Lie back and think of Scotland

Editor DOMINIC ROSKROW gets his kit off – and his kilt on – in public

One of the first things I learned as a reporter was always to try and find a new angle. And lying on my back looking up at the ceiling of New York’s Explorers Club seemed as good an angle as any.

The fact that there were 100 people trying to get a glimpse of me while a man fiddled with my sporran seemed incidental, as did the very real chance that some of the Big Apple’s finest were about to find out what an Englishman keeps under his kilt.

All I could think about was that having your pants removed in public really must be beyond the call of duty. In the end, I just lay back and thought of Scotland …

Let me explain. The Explorers Club in Manhattan was where Scotland Magazine went for its official US launch earlier this year. Actually, ‘launch’ isn’t quite right – with 10,000 American subscribers already, the words ‘horse’, ‘stable door’ and ‘bolted’ come to mind – so it was more of a growing exercise.

And, as the feature in this issue clearly shows, it was great. We invited some of the finest travel writers America has to offer, gave them a lunch prepared by a top Scottish chef, served them Macallan single malt whisky and Drambuie whisky liqueur, and then presented awards to
seven top Scottish icons.

Which is where the kilt comes in. You see, one of the award-winners was Howie Nicholsby of 21st Century Kilts, and he refused to accept the award from a man not in a kilt. I like Howie’s kilts. He makes trendy ones that stars Samuel L. Jackson and Madonna have a penchant for. I thought I would sport one in sparkling silver or leather perhaps, so I volunteered to be what I can only describe as the ‘demonstration dummy’.

Imagine my horror, then, when he struggled across the stage with a rug. I started itching just looking at it, but I couldn’t back down. I mean, how would that look? Intrepid reporters across the world risk life and limb every day by infiltrating terrorist groups, swimming with sharks, appearing
on Sesame Street and so on. Me? For years they’d say that I ran away from a Scotsman with a blanket.

So that’s how I came to be prostrate before my peers, gazing upwards as a procession of faces appeared over me, staring down with a mixture of bemusement, amusement and horror.

My whisky tasted even better than usual once I’d shuffled back again to my place. And I’m sure the winner of the music and culture award, Katie
Targett-Adams, looked at me with a new respect as I tried to cut my steak while wrapped in a Breacan Feile.

I can’t claim to have provided the day’s highlight; there were so many good things going on. But it got me thinking about what a great club I‘m a member of.

For thousands of miles away from the lochs and glens of Scotland, Scotland Magazine was able to gather like-minded people and celebrate a magical land as far removed from New York as you’re likely to find.

I hope we capture that spirit in the pages of this magazine, because our single objective should be to reflect the beauty and diversity of such a wonderful country.

And we should be able to do so with or without a kilt on.

By Dominic Roskrow

Section : From the Editor

Page number : 3