Latest news with #AssemblyRooms
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Oh my! 'Scottish Attenborough' Gordon Buchanan heads back on tour in 2026 to share more tales of Lions and Tigers and Bears
Gordon Buchanan Due to phenomenal demand, acclaimed wildlife filmmaker and photographer Gordon Buchanan is hitting the road again in 2026, continuing the huge success of his Lions and Tigers and Bears tour. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... From January, Gordon will visit 30 venues across England and Scotland to recount tales from his thrilling encounters with some of nature's most fascinating animals – including pandas, polar bears, grizzly bears, lions, tigers, jaguars and more – making for a night of adventure, awe and wonder. Lions and Tigers and Bears with Gordon Buchanan launched in February 2025, and played to packed theatres across the UK. Gordon will visit 25 all-new venues across England and will round off the 2026 tour with return visits, by popular demand, to five Scottish cities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lions and Tigers and Bears with Gordon Buchanan 2026 Scottish dates: Sat Feb 28 - Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow Sun Mar 1 - Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Mon Mar 2 - The Tivoli Theatre, Aberdeen Tue Mar 3 - Eden Court, Inverness Wed Mar 4 - Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling Tickets go on sale on Friday June 6 from direct from venues. Speaking about the new tour, Gordon said: 'I had a wonderful time touring Lions and Tigers and Bears earlier this year – and I had to say 'Yes' when the chance came up to go back out on the road to a load of new venues. 'We joked that it sounded like a line from The Wizard of Oz – but the show is all about these amazing creatures, the undisputed icons of the animal kingdom, who I have been incredibly privileged to spend a lifetime observing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'From pandas in China to orphaned grizzlies in Russia, from high-altitude tigers in the Himalayas to jaguars in the depths of the Amazon, I have been fortunate enough to meet many of these incredible creatures in their natural habitats – and I love being able to share their secrets with audiences. 'I cannot wait to get back out there, to meet more animal lovers and to tell more tales of amazing adventures. See you in 2026!' Hailed as Scotland's own David Attenborough, Gordon Buchanan has dedicated his life to exploring the untamed beauty of the natural world, from forests to snowy landscapes and from towering mountains to the depths of the great rainforests. All his travels were with a single mission in mind: To capture the majestic bears and big cats on film and reveal their secrets to a global audience. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Gordon grew up on the Isle of Mull and began his career in filmmaking in 1989 as assistant to the acclaimed survival cameraman Nick Gordon, traveling to Sierra Leone to document animals in the Gola Rainforest. He went on to work on the Big Cat Diary series as well as the long-running expedition series Lost Land Of The… for the BBC. The Family & Me documentaries began in 2010 when Gordon featured alongside Minnesota black bears, with Gordon going on to showcase some of the world's most fascinating animals. He was on the team for Our Changing Planet, a seven-year diary charting the fight to save the planet's ecosystems. Most recently, he's been seen tracking lions, leopards and cheetahs in Botswana for the BBC series Big Cats 24/7 – with series two reaching screens later this year.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Oh my... wildlife filmmaker Gordon Buchanan heads to Edinburgh in 2026 to share more tales of Lions and Tigers and Bears
Due to phenomenal demand, acclaimed wildlife filmmaker and photographer Gordon Buchanan is hitting the road again in 2026, continuing the huge success of his Lions and Tigers and Bears tour as he heads to Edinburgh. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... From January, Gordon will visit 30 venues across England and Scotland – including a stop at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Sunday March 1 – to recount tales from his thrilling encounters with some of nature's most fascinating animals – including pandas, polar bears, grizzly bears, lions, tigers, jaguars and more – making for a night of adventure, awe and wonder. Lions and Tigers and Bears with Gordon Buchanan launched in February 2025, and played to packed theatres across the UK. Gordon will visit 25 all-new venues across England and will round off the 2026 tour with return visits, by popular demand, to five Scottish cities. