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As the final season of critically acclaimed television series @ outlander_starz aired, @ bonhamsscotland showcased a preview of original props and costumes from the landmark production that are due to go on sale at @ bonhams1793 London this August.

Based on Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling books, Outlander follows Claire Fraser (@ caitrionabalfe ), a former World War II nurse who travels through a mysterious stone circle to 18th-century Scotland, where she falls in love with Highland warrior Jamie Fraser (@ samheughan ).

Whitebox Cocktails 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🍸 🍹

Whitebox Cocktails was born out of Covid lockdown. Founded in 2021 by industry experts inc Alex Lawrence 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 from Edinburgh, WC creates premium, ready-to-serve, single-serve, canned, full-strength / ABV cocktails designed for bar-quality taste at home. Being based in Edinburgh, the Pocket Negroni has been very visible around the city for years. [Other Co-Founders: Ben Iravani 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, Pietro Collina 🇺🇸 and Josh Rennie 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿]

Their range focuses on classics e.g. Pocket Negroni, Freezer Martini, Classic Cosmo, Espresso Martini and Squeezy’s Margarita. There's also the Mai Tai, Prêt À Boire Boulevardier, Clover Club, Spicy Marg, Straight Up Daiquiri, XO Vieux Carré, Tiny Tee's Dirty Martini and Chipper's Old Fashioned. All made with premium spirits, packaged in 100ml cans designed for quick, 5-second serving.

The design is a big part of their brand, each with its own personality and that bucks the dull, old industry standard where all the packaging is a variation of the same.

Growth:

YR1-2022: 200 independent UK retailers

YR2-2023: 400 independent retailers + 84% revenue growth to £1.45M + Increased capacity to the potential to produce over 6M cocktails p.a. + raised >£820K from 575 investors on Seedrs, an equity crowdfunding & private investment platform

YR3-2024: Produced 25,000 canned cocktails every day + 1,000 UK distribution points + started looking at international markets > expanded into a total of 7 export markets + 1M cocktails sold + raised >£262K on Republic Europe (formerly Seedrs)

YR4-2025: Sales: 2-3M cans.

Markets: Canada, China, Denmark, France, Ireland, Normay, UAE, UK (£5.20-£6.00 or £36 for 6-can Classic Cocktail Selection Box), USA (high-end retailers inc Selfridges - $6.50 per 100ml can or $23 for four-pack sets).

e-Gift Voucher: £10-£50.

Seasonal: I particularly liked the 'Cocktails Advent Calendar' inc 24 drinks!

Six Nations Rugby 2026 Results Table as @ Sat 7-Mar-26 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏉

Next Sat 14-Mar, Ireland 🇮🇪 -v- Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 14:10 GMT, then France 🇫🇷 -v- England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 20:10 GMT in the final match of the tournament.

All Scotland needs to win the tournament now is a win over Ireland to give us a chance of a 1st title since 1999! BUT, we're the underdogs with a history of a 9-yr, 11-match winless run against the Irish. 😓

A bonus-point win would mean the French need the same to deny them.

But Ireland, too, could still claim the title with a victory of their own & a favourable result in Paris.

'Don't Fall Asleep' - Jacob Alon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🧑🏻‍🎤

From the debut album In Limerence (2025) which was nominated for the Mercury Prize and Scottish Album of the Year Award, and led to Alon winning the Critics' Choice Award at the Brit Awards 2026.

The Last Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 👑 ✍🏻

The last ever letter written in French by Mary, Queen of Scots (born Tuesday 8-Dec-1542 in Linlithgow Palace – her execution on Sunday 8-Feb-1587, aged 44) has been moved from the National Library of Scotland’s secure storage facilities in EDI for the 1st time in a generation & is on display at Perth Museum, in the city of Perth in central Scotland, until Sunday 26-Apr-26 (admission free). This marks the longest period the letter has been on public view in more than 20 yrs.

When Mary was 5 yrs old she was sent to the French court, where she received a French education. Ten yrs later she married Francis II of France, 1st of 3 husbands, who would soon become King of France. Within 3 yrs, Francis had died aged 16 & Mary, who was just old enough to become queen, returned to Scotland.

Mary spent considerable time in Perth & Kinross, and both her & her family have many links to the region. Mary spent time at Huntingtower Castle & Edzell Castle (now a ruin). Mary reigned as Queen of Scots from 1561 to 1567. A Catholic queen at a time when Protestants were calling for reform, Mary delivered stable policy & government until involvements with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 14-Feb-1567, aged 20 yrs, 2nd husband m. 1565), and the Earl of Bothwell created problems.

Most famously, Mary was held prisoner in Lochleven Castle (now also a ruin on an island in Loch Leven, east of Kinross) for 11 months in 1567-8. This is where she finally signed her forced abdication (1567) from the throne of Scotland in favour of her son, James VI of Scotland. After an unsuccessful attempt to take back her throne (Battle of Langside, 13-May-1568), Mary fled south to England under cover of darkness, crossing the Solway Firth into exile in England by fishing boat on 16-May-1568, and would never see her homeland again.

