For readers of this blog who are DDRA members a quick word to say that the August issue of Whispering Gallery magazine will be delayed a little this time. With a new editor, preparing the mag on a different DTP program on a different operating system and sending the output to a different printing company a delay was probably inevitable on this one. Normal service should be resumed for the November issue
This week there has been a series of five 15 minute programmes on BBC Radio 4 telling the story of the real Macbeth – thanks to Pam Davies for alerting me to this. Although it’s now finished you can listen to it on the BBC’s Listen Again feature, but you’ll need to catch it quickly as the items are only there for a week from the broadcast. I haven’t had time to listen to it myself yet – as I write this I’m listening to the first part – so I don’t know if Thorfinn or Dorothy’s ideas will be mentioned but it may be interesting. And at least it may do a little to counteract the Shakespearean hatchet job. If you haven’t already seen it you can see Dorothy’s article on the real Macbeth in the newsletter archives here.
You may have noticed some odd changes in the blog in the last few days. After an upgrade to WordPress I noticed that the paging links weren’t working, so I’ve had to completely re-install the program and then reinstate the various added features I’d put into it. I’ve taken the opportunity to add some other facilities at the same time but it’s meant that there may have been some odd effects while it was being done. Hope no-one has been affected.
Two settings very familiar to Dunnett readers have been the scenes of major archaeological finds recently.
In Orkney a settlement has been discovered on the Ness of Brodgar, between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness, that is being described as very significant – perhaps as important as the world famous Scara Brae. Early suggestions are that it may have been connected to these two famous sites, though whether it is composed of dwelling houses or ritual buildings seems to depend on which reports you read.
BBC News article – News from the Site on Orkneyjar – Background to the original excavation in 2004.
In Edinburgh Castle a fragment from a tower destroyed during a 16th century siege has been uncovered during building work. The Constable Tower was previously believed completely lost but Historic Scotland archaeologist Peter Yeoman and his team discovered a finely carved piece of a window while excavating a drain being cleared prior to a new visitor facility being built.
One of the contributors to the Game of Kings discussion list recently uncovered a little gem of information. The name Donati – as in Evangelista Donati, who looks after Joleta and later hands Kuzum into the care of Philippa at Zakynthos – is apparently the Italian form of Dunnett. One of those ‘obvious as soon as you know it’ snippets of knowledge, yet I don’t think anyone had discovered it previously. Well found Viviana.
So like Dorothy to drop such a connection into the story knowing that it might lay undiscovered for years. I can just hear her laughing – ‘oh good, they found one, but there’s plenty more to go’.