| I think it was the Russian writer Tolstoy
| |
| | With the Wind'("I'll think about it
|
| who said that the most significant
| |
| | tomorrow"), Elizabeth Taylor, Michael
|
| revolutions were internal; in other words
| |
| | Caine, the dodgy Hugh Grant, Kate
|
| they happen individually and in your
| |
| | Winslett (Titanic) and Sean Connerry.The
|
| head. I can see what he meant, although
| |
| | first film I ever saw, when I was seven
|
| if the old boy had been around in 1917 he
| |
| | years old, was 'Red River' with John
|
| might have bitten his lip.We tend to
| |
| | Wayne and Montgomery Clift. I was taken
|
| think of revolutions as being violent and
| |
| | by my dear foster parents and I have
|
| bloody conflicts, which of course they
| |
| | never forgotten it. The following week I
|
| are, the French, Russian and American
| |
| | was taken to see 'Winchester 73',
|
| Revolutions being prime examples. On the
| |
| | starring the already mentioned James
|
| other hand, the Industrial Revolution,
| |
| | Stewart. Cinemas in those days were
|
| which, in the end was more far-reaching
| |
| | wondrous places with, it seemed to me,
|
| than any of the other contemporary
| |
| | impossibly high ceilings and extravagant
|
| revolutions, was on the whole,
| |
| | baroque decorations everywhere. This one
|
| peaceful.At this point I have to do a
| |
| | had an amazing colour and light-filled
|
| little flag waving for Scotland. Well, I
| |
| | organ, which came up out of the floor.
|
| don't have to, but I'm going to. Three
| |
| | The whole thing, the electric organ like
|
| important inventions of the time, without
| |
| | a rainbow in the dark, and the ten-foot
|
| which it's difficult to see how the
| |
| | high cowboys clanking across the screen
|
| Industrial Revolution could have made
| |
| | (we always sat near the front), made an
|
| much progress, were all Scottish. In 1769
| |
| | indelible impression on me.It was only
|
| James Watt patented the first effective
| |
| | later, when I started to read the likes
|
| steam engine and subsequently had a unit
| |
| | of Dee Wells' 'Bury My Heart at Wounded
|
| of power called a Watt, named after him.
| |
| | Knee' that I began to realize that the
|
| Then there was the macadamised road,
| |
| | Western myth, powerful as it was, had
|
| invented by - yes, you've guessed it - a
| |
| | another side. When you grow up, you
|
| man called McAdam.Finally there was the
| |
| | realize that everything has another
|
| pneumatic tyre, invented in Scotland not
| |
| | side.As for books, I suppose I read
|
| once but twice, and forty years apart. It
| |
| | mainly English writers, from Kipling to
|
| was first patented in 1845 by Robert
| |
| | John Galsworthy and G.K.Chesterton.
|
| Thomson, used successfully for a while on
| |
| | Chesterton could be poignant, as in;'With
|
| bicycles and then, unbelievably,
| |
| | monstrous head and sickening cry,And ears
|
| forgotten. Forty-three years later John
| |
| | like errant wings,The devil's walking
|
| Dunlop re-invented it, and the rest, as
| |
| | parodyOn all four-footed things.Fools!
|
| they say, is history. Robert Thomson,
| |
| | For I also had my hour;One far fierce
|
| went on to invent the fountain pen, and
| |
| | hour and sweet:There was a shout about my
|
| he gets my vote for that, as I detest
| |
| | ears,And palms before my feet.'The
|
| biro pens (excusez-moi, Monsieur
| |
| | Donkeyand he could be funny in an odd
|
| Biro).Just for the record I might as well
| |
| | sort of way;'The souls most fed with
|
| mention a few other contemporary Scots
| |
| | Shakespeare's flameStill sat unconquered
|
| inventions.James Simpson - first doctor
| |
| | in a ring,Remembering him like
|
| to use anaesthetics,Joseph Lister - first
| |
| | anything'.Chesterton once dedicated a
|
| to use antiseptics,The Kelvin
| |
| | story to his readers - 'So many of which
|
| scale,Maxwell's equations in
| |
| | belong to the human race'.One of my
|
| Electro-magnetism (whatever they
| |
| | favourite writers at the time was Henry
|
| are),Marmalade,The macintosh. A
| |
| | Williamson, a contemporary and friend of
|
| waterproof coat, invented by a Scots
| |
| | T.E.Lawrence, 'Lawrence of Arabia'. His
|
| chemist called (why, of course) Charles
| |
| | best-known book was 'Tarka the Otter', a
|
| Macintosh. He invented it whilst trying
| |
| | gritty, realistic story about the life of
|
| to do something else, but it still counts
| |
| | an otter in North Devon. Much later I was
|
| as a Scottish invention.I'm tempted to
| |
| | disillusioned to find out that he was a
|
| add whisky to the list, but I have a
| |
| | Nazi sympathiser, and I think he once
|
| feeling that this particular invention
| |
| | actually met Hitler. I can only think he
|
| would have had the effect of slowing the
| |
| | was attracted by the idea of 'purity'.
