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The Herald Scotland
10-08-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Is there cause for optimism about what follows golden generation?
World champions, Olympic medallists, European and Commonwealth champions as well as Scottish, British and European record holders make up this collective of athletes who have changed the face of athletics within Scotland. For a decade, there's been not merely the hope that one or two would make the GB team but rather there's been the expectation that Scottish athletes will be at the major championships, and they will win medals. This expectation has been entirely justified; Josh Kerr, Laura Muir and Jake Wightman have led the charge of a group of athletes who have put Scotland on the map in international athletics' terms. Muir has had the greatest longevity; having been on the global stage for over a decade, she's amassed 14 major championship medals including, most notably, Olympic silver and world bronze in 2021 and 2022 respectively. On the men's side, Kerr and Wightman have, between them, produced some of the outstanding performances from Scottish sportspeople this decade. Both are world 1500m champions in what is perhaps the strongest-ever era for the event. Kerr also has Olympic silver and bronze in his locker while Wightman has four European and Commonwealth medals to his name. This trio, in particular, is astonishing not only in terms of the standard of their best-ever performances but also in their consistency over such a prolonged period. What's also been remarkable for what's dubbed a 'minority sport' within Scotland is that it's not only this trio who have achieved notable global results over the past decade. Neil Gourley, Eilish McColgan and Jemma Reekie have also won major championship medals and set Scottish, British and European records between them and in para-athletics, Sammi Kinghorn heads a pack that includes numerous Paralympic and para world champions. When watching the UK Athletics Championships last week, though, it was difficult to not let my thoughts wander to how this golden generation could possibly be followed. There's still time, with this current crop by no means finished just yet. Muir and Wightman may be in their 30s but with the former having set her 1500m personal best just last year and Wightman desperate to make up for missing several seasons following his world championship win, both possess the potential to have at least another couple of good seasons. And Kerr, at 27 years old, still has potentially two Olympic cycles in him. All three retain ambitions to add further to their medal tallies before they hang up their spikes for good. It can't be ignored, however, that this cohort will, at some point, retire and so, what then? How can this golden generation be followed? Firstly, it's probably wise to point out that it'd be overly-optimistic to think we'll see another generation with similar strength-in-depth to this group any time soon. To have half a dozen truly world class athletes all competing on the world stage simultaneously from a country this size, and which doesn't consider athletics to be one of its mainstream sports, is a delightful rarity rather than the norm. But what would be hugely disappointing would be if this generation becomes a one-off high, with the next wave of Scottish athletes not able to get close to their achievements. So, what optimism should we have about how Scottish athletics will look after this current generation depart the scene? Last weekend's UK Athletics Championships are as good a barometer as any about what lies ahead for Scottish track and field. The most notable result last weekend, and one of the biggest upsets in years at the national championships, was the victory of Sarah Calvert in the women's 1500m final. The 24-year-old's win, which was hailed the 'run of her life' and saw her defeat none other than Muir, has catapulted her into the spotlight in a way few expected pre-championships. Laura Muir has achieved remarkable success over the the past decade (Image: Reuters via Beat Media Group subscription) Calvert's personal best time for the 1500m is still well short of what could be considered world class - her best, set this season, is 4 minutes 8.14 seconds while Muir's best, set in 2024, is 15 seconds faster - but given Calvert has never been a full-time athlete, her scope for improvement remains sizeable. It should also be noted that with Erin Wallace fourth in that British 1500m final, Scottish athletes occupied three of the top four spots. Gourley won yet another British 1500m title last weekend, with the late withdrawal due to illness of Wightman the latest setback in the Edinburgh man's career. There was, encouragingly, a wider-than-expected spread of Scottish medallists at the national championships. In addition to Calvert, there were several lesser-known athletes who excelled; Alessandro Schenini won gold in the long jump, Nick Percy and Kirsty Law both won silver in the discus (although neither could be classed as up-and-coming athletes) and Silver Nwabuzor and Bera Ajala both won bronze in the triple jump. And in the para events, Kyle Brotherton, Steven Bryce and Rebecca Scott all medalled. Added to this, there's Megan Keith, who withdrew from the 5000m at the UK Championships but has already claimed the British 10,000m title this season. Josh Kerr is the reigning 1500m champion (Image: Getty) It would, of course, be foolish to base too may predictions on one weekend of action but these two days last week certainly gave reason to be hopeful, particularly given this weekend's success took Scottish athletes' tally to 57 medals at the UK Championships in the past five years, indicating it's far more than just the headline names who are achieving success. Added to the senior results, at the recent European Under-23 Championships, 400m runners Brodie Young and Rebecca Grieve both got onto the podium while in this weekend's European Under-20 Championships, five Scots are in the GB team. Plus, with European under-20 half-marathon record holder, Natasha Phillips, on the road, there's certainly reason to be cautiously optimistic. Those tasked with following in the footsteps of this current golden generation will, I would guess, struggle to scale quite the same heights. For example, to expect like-for-like replacements for the true world-class talents of Kerr, Wightman and Gourley in men's middle-distance running is wildly and unrealistically hopeful. And so while the next decade of Scottish athletics may not be quite able to replicate the astonishing success we've seen over the past decade, that says far more about what Scottish athletes have achieved in this sport in recent years than any slight on what's coming through. Scottish athletics is, I think, going to be alright when Kerr, Muir, Wightman et al exit the stage.