Mary's 1st cousin once removed was Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth I was a moderate Protestant who re-established the Church of England as the national church, breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church & the authority of the Pope. 

Initially hoping her cousin would help her regain her throne, Mary instead was imprisoned for the murder of her English-born 2nd husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley though she was neither found guilty nor acquitted of the charge. Over the course of almost 19 yrs in captivity, she was moved from castle to castle in England & kept under house arrest & under close watch by spies set up in her household by Elizabeth's advisors. Elizabeth saw her as a threat to her rule as Mary, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England through his daughter Margaret Tudor, was seen as a potential successor to the crown of England.

In a successful attempt to entrap Mary, Sir Francis Walsingham, principal secretary to Elizabeth, had deliberately arranged for Mary's letters to be smuggled out of Chartley Castle. Her secretaries Claude Nau & Gilbert Curle & the clerk Jérôme Pasquier were taken to London for questioning.  Mary was misled into thinking her letters were secure, while in reality they were deciphered & read by Walsingham.  From these letters it was clear that Mary had sanctioned the attempted assassination of her cousin, Elizabeth I on 17-Jul-1586. On 11-Aug-1586, after being implicated in what became known as the Babington Plot (Anthony Babington, a Catholic nobleman who wrote the letter to Mary), Mary was found guilty of plotting the assassination of her cousin, Elizabeth I (she also requested that she be rescued simultaneously) & arrested whilst out riding & taken to Tixall Hall in Staffordshire.

Mary was moved to Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, in the East Midlands of England, in a 4-day journey ending on 25-Sep-1586. In October, she was put on trial for treason under the Act for the Queen's Safety before a court of 36 noblemen.  The proceedings were held in the Great Chamber, where an empty throne represented Queen Elizabeth & Mary was seated in a subordinate position.

Mary denied the charges, telling her triers, "Look to your consciences & remember that the theatre of the whole world is wider than the kingdom of England."  Mary protested that she had been denied the opportunity to review the evidence, that her papers had been removed from her, that she was denied access to legal counsel, and that as a foreign anointed queen she had never been an English subject & therefore could not be convicted of treason.

Mary was convicted on 25-Oct-1586 & sentenced to death with only one commissioner, Lord Zouche, expressing any form of dissent.  Nevertheless, Elizabeth hesitated to order her execution, even in the face of pressure from the English Parliament to carry out the sentence. Elizabeth was concerned that the killing of a queen set a discreditable precedent & was fearful of the consequences, especially if, in retaliation, Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, formed an alliance with the Catholic powers & invaded England.

In late 1586 & early 1587, James VI instructed his diplomats, William Keith of Delny, the Master of Gray, and Robert Melville, to travel to London to urge Queen Elizabeth I to stay his mother's execution, and plead for her life, and spare her. The ambassadors were actively negotiating in early 1587, with a critical, more threatening letter from James to Elizabeth being sent on 26-Jan-1587. France also intervened in early 1587 - Henry III of France & Catherine de' Medici sent Pomponne de Bellièvre to England to plead for Mary’s life.

Finally, on Sunday 1-Feb-1587, Elizabeth signed the death warrant, and entrusted it to William Davison, a privy councillor.  On 3-Feb-1587, 10 members of the Privy Council of England summoned by William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, an English statesman & the chief adviser of Elizabeth, without Elizabeth's knowledge, decided to carry out the sentence at once.

On the evening of Saturday 7-Feb-1587, Mary was told she was to be executed the next morning.  Mary spent the last hours of her life in prayer, distributing her belongings to her household, writing her will & a 3-page letter. Mary wrote her final & powerful letter at 2am, a mere 6 hrs before her execution at 8am, to her brother-in-law by her 1st husband, Francis II, King Henry III of France (19-Sep-1551 – Assassinated 2-Aug-1589, aged 37). It was a farewell steeped in faith, defiance, and reflection.

Denied the Catholic rituals that should have accompanied her death, Mary used her final words to reclaim the sacred acts denied to her in life & captivity.

In her letter, Mary explains her situation in brief. Having thrown herself "into the power of the Queen my cousin", she writes, "I have finally been condemned to death by her and her Estates". "I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning".

Mary complained that she had not been given access to the paperwork needed to complete her will. She hoped her physician, Dominique Bourgoing, would be able to tell her story.

Mary wishes she could plan for her burial, which she wants to take place in France, and says she isn't allowed to see her chaplain either. This means she can't make a final confession of her sins or receive the last rites, both important actions for a Catholic to complete before they die.

She asked Henry III to pay her servants & and to organise a mass for her.  She sent him 2 precious stones that served as talismans against illness.

The execution of Mary was the 1st legal execution of an anointed European monarch.

Later in 1587, Dominique Bourgoing delivered Mary's request to pay the arrears of wages & pensions of Mary's "unfortunate servants" to Henri III in France, but the French crown did not take on the responsibility of the payments partly due to his own financial & political constraints during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). It was ultimately Philip II of Spain who honoured her last will & testament. 