|
| march of progress to a walk, or possibly
| |
| | Well, we all know where that leads.I read
|
| a stagger.Fortunately we do not have
| |
| | a lot of science fiction in those days,
|
| revolutions anymore; we have elections.
| |
| | starting with H.G.Wells, Arthur C.Clarke,
|
| Not even that business with the holes
| |
| | C.S.Lewis, and going on to the American
|
| punched in voters' cards in the Bush vs
| |
| | writers, Ray Bradbury etc. Thats probably
|
| Gore election scramble caused more than
| |
| | how I discovered American writers in
|
| the American equivalent of a Gallic shrug
| |
| | general; Hemingway, John Steinbeck, who
|
| (and doesn't that seem a long time ago
| |
| | wrote East of Eden, from which the film
|
| now?)All the same, the earth has moved a
| |
| | starring James Dean was made, and the
|
| couple of times in our lifetime (well, in
| |
| | wonderful James Thurber, whose elegant
|
| mine, anyhow); once in the fifties and
| |
| | and witty prose deserves to be better
|
| then again in the nineties, with the
| |
| | remembered than it is. Perhaps he really
|
| coming of the communications revolution,
| |
| | belongs to that black and white era in
|
| based on the silicon chip and the
| |
| | which Spenser Tracy always wore a suit
|
| all-conquering computer. Incidentally,
| |
| | and Katherine Hepburn would glide through
|
| while we're on the subject, hands up all
| |
| | a marble hall bigger than most people's
|
| those who actually know what a silicon
| |
| | houses today.I must also mention William
|
| chip is. Hmm, I see you're all with me
| |
| | Faulkner who wrote about the Deep South
|
| and Homer Simpson on this one. You
| |
| | and the mythical Yuknapatawpha County. In
|
| remember when the doctor asks him if the
| |
| | all his novels he explored the sometimes
|
| alien life form he'd seen was silicon or
| |
| | convoluted relationship between the
|
| carbon based, and he thinks for a moment
| |
| | races. He also wrote one humorous story,
|
| and says, "Um, the first thing -
| |
| | 'The Reivers', which was made into a film
|
| zilophone".Anyway, the fifties, as
| |
| | starring Steve McQueen. For me, he was
|
| everyone knows, saw the rise of the
| |
| | one of the best mid-century writers,
|
| teenager. Before the fifties, young
| |
| | although apparently he was not much liked
|
| people wanted nothing more than to grow
| |
| | by the local farmers, who referred to him
|
| up like their parents. They dressed like
| |
| | as 'that writing fella'. Perhaps he got
|
| them and probably thought like them. If
| |
| | too close for comfort in his stories. Or
|
| Dad wanted to wear his trousers under his
| |
| | maybe it was his habit of retiring to bed
|
| armpits and have shoulder pads so broad
| |
| | for a couple of weeks every once in a
|
| that he looked wider than he was tall,
| |
| | while with a bottle of whisky and a copy
|
| then that was okay for Junior too.All
| |
| | of Shakespeare. You can never tell what
|
| that changed with the coming of James
| |
| | these writing fellas are going to do
|
| Dean and Marlon Brando. James Dean was
| |
| | next!Finally in this tale of influences,
|
| gone by the time I reached my teens, but
| |
| | it was as far as I remember, a book I'd
|
| I still went through the black leather
| |
| | been given for Christmas that first
|
| jacket and white T-shirt phase. Dean had
| |
| | kindled my interest in art. It had
|
| such an impact that he still seems modern
| |
| | pictures of boats and water - mostly oil
|
| today. It's as if he belongs to an
| |
| | paintings - and I was fascinated by the
|
| entirely different world than, say, Jimmy
| |
| | way the reflections in the water had been
|
| Stewart.It was the recent passing of two
| |
| | portrayed. They looked so real, and at
|
| icons from my early years; the great Ray
| |
| | the same time you could tell they had
|
| Charles, followed by Marlon Brando which
| |
| | been painted. I still try to keep that
|
| set me thinking about my early
| |
| | feeling in my work today. Later on, at
|
| influences. Inevitably a lot of them were
| |
| | art college, I think one of the tutors
|
| American. At that time in the UK we
| |
| | described painting as a dialog between
|
| didn't have many international stars,
| |
| | reality and illusion, but I think what he
|
| although throughout the history of the
| |
| | meant was - it's magic. James Donaldson
|
| cinema there has been a steady trickle of
| |
| | CollinsDonaldson Collins is an artist
|
| actors from the UK who have made it big
| |
| | and writer.
|
| time in the US; Chaplin, Stan Laurel,
| |
| | He lives in the Scottish Highlands with
|
| Cary Grant (Tony Curtis's atrocious
| |
| | his wife, daughter and three dogs.
|
| English accent as the phoney millionaire
| |
| | His interests are history, sci-fi, chess
|
| in 'Some Like it Hot' was based on Cary
| |
| | and snooker.
|
| Grant's accent), Bob Hope, Hitchcock, the
| |
| | He also claims to play guitar like a
|
| beautiful Vivien Leigh, picked from
| |
| | ringing a bell.
|
| thousands to play Scarlet O'Hara in 'Gone
| |
| |
|