The National
10-08-2025
- Sport
- The National
Is there cause for optimism about what follows golden generation?
This golden generation has consisted of a remarkably large number of candidates given its pool from which to pick is a country with a population of only 5.5 million, and which is utterly dominated by football. World champions, Olympic medallists, European and Commonwealth champions as well as Scottish, British and European record holders make up this collective of athletes who have changed the face of athletics within Scotland. For a decade, there's been not merely the hope that one or two would make the GB team but rather there's been the expectation that Scottish athletes will be at the major championships, and they will win medals. This expectation has been entirely justified; Josh Kerr, Laura Muir and Jake Wightman have led the charge of a group of athletes who have put Scotland on the map in international athletics' terms. Muir has had the greatest longevity; having been on the global stage for over a decade, she's amassed 14 major championship medals including, most notably, Olympic silver and world bronze in 2021 and 2022 respectively. On the men's side, Kerr and Wightman have, between them, produced some of the outstanding performances from Scottish sportspeople this decade. Both are world 1500m champions in what is perhaps the strongest-ever era for the event. Kerr also has Olympic silver and bronze in his locker while Wightman has four European and Commonwealth medals to his name. This trio, in particular, is astonishing not only in terms of the standard of their best-ever performances but also in their consistency over such a prolonged period. What's also been remarkable for what's dubbed a 'minority sport' within Scotland is that it's not only this trio who have achieved notable global results over the past decade. Neil Gourley, Eilish McColgan and Jemma Reekie have also won major championship medals and set Scottish, British and European records between them and in para-athletics, Sammi Kinghorn heads a pack that includes numerous Paralympic and para world champions. When watching the UK Athletics Championships last week, though, it was difficult to not let my thoughts wander to how this golden generation could possibly be followed. There's still time, with this current crop by no means finished just yet. Muir and Wightman may be in their 30s but with the former having set her 1500m personal best just last year and Wightman desperate to make up for missing several seasons following his world championship win, both possess the potential to have at least another couple of good seasons. And Kerr, at 27 years old, still has potentially two Olympic cycles in him. All three retain ambitions to add further to their medal tallies before they hang up their spikes for good. It can't be ignored, however, that this cohort will, at some point, retire and so, what then? How can this golden generation be followed? Firstly, it's probably wise to point out that it'd be overly-optimistic to think we'll see another generation with similar strength-in-depth to this group any time soon. To have half a dozen truly world class athletes all competing on the world stage simultaneously from a country this size, and which doesn't consider athletics to be one of its mainstream sports, is a delightful rarity rather than the norm. But what would be hugely disappointing would be if this generation becomes a one-off high, with the next wave of Scottish athletes not able to get close to their achievements. So, what optimism should we have about how Scottish athletics will look after this current generation depart the scene? Last weekend's UK Athletics Championships are as good a barometer as any about what lies ahead for Scottish track and field. The most notable result last weekend, and one of the biggest upsets in years at the national championships, was the victory of Sarah Calvert in the women's 1500m final. The 24-year-old's win, which was hailed the 'run of her life' and saw her defeat none other than Muir, has catapulted her into the spotlight in a way few expected pre-championships. Laura Muir has achieved remarkable success over the the past decade (Image: Reuters via Beat Media Group subscription) Calvert's personal best time for the 1500m is still well short of what could be considered world class - her best, set this season, is 4 minutes 8.14 seconds while Muir's best, set in 2024, is 15 seconds faster - but given Calvert has never been a full-time athlete, her scope for improvement remains sizeable. It should also be noted that with Erin