Latest news with #JohnMorrison
Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
International prize for Gaelic thriller An t-Eilean
A £4 million crime thriller that was the biggest Gaelic drama series in BBC Alba's history has won a top award. The channel commissioned the four-part series An t-Eilean (The Island) which was filmed in the elemental landscape of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides and also in Glasgow. The Gaelic noir whodunnit, which gripped audiences and was popular on network TV, has won the drama and entertainment prize at Prix Circom 2025, the international television awards. Judges from 15 European regional public service broadcasters selected the winner. The award will be presented during a ceremony at the Circom annual conference in Barcelona on May 22. • Sorry, Scandis — Gaelic noir is rising and the Skye's the limit John Morrison, the chair
Chicago Tribune
11-03-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: $1.3M
Address: 18 Creekside Lane, Barrington Hills Price: $1,295,000 Listing agent: John Morrison, @properties Christie's International Real Estate, 847-409-0297 This five-bedroom brick Georgian home has four full bathrooms, two half baths, hardwood floors and five fireplaces. The kitchen features concrete and granite counters, an island and a walk-in pantry. The adjacent breakfast room has sliding doors that open to a balcony deck. A vaulted family room offers multiple sitting areas and a wet bar, and a main-level study has custom built-ins and double French doors. This home has an unfinished attic with triple skylights as well as a lower level with game and recreation areas and an exercise room. Outdoor spaces include a two-tiered stone patio, a pergola with a hot tub, a fire pit and a sand volleyball court. A garage completes this home. Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Living area Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Kitchen Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Kitchen Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Family room Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Study Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Bedroom Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Recreation room Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Exercise room Barrington Hills 5-bedroom home with 5 fireplaces, stone patio: Outdoor space Some listing photos are 'virtually staged,' meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The island priest who fought a nuclear rockets range
Seventy years ago, in the early years of the Cold War, East and West were locked in a nuclear arms race. The UK government needed somewhere to test its first rockets capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It picked South Uist, a Hebridean island of a few thousand inhabitants on Scotland's rugged Atlantic coast. What the government did not expect was resistance from within the community led by a Catholic priest, Fr John Morrison. What was the Cold War? Kate MacDonald, was a girl growing up in West Gerinish, South Uist, in the 1950s and remembers keenly the furore around the rocket range. "When they started firing the rockets they used to go wrong and fall in the sand behind our house with a big bang," she says. "People were upset in the beginning. "Then they just accepted it because it was bringing jobs." Fr Morrison, a parish priest, had initially supported the rocket project for that very same reason. In 1955, when the UK government first announced it planned to open the guided missile testing site, the economy was still recovering after the end of World War Two 10 years earlier. Jobs were hard to find and in South Uist people earned a living from small farms called crofts. They supplemented their income by weaving tweed or harvesting seaweed. The Conservative UK government of the time was under pressure from the US and other allies in the West to help create a nuclear deterrent against Russia and the wider Eastern Bloc. It needed a location for training troops in the live firing of rockets - minus their deadly payload. A number of sites were considered, including Shetland and north east Scotland's Moray Firth. The government went for South Uist. It was home to 2,000 people and was described as an island with more water than land due large number of lochs, according to a debate in the House of Lords. On one side of the island was the vast expanse of the North Atlantic where, the government hoped, misfiring rockets could safely crash land. Landowner Herman Andreae claimed he was given little choice but to sell his land on his South Uist Estate to the Ministry of Defence. The huge scale of the military scheme soon revealed itself. Crofters were to be evicted to make way for thousands of military personnel and their families. Fr Morrison was horrified. He feared a way of life was at risk of being lost. Many islanders were deeply religious with Catholic the dominant faith, and for most of them Gaelic was their first language rather than English. "You were talking about the removal of basically all the crofters from Sollas in the north to Bornais in the south," says Fr Michael MacDonald, a priest who looks after Fr Morrison's parish today. The distance between the two locations is more than 30 miles. "This was draconian stuff," Fr MacDonald adds. "A huge village was to be planted in there. "I think he felt the faith would be swamped. That the Gaelic culture would be swamped." Fr Morrison spoke out publicly against the rocket base. Not everyone in South Uist supported his view, but Fr Morrison attracted local and national press attention. Journalists dubbed him Father Rocket. His headline-grabbing comments included his suggestion he and his parishioners would leave South Uist in protest and move to Canada. Historian Neil Bruce said: "Newspapers in the US were carrying stories about the rocket range and these doughty locals who were standing up to what the government wanted to do." People from outside the islands threw their support behind him. They included anti-nuclear campaigners, conservationists and academics. There was a spin-off benefit for Fr Morrison. Since 1952 he had been working on plans for a statue called Our Lady of the Isles, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Mr Bruce says publicity around the rockets row made it easier to raise the funds needed for the work of art. It was unveiled in 1958 and some saw it as a symbol of opposition to the weapons facility. The rocket range did go ahead, although on a smaller scale than planned due to cost savings. But Mr Bruce says Fr Morrison's campaign should be credited for achieving important concessions. They included an assurance that common grazings - land shared by crofters to raise livestock - would not be used and access remained available to some other areas rent-free. The historian believes local road improvements were in part thanks to the priest. And a promise was secured that only essential maintenance would take place on the range on the Sabbath. Mr Bruce says: "On balance, there was a very strong local view that he won at the time. "Whether that holds today is for others to say not me." Fr Morrison died in 1992. The range remains operational and is a significant local employer today. Islanders fought against a proposed closure of the site, before the MoD announced it was "safe" about 14 years ago. It has been used for training in anti-aircraft weapons and military drones. In 2015, the facility played a part in the launch of the UK's first rocket into space. Part of Fr Morrison's legacy is the Our Lady of the Isles statue. It shares a hilltop with a radar station for the range. Fr MacDonald says: "When you pass there, particularly at night-time when the statue is floodlit and you see the radar domes and the aviation warning lights, it's striking the juxtaposition of these two symbols of the nuclear age."
