Dear Andy, Thank you. Thank you for all the great games, the bitten nails and the holy grails – those three grand slams, those two Olympic golds, that Davis Cup. Thanks for the dreams come true that we were so lucky to share. The day you won Wimbledon for the first time was one of… Read more »
Keynote speech to the annual conference of the Chartered Institute of Library and Informational Professionals Scotland
First published June 2nd, 2015 in the Apex Hotel, Dundee
HELLO everyone. Thank you for being here today. My name is Peter Ross. I’m a journalist, and the author of a book called Daunderlust, which is a collection of articles from around Scotland, from a fetish club in Edinburgh to a monastery near Elgin. I’m interested in many different aspects of Scottish life, especially remarkable… Read more »
Glasgow is heartbroken, yes, but what a heart
First published December, 2014 in The Scotsman
IT was the saddest of Glaswegian sights: the statue of the Duke of Wellington, traffic cone on his head, bathed in blue light from emergency vehicles, as he looked down from his horse on to Queen Street where paramedics fought to save lives. Usually a symbol of the gallus Glasgow spirit, the statue now represented… Read more »
On watching Columbo
First published February, 2015 in The Big Issue
Not The Sopranos, not The Wire. Forget Broadchurch, Brideshead and even the sainted Coronation Street. The greatest television series of all time is, in my view, Columbo. The cop show about the Los Angeles homicide detective whom the TV listings persist in calling a “rumpled lieutenant” ran between 1968 and 2003 for 69 feature-length episodes. This longevity… Read more »
On reading Dickens
First published February, 2012 in Scotland On Sunday
CHARLES Dickens liked to refer to himself as The Inimitable; over the last few weeks he has been inescapable. In television adaptations and documentaries, radio serials, biographies, stage plays and skits, the novelist has been sliced, diced and served up to the nation. Some of the dishes at this feast of Dickens have been superlative… Read more »