Wallace fourth in that British 1500m final, Scottish athletes occupied three of the top four spots. Gourley won yet another British 1500m title last weekend, with the late withdrawal due to illness of Wightman the latest setback in the Edinburgh man's career. There was, encouragingly, a wider-than-expected spread of Scottish medallists at the national championships. In addition to Calvert, there were several lesser-known athletes who excelled; Alessandro Schenini won gold in the long jump, Nick Percy and Kirsty Law both won silver in the discus (although neither could be classed as up-and-coming athletes) and Silver Nwabuzor and Bera Ajala both won bronze in the triple jump. And in the para events, Kyle Brotherton, Steven Bryce and Rebecca Scott all medalled. Added to this, there's Megan Keith, who withdrew from the 5000m at the UK Championships but has already claimed the British 10,000m title this season. Josh Kerr is the reigning 1500m champion (Image: Getty) It would, of course, be foolish to base too may predictions on one weekend of action but these two days last week certainly gave reason to be hopeful, particularly given this weekend's success took Scottish athletes' tally to 57 medals at the UK Championships in the past five years, indicating it's far more than just the headline names who are achieving success. Added to the senior results, at the recent European Under-23 Championships, 400m runners Brodie Young and Rebecca Grieve both got onto the podium while in this weekend's European Under-20 Championships, five Scots are in the GB team. Plus, with European under-20 half-marathon record holder, Natasha Phillips, on the road, there's certainly reason to be cautiously optimistic. Those tasked with following in the footsteps of this current golden generation will, I would guess, struggle to scale quite the same heights. For example, to expect like-for-like replacements for the true world-class talents of Kerr, Wightman and Gourley in men's middle-distance running is wildly and unrealistically hopeful. And so while the next decade of Scottish athletics may not be quite able to replicate the astonishing success we've seen over the past decade, that says far more about what Scottish athletes have achieved in this sport in recent years than any slight on what's coming through. Scottish athletics is, I think, going to be alright when Kerr, Muir, Wightman et al exit the stage.
Boston Globe
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
After fame and fallout, Lucy Wightman finds peace and clarity among the birds
Wightman has moved through various lives in her 65 years. She's been a debutante, a photographer, a mental health professional, and a gas station attendant. But she's still best known for the feathers she once wore as part of her costume — the costume that she peeled off nightly in her role as Princess Cheyenne, Boston's most famous exotic dancer in the Advertisement On June 17, Wightman will celebrate the release of her autobiography, Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'I love the fun of those 11 years that are covered in the book,' she says, sitting in an alcove of the Plymouth Public Library. The only child of well-to-do parents, raised in Illinois and Connecticut, the former Lucy Johnson landed in Boston as a teenager in the late 1970s. She was already on her way to becoming a Zelig of sorts: Infatuated with the singer Cat Stevens, she'd gone to his concert at the New Haven Coliseum, learned of his plans for the last date of his tour in New York City, then took the train there and maneuvered her way into a liaison with the star performer. Advertisement Wightman's new autobiography follows her journey through the '70s and '80s, during the height of the Combat Zone's heyday. Provided In Boston, she answered an ad for exotic dancers in the Boston Phoenix. Quickly displaying a knack for theatricality, she became the star attraction at the Naked i Cabaret, the red-light district's most celebrated nightclub. The mainstream press took notice. 'Princess Cheyenne is to the Combat Zone what Gypsy Rose Lee was to burlesque,' wrote Stephanie Schorow in her 2017 book Well-aware of the stereotypes about her fellow dancers' lives, Wightman challenged expectations. She looked forward to her conversations with the lawyer and Harvard professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz. 'He'd ask provocative intellectual questions, like, 'How does it feel to be objectified?'' she recalls. 'And I'd say, well, I'm not the one making myself into an object. That's on other people.' She'd grown up comfortable in her own