Monty Python fans from all over the world are preparing to make a special pilgrimage to Doune Castle in September for the 35th anniversary of cult comedy film, ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’.
Fans of the spoof movie based of the legend of King Arthur have been visiting Doune Castle since it was filmed there; it’s estimated they account for around a third of the 25,000 annual visitors to the 14th century stronghold.
On Sunday 12 September, Historic Scotland’s ‘First Farewell Monty Python Day’ will be the latest special event staged at Doune Castle for Python fans since the first in 2004.
Events manager Nick Finnigan said: “For this year’s Python day, we’re returning to the less structured, more spontaneous format of our early events, and of course, loads of fun and games. We’ve got some of the most popular comic sketches being recreated, prizes for the best costumes, a trail - ‘Monty Python and the Holy Trail’ – highlighting the various filming locations of scenes from the film, a quiz with prizes, singing, and of course, lots of coconut shells!”
Coconut shells have been a fixture at Doune since the Holy Grail film became a cult hit. Visitors use them to mimic horses’ hooves, just as King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and his faithful servant, Patsy (Terry Gilliam) did in the film’s opening scene.
In addition to Gilliam and Chapman, who died in 1989, five years after the Pythons made their last film, the other Pythons who starred in the film were Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese and Terry Jones. Jones made a return to Doune – at least in voice – last year when he recorded the castle’s new audio guide. The tape begins: “Welcome to Doune Castle. I’m Terry Jones, and in 1974 some friends and myself made a very silly film here called Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Studio DuB is an award winning Edinburgh based architecture practice, estabilished by Gordon Duffy in 2006.
The practice has been recently shortlisted in the Scottish Homes Awards with Microlofts (11 – 19 Peffermill, Edinburgh) as “Best Apartment” finalist:
and Craiglockhart Loan (9 Craiglockhart Loan, Edinburgh) as a “Designer Home of the Year” finalist:
The practice occupies office space in one of its own projects, The Press, a successful city centre project which brought new life to the former printing press of Edinburgh University. The Press was included in the portfolio for the Architect of the Year submission -the practice making the final six-at the BD Regeneration Awards, 2004 and was commended in the Saltire Awards the same year. Recent accolades include winner of Best Proposed Building for Dingleton Boilerhouse, Melrose, at the Roses Design Awards.
Built by Thomas Hamilton in 1829 and commonly referred to as the Old Royal High School, it’s a landmark building forming part of the World Heritage Site on Calton Hill, known as Edinburgh’s Acropolis, and it’s regarded as the city best neo-classical feature. It’s been underused (if not entirely unused) ever since the Royal High School relocated in Barnton in 1968.
Being an A-listed building, New Parliament House falls into the “buildings of national or international importance, either architectural or historic, or fine little-altered examples of some particular period, style or building type” category, but now, setting all listing regulations and World Heritage prescriptions aside, Edinburgh City Council have plans to retain ownership of the building while leasing it out after having transformed it into a £35million “arts hotel” which should also include a restaurant, a café and a public art gallery, and have already awarded the project to Duddingston House Properties, to Gareth Hoskins’ designs.
Peter Wilson, director of business development at the School of the Built Environment at Napier University in Edinburgh, criticised the council’s decision:
It is unexpected and it’s absolutely the wrong use for a building of that importance. The building helped give Edinburgh the title “Athens of the North. Turning it into yet another hotel is not what any capital city should do with a building of that status. It has clearly always been intended to be used for a cultural function but the council has been desperate to get rid of it. I think this is another council bungle, frankly. It’s something they are very good at. The whole economic development approach really needs investigation. The city has been absolutely emasculated by stupid decisions.
Combining terrestrial laser scanning and other digital technologies, the team managed to capture both the interior and the exterior of the chapel in accurate detail: in three days they acquired over 4.5 billion points. All the data will be of course used during the ongoing restoration process of the chapel.
The same technology is also being used at Stirling Castle and is going to be used again to obtain information about a great number of historical buildings.
Historic Scotland and Digital Design Studio at the Glasgow School of Art announced a partnership in July to digitally document the country’s five World Heritage Sites, and five international heritage sites – the first being Mount Rushmore – creating what will be known as the Scottish 10.
New Lanark is one of five World Heritage Sites in Scotland along with The Antonine Wall, St Kilda, Heart of Neolithic Orkney and the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh.
Professor Seona Reid, Director of the Glasgow School of Art said: “The work The Glasgow School of Art’s Digital Design Studio and Historic Scotland are doing is truly world-leading and clearly shows how developing new technologies can help us better understand and appreciate great works of the past. This is just the beginning of a partnership that is set to leave a digital legacy for us all to enjoy.”
A gathering of specialists in the field of urban design, town planning and architecture will provide an opportunity to explore issues relating to the urban square as a vital component of a healthy city.
With Glasgow’s principal civic space, George Square, running through the conference as a leitmotiv, but encompassing design initiatives that have been developed internationally, the speakers will address a variety of topics relating to the multitude of diverse roles a civic space can perform in the context of a modern city.
Key speakers: Ken Livingstone, Peter Bishop, Liz Davidson, Jake Desyllas, David Keddie, Angus Farquhar, Peter Heath, Chris Greenwood, Ray McKenzie, David Page, Paul Stallan, Ed Uhlir, Rolf Rolscher, Neil Gillespie.
Sponsored by The Glasgow School of Art and Deloitte
An international architectural competition is being launched to deliver a landmark building for the centre, which will sit just to the south of Craig Harbour on a site to be created out into the River Tay.
“We are proposing a stunning location actually out into the River Tay and we want to find a design team that can deliver a world class building fitting for such a high quality project,” said Mike Galloway, Dundee City Council’s director of city development.
“A two-stage architectural competition is about to be launched and we expect to have interest in this project from prominent architects and designers from around the world.”
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