On the face of it, it's chiefly good news

Roddy Marting talks...

There have been two exciting developments concerning the friendly face of Scotland. The first is that Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell has personally appointed Edinburgh's former Lord Provost Eric Milligan to become Scotland's Welcome Tsar; the second is that VisitScotland, Scotland's tourism authority, in re-launching its Ancestral Scotland website in Toronto and New York, and indeed, England, has invited two of Scotland's hereditary clan chiefs, the 20th Earl of Caithness (chief of the Sinclairs), and the 21st Lord Sempill, to front up its promotional events.

To begin with, Eric, Scotland's longest serving civic leader, is tasked with making recommendations to improve visitor facilities at Scotland's airports, bus and railway stations, and when crossing the Border by road from England.

Those readers who have witnessed him in action, during Tartan Week in New York and Washington, at L'Ecosse a Montmartre Scottish Festival in Paris, or at Nancy Sinatra's birthday bash at London's Festival Hall, will applaud his appointment, despite its Russian-sounding connotations.

As a fellow honorary sponsor of the American Scottish Foundation, I can think of no more generous or characterful representative when visitors disembark at their romantic Caledonia destinations. In this context, I am reminded of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe parade a couple of years ago when he travelled down Princes Street in a kilt while seated in the hand of a giant Godzilla, and the time when he awa...

To read the rest of this article you can do any of the following.

• By : Roddy Martine
• In : Roddy Martine's World
• Issue : 17
• Page : 7
• Words : 806