BBC News
24-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
The South Uist priest who fought a nuclear rockets range
Seventy years ago, in the early years of the Cold War, East and West were locked in a nuclear arms UK government needed somewhere to test its first rockets capable of carrying a nuclear picked South Uist, a Hebridean island of a few thousand inhabitants on Scotland's rugged Atlantic the government did not expect was resistance from within the community led by a Catholic priest, Fr John Morrison. What was the Cold War? Kate MacDonald, was a girl growing up in West Gerinish, South Uist, in the 1950s and remembers keenly the furore around the rocket range."When they started firing the rockets they used to go wrong and fall in the sand behind our house with a big bang," she says."People were upset in the beginning."Then they just accepted it because it was bringing jobs." Fr Morrison, a parish priest, had initially supported the rocket project for that very same 1955, when the UK government first announced it planned to open the guided missile testing site, the economy was still recovering after the end of World War Two 10 years were hard to find and in South Uist people earned a living from small farms called supplemented their income by weaving tweed or harvesting seaweed. The Conservative UK government of the time was under pressure from the US and other allies in the West to help create a nuclear deterrent against Russia and the wider Eastern needed a location for training troops in the live firing of rockets - minus their deadly payload.A number of sites were considered, including Shetland and north east Scotland's Moray government went for South was home to 2,000 people and was described as an island with more water than land due large number of lochs, according to a debate in the House of one side of the island was the vast expanse of the North Atlantic where, the government hoped, misfiring rockets could safely crash Herman Andreae claimed he was given little choice but to sell his land on his South Uist Estate to the Ministry of Defence. The huge scale of the military scheme soon revealed itself. Crofters were to be evicted to make way for thousands of military personnel and their Morrison was horrified. He feared a way of life was at risk of being islanders were deeply religious with Catholic the dominant faith, and for most of them Gaelic was their first language rather than English."You were talking about the removal of basically all the crofters from Sollas in the north to Bornais in the south," says Fr Michael MacDonald, a priest who looks after Fr Morrison's parish distance between the two locations is more than 30 miles."This was draconian stuff," Fr MacDonald adds."A huge village was to be planted in there."I think he felt the faith would be swamped. That the Gaelic culture would be swamped." Fr Morrison spoke out publicly against the rocket everyone in South Uist supported his view, but Fr Morrison attracted local and national press dubbed him Father headline-grabbing comments included his suggestion he and his parishioners would leave South Uist in protest and move to Neil Bruce said: "Newspapers in the US were carrying stories about the rocket range and these doughty locals who were standing up to what the government wanted to do."People from outside the islands threw their support behind him. They included anti-nuclear campaigners, conservationists and was a spin-off benefit for Fr 1952 he had been working on plans for a statue called Our Lady of the Isles, dedicated to the Virgin Bruce says publicity around the rockets row made it easier to raise the funds needed for the work of was unveiled in 1958 and some saw it as a symbol of opposition to the weapons facility. The rocket range did go ahead, although on a smaller scale than planned due to cost Mr Bruce says Fr Morrison's campaign should be credited for achieving important included an assurance that common grazings - land shared by crofters to raise livestock - would not be used and access remained available to some other areas historian believes local road improvements were in part thanks to the a promise was secured that only essential maintenance would take place on the range on the Bruce says: "On balance, there was a very strong local view that he won at the time."Whether that holds today is for others to say not me."Fr Morrison died in 1992. The range remains operational and is a significant local employer fought against a proposed closure of the site, before the MoD announced it was "safe" about 14 years has been used for training in anti-aircraft weapons and military 2015, the facility played a part in the launch of the UK's first rocket into of Fr Morrison's legacy is the Our Lady of the Isles shares a hilltop with a radar station for the MacDonald says: "When you pass there, particularly at night-time when the statue is floodlit and you see the radar domes and the aviation warning lights, it's striking the juxtaposition of these two symbols of the nuclear age."
