britain’s legal system.

     

  • Alexandra Tolstoy FRGS

    Alexandra Tolstoy FRGS

    Alexandra Tolstoy FRGSThe daughter of the contentious author Count Nikolai Tolstoy, divorcée Alexandra Tolstoy is a woman who ridiculously claims to struggle to live on £10,000 per week. (more…)

  • Emma Spurgin Hussey: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    Emma Spurgin Hussey: “What’s on your mantelpiece?”

    The Steeple Times asks the actress and ‘Poldark’ and ‘Doc Martin’ star Emma Spurgin Hussey: “What’s on your mantelpiece?” (more…)

  • Ross O’Connell Jennings

    Ross O’Connell Jennings

    Ross O’Connell JenningsEdinburgh graduate Ross O’Connell Jennings aims to become the first man to play the bagpipes in all 196 independent countries in the world. (more…)

  • Kidnapped from Knightsbridge

    Kidnapped from Knightsbridge

    200 acre Scottish estate for sale for the price of an 800 square foot flat in Knightsbridge (more…)

  • Cairness House – A Masonic mansion

    Cairness House – A Masonic mansion

    Cairness House, “Scotland’s most important Greek Revival house”, heads into its fourth year on the market (more…)