Burns Night

Burns Night 2012: Glasgow and Edinburgh highlights

6 Jan 2012

Edinburgh gets its bard celebrations off to an impressive (and prompt) start with Burnsfest at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in association with Scotland’s Winter Festivals (17–28 Jan, times vary). From a ceilidh in the café to performances of the…

Robert Burns app features poems, biography and a Burns Supper guide

iPhone app to launch Robert Burns Birthplace Museum opening

21 Jan 2011

The famous and most loved Scots poet has a free iPhone app launched by the Scottish Government which includes his complete works with over 550 poems and love songs. Burns is renowned for being Scotland's greatest cultural icon and is celebrated…

Have meat, can eat

20 Jan 2010

Just when you thought it was safe to crack open your haggis... BURNS IS BACK. Yes, no sooner has the Year of Homecoming been safely consigned to the tartan time capsule than Burns Night 2010 rolls around, with the usual mix of traditional suppers…

How to celebrate Burns night in Edinburgh

20 Jan 2010

The whisky industry estimates that we sink around two million extra drams on the night of 25 January, toasting Rabbie’s birthday (his 251st this year). Various bars around Edinburgh, including the World’s End, Henricks and the Waterline in Leith, are…

Scotland The Great - Homecoming

22 Jan 2009

Four skinny boys stare up at a mountain. The mountain stares back at them. The hairiest one throws his arms out and roars: ‘Does it not make you proud to be Scottish?’; the prettiest one looks up from his vodka bottle, and hurls back bile. It’s been…

Burns Night

22 Jan 2009

The man of the moment is not, as you might mistakenly be thinking, Barack Obama (guh! We’re so over that inauguration shizzle!), but a 250 year old womanising ploughman from Ayrshire. Here’s our guide to the best ways to mark Burns Night. Why not…

Travel - Excess Baggage

17 Jan 2008

Hurrah! The government has relaxed the restrictions on excess carry-on baggage, something this column obviously feels very strongly about. Following their lead, 22 airports, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Heathrow, have relaxed the one-bag…

Burnsong - Songhouse

29 Nov 2007

When it comes to songwriting, only the brave or the stupid would be prepared to take him on. In just a couple of decades Robert Burns wrote over 360 songs that cover the whole gamut of human emotion from love and lust to loss and longing. Weighty issues…

A less traditional Burns Night

Getting fou and unco happy

12 Jan 2007

1 Wi’ sangs an’ clatter It’s pure coincidence that Edinburgh’s Big Word performance poetry evening falls on 25 January but when organiser Jenny Lindsay realised the date, she decided to make the most of it.