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Speaking about the new tour, Gordon said: 'I had a wonderful time touring Lions and Tigers and Bears earlier this year – and I had to say 'Yes' when the chance came up to go back out on the road to a load of new venues. Gordon Buchanan 'We joked that it sounded like a line from The Wizard of Oz – but the show is all about these amazing creatures, the undisputed icons of the animal kingdom, who I have been incredibly privileged to spend a lifetime observing. 'From pandas in China to orphaned grizzlies in Russia, from high-altitude tigers in the Himalayas to jaguars in the depths of the Amazon, I have been fortunate enough to meet many of these incredible creatures in their natural habitats – and I love being able to share their secrets with audiences. 'I cannot wait to get back out there, to meet more animal lovers and to tell more tales of amazing adventures. See you in 2026!' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Hailed as Scotland's own David Attenborough, Gordon Buchanan has dedicated his life to exploring the untamed beauty of the natural world, from forests to snowy landscapes and from towering mountains to the depths of the great rainforests. All his travels were with a single mission in mind: To capture the majestic bears and big cats on film and reveal their secrets to a global audience. Gordon grew up on the Isle of Mull and began his career in filmmaking in 1989 as assistant to the acclaimed survival cameraman Nick Gordon, traveling to Sierra Leone to document animals in the Gola Rainforest. He went on to work on the Big Cat Diary series as well as the long-running expedition series Lost Land Of The… for the BBC. The Family & Me documentaries began in 2010 when Gordon featured alongside Minnesota black bears, with Gordon going on to showcase some of the world's most fascinating animals. He was on the team for Our Changing Planet, a seven-year diary charting the fight to save the planet's ecosystems. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Most recently, he's been seen tracking lions, leopards and cheetahs in Botswana for the BBC series Big Cats 24/7 – with series two reaching screens later this year. For more information and to purchase tickets go to
The Herald Scotland
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Hogmanay events return as winter festival is valued at £198m
They have been given the green light to return as the producers of the winter festivals for the city revealed that an overall audience of 2.8 million was recorded across a seven-week season of official Christmas and new year events last winter. Read more: They have revealed they are exploring ways to 'weather-proof' this year's main Hogmanay events to avoid them falling victim to bad weather again. However this may need extra funding for the four-day new year festival, which is mainly paid for via an Edinburgh City Council contract worth £812,456 a year, but is now said to generate £48m for the economy. The torchlight procession, which was due to be staged on December 29, was called off shortly before thousands of revellers were due to set through the city due to the worsening wind conditions along the parade route. Edinburgh's Hogmanay street party, open-air concert and midnight fireworks display fell victim to bad weather last year. The other main outdoor events were called off the following day, including a 'Night Afore Disco Party' in Princes Street Gardens on December 30, and the 45,000-capacity street party and the flagship Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens, which was due to be headlined by Texas. However a series of indoor events went ahead in indoor venues during the four-day festival, including the Assembly Rooms, the Assembly Hall, St Giles' Cathedral and the National Museum of Scotland. A new report from Unique Events and Assembly, the two companies who have led the organising of the city's winter festivals since 2022, has revealed that a key factor in the cancellations were concerns over the safety of staff who were due to build infrastructure in the city centre, as well as the risk of temporary structure already built being damaged by the forecast high winds. It reveals that although the weather forecast for Hogmanay itself did not pose a threat to the planned fireworks over midnight it was decided to pull the plug due to concerns over large crowds gathering to watch the display without any public safety measures being in place. The report added: 'Despite the cancellation of all planned outdoor events due to extreme weather conditions both experienced and forecasted during the build periods and event dates, Edinburgh's Hogmanay indoor programme played to packed audiences with many ticketed events sold out and free to enter events full, welcoming an estimated audience of more than 26,000 over four days.' A spokeswoman for the festivals said: "In light of last year's extreme weather conditions, we will continue to adapt and evolve the four-day events