Carlos Acosta's Nutcracker In Havana, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 4-Feb-26 🇨🇺🩰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Christmas, and indeed religion, was forbidden in communist Cuba for nearly 30 yrs from 1969. Carlos Acosta's CBE 🇨🇺 Nutcracker in Havana show follows Clara (Thalia Cardin) in her humble home in Havana getting ready to celebrate Christmas with her family in 1998, the 1st Christmas after the ban was lifted as the result of a visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II. The beer cans are on the tree & Cuba is suitably hot. When Clara is gifted a Nutcracker doll she embarks on the journey of a lifetime, to defeat the Rat King & travel into the world of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Anette Delgado) accompanied by her Nutcracker Prince (Dani Hernandez). It takes the traditional story & infuses it with Cuban flair, including, conga lines & tropical setting, fusing this festive treat with a little Havana heat.

Set to an exuberant Cuban reimagining of 19th century Tchaikovsky’s 🇷🇺 magnificent score by Cuban composers, Pepe Gavilondo Peón 🇨🇺 & Yasel Muñoz 🇨🇺, this new production features choreography by Carlos Acosta & >20 dancers from his acclaimed Havana-based company, Acosta Danza. Ballet lies at its heart, brought vividly to life with Acosta Danza’s signature style & the rhythms & spirit of Cuban dance woven through this much-loved Christmas family tale. Set design & video projections are by Nina Dunn.

The ~24-yr-old Wicker Man sculpture near Kircudbright was badly damaged during Storm Eowyn in Jan-25, resulting in the sculpture almost half of the size it once was. Mr Leat told BBC Scotland that the plan was for the sculpture to be rebuilt in 2026.

To Kill A Mocking Bird, Festival Theatre, EDI, Wed 22-Oct-25 🏰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇺🇸🦤🧑🏻‍⚖️🏆

Aaron Sorkin’s 🇺🇸 riveting, award-winning stage adaptation of the seminal American 1960 novel by Harper Lee [1926-2016 🇺🇸] about racial injustice & childhood innocence, inspired by the novelist's own childhood. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, sold >45m copies WW, and was long at the top of the banned book lists.

Set in 1934 in the small, fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama 🇺🇸, narrated by Scout Finch 🇺🇸 (Anna Munden), a 6-yr-old tomboy who lives with her lawyer father Atticus Finch 🇺🇸 (Richard Coyle 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) & her 10-yr-old brother Jem Finch 🇺🇸 (Gabriel Scott 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿). During the novel, Scout, Jem & their friend Dill Harris 🇺🇸 (Dylan Malyn 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿) try to make their reclusive neighbour Boo (Arthur) Radley leave his house. Boo has not been seen in Maycomb since he was a teenager.

Atticus is asked to defend Tom Robinson (Aaron Shosanya 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Many residents of Maycomb are racists. Atticus takes on the case even though everyone knows he has little hope of winning. Atticus encourages kindness & empathy in his children but is pushed to the limits of these qualities himself when he resolves to uncover the truth in a town that seems determined to hide it.

The reader sees the trial develop through the childlike eyes of Scout, as gradually both she & her brother learn some valuable life lessons from their father about tolerance, empathy & understanding.

+ Post Show Talk was an insightful Q&A with the creative team.

Mary, Queen of Scots, Festival Theatre, EDI, Sat 18-Oct-25 🏰 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🩰

Two women. Two crowns. One story. An epic historical Scottish Ballet. As death approaches, Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 is haunted by memories, real & imagined, of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿.

Scottish Ballet’s choreographer-in-residence Sophie Laplane 🇫🇷 & co-creator, James Bonas 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿, draws on the complex relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots & Elizabeth I of England. Laplane’s bold choreography blends classicism with modernity, reshaping a familiar story with powerful originality.

Soutra Gilmour’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 striking, contemporary set is complemented by dazzling costumes that capture the grandeur of the era, with nods to haute couture & punk. New music, by the team behind 2022 hit Coppélia, is performed live by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra. Guest Artist Charlotta Öfverholm 🇸🇪, as the older Elizabeth, brings her rich storytelling expertise to the company’s dancers.

The Seagull, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 09-Oct-25 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏰 🎭 🇷🇺

The Seagull is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) 🇷🇺, written in 1895 & first produced in 1896. It dramatises the romantic & artistic conflicts between 4 characters: the famous middlebrow story writer, restless Boris Trigorin (Dyfan Dwyfor 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿), the ingenue Nina (Harmony Rose-Bremner 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), the fading actress Irina Arkadina (Caroline Quentin 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿), and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev (Lorn Macdonald 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏆).

The play is set at the family's country estate, simmering with desire, ambition, and regret. A once-celebrated actress, Arkadina, dominates every room she enters, leaving little chance for anyone else to shine. Her son, the tormented young playwright Konstantin, yearns to escape her shadow, revolutionise theatre, and win the heart of Nina, a luminous young woman with dreams of the stage. But when Nina's gaze turns instead to Arkadina's lover, the celebrated writer Trigorin, egos & passions collide with devastating consequences. The Seagull blends sharp-edged comedy & emotionally rich drama into a timeless story of vanity, creative hunger, and the cost of dreams.