programme to maintain the city's reputation for having a premier new year celebration." The new research found that almost a third of tickets were sold internationally for the Hogmanay festival, with a third of tickets sold in Scotland and 36 per cent sold elsewhere in the UK. Visitors to the city over the Hogmanay period were said to have stayed for an average of two and a half days and spent an average of £958 each during their time in the city. The Christmas festival drew 37 per cent of its audience from Edinburgh and the Lothians, 21 per cent from the rest of Scotland, 32 per cent from the rest of the UK and 10 per cent internationally. The event, which ran from November 15-January 4, has been valued at £150 million for the economy. Around 70 per cent of visitors said the Christmas festival was their main reason for travelling to Edinburgh, with the average spend £537 across attractions, shops, restaurants and pubs. Unique Events director Alan Thomson said: 'We take a lot of heart from this report that even having lost our outdoor Hogmanay events to weather, the winter festivals have still delivered not just wonderful and joyful opportunities for people to come together, but also huge benefits for the people of Edinburgh and for Scotland across traders, local families, communities and charities and our tourism businesses. 'We are working on our plans for this coming winter's celebrations and look forward to sharing those very soon.' Margaret Graham, the city council's culture convener, said: "The findings of this report demonstrate that Edinburgh's world-famous winter festivals don't only draw a huge international crowd, boosting the economy and adding to the city's vibrant calendar of events, but, crucially, they deliver significant benefits to Edinburgh's local communities, businesses and charities. 'This is despite the cancellation of last year's outdoor events, showing just how far reaching the programme events is.' Roddy Smith, chief executive of city centre business group Essential Edinburgh, said: 'Edinburgh's winter festivals are a crucial period for our city centre and again it is very pleasing to see our residents and visitors coming in such large numbers. 'With such a varied and appealing programme, combined with the high-quality hospitality and retail offering in the city centre, Edinburgh continues to be an attractive destination to enjoy the festive season.'
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Assembly Rooms: Belfast council considers purchasing historic building
The historic Assembly Rooms in Belfast may soon be taken out of private ownership and bought by Belfast City Council.A potential deal is being considered that could pave the way for the restoration of the derelict building, which dates back to the 18th was the site of the famous Belfast Harp Festival in 1792, which led to the preservation of the ancient tradition of Irish of the proposed deal are confidential. The matter was discussed behind closed doors at a city council committee meeting on Friday. Councillors are expected to meet again within the next seven days, and if it is agreed to make a formal bid for the Assembly Rooms, the move will need approval from the full council on 2 historic building belongs to Castlebrooke Investments, which is behind the delayed Tribeca development in Belfast's city in 1769, the Assembly Rooms are at the corner of North Street and Waring Street. In spite of the building's historical and cultural significance, it has fallen out of use in the past two Assembly Rooms has been placed on a list of global 'at risk' heritage sites by the World Monuments Fund. 'Great historic significance' The leader of the Alliance Party group at City Hall, Michael Long, said final details have yet to be worked out but he was "really hopeful" a deal could be done."The reality is that we now have an opportunity to take hold of the building, which is of great historic significance in Belfast."This will help to regenerate and revitalise this particular area of the city, which has suffered in recent years."So many buildings have been lost in Belfast, this is an opportunity to save this really important building." Green Party councillor Áine Groogan said she too is hopeful a deal can be done."There have been countless political discussions about this over the last number of years. I think there now seems to be a general political willingness and acknowledgement that this is important."The Assembly Rooms is a building that has massive cultural and historical significance for this city but it also has massive economic and regeneration potential."We have large parts of our city centre just sitting there derelict and really needing proper investment and that's what I see this as."BBC News NI approached Castlebrooke Investments about the possible sale of the Assembly Rooms. The company made no comment.
The Herald Scotland
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
In Scotland we don't make political jokes, we elect them
That left Cumming reliant on his suits and a light smattering of smut for laughs, and it did not go well. Jilly Cooper, legendarily nice to everyone, looked like she wanted to throttle him. Ditto David Mitchell. But why? His teasing, such as it was, had been of the mildest kind, more George from Rainbow than Gervais at the Golden Globes. As Cumming confirmed on Sunday, comedy is a serious business. Get it right and you will be adored, put a foot wrong and it's curtains, or cancelled. Makes you wonder why they do it. There's the money of course, but they can't all earn Peter Kay-level wages. The biggest mystery is political comedy. Who in their right mind would try to get a laugh out of the state we're in today? Step forward Rory Bremner, who is just about to start his Making an Impression tour. His show at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on June 1 is already sold out, but there's a waiting list if you fancy your chances. Sold out? Waiting list? Rory Bremner? The bloke who does Gordon Brown impressions and other cutting-edge material? The very one, though his list of subjects now extends to more contemporary figures, including Trump, Starmer, and Farage. The older faces and voices may yet be wheeled out; it depends on audience reaction. As he made clear in a recent interview, Bremner is more interested in pleasing his audiences than eviscerating the powerful. That in itself is a radical notion. Read more 'Look, I love making people laugh,' he told the Sunday Times. 'Yes, satire has lost its power a bit because our leaders are so shameless. But we're so polarised now — there is so much hate. I just want people to enjoy stuff, and if the best you can do is to send people into the night laughing? What a great job. It's like Voltaire and his idea of cultivating your own garden. Just do your best, in your own particular way. Don't change the world: just cheer it up a bit.' So we're talking comedy that's not nasty, just a little bit naughty. Comedy that sits on the nicer end of the spectrum. Is it an idea whose time has come, or in a world of Trumps and Farages, should comedians show no mercy? Bremner has played in this sandpit before and knows more than most what a risky business it can be. He is the guy, some readers will remember, who thought it was a great idea to make a 'fun' programme about Scottish politics in the run-up to the independence referendum. We all know what a barrel of laughs the independence campaigns turned out to be. Bremner's BBC Scotland show, Rory Goes to Holyrood, was the canary in the coalmine. 'Unionist lackey' and 'English toff' were among the more printable reactions. He is, in fact, from Edinburgh, but if anything, that seemed to annoy his critics even more. Has the balloon burst on political comedy in Scotland? (Image: Mark Runnacles) Interviewed by The Herald at the time, Bremner said his film was about 'making a case for political comedy in Scotland'. Scottish politics, he said, was unlike anything he had encountered before in that there was a great degree of hostility. It was usually taken as read that politicians were fair game for comedians, but that did not seem to apply in Scotland across the board. In other words, you could poke fun at anyone you like, as long as they were Unionists. Everything and everyone else were off limits, especially if they were in any way connected to the SNP. It was a pretty damning indictment at the time but looking around then, and now, Bremner had a point. Where are the satirists revelling in the governing party's woes? Who dares take on the rich and powerful in Scotland? Or is everything so dandy around these parts there is no need for such comedy Bravehearts? BBC Radio Scotland has Noising Up on a Saturday morning, billed by the Radio Times as 'a mix of sketches, gags, spoofs, quickies and take-offs, satirising all that's happening right now and poking fun at what might be around the corner'. I don't think many would compare it to Spitting Image or Bremner Bird & Fortune in their prime, but it is at least having a go. And hey, no flag-waving demos outside, so that's a bonus. I don't know if Bremner has been working on his John Swinney in prep for Edinburgh. I hope so. When it comes to impressions of women he seems to be limited to the late Queen, which is a pity giving the starring role in Scottish politics of one woman in particular. Regardless of subjects, it will be fascinating to see if Bremner's wish to generate 'joy in the room' comes true, and if he mentions a certain independence vote. According to someone who caught one of the rehearsal gigs, Bremner's takes on Trump and Farage are worth the ticket price alone. But what would a 'good' take look like in this context? For all the spoofs and cartoons of Trump, he won a second term, and he keeps on going, regardless of his critics. Any impression of Farage risks giving him even more free publicity. Has no-one learned the lesson from Boris that when it comes to political clowns it's best to think Stephen King rather than lovable children's entertainer? Johnson laughed all the way into Downing Street and look what happened then. Good luck with your gigs, Mr Bremner, and your efforts to make comedy a little less savage. Perhaps you can add Glasgow to the list. We're famously welcoming to comedians, and after all that's happened lately, we could do with someone poking fun at our political classes. See you soon? Alison Rowat is a senior politics and features writer on The Herald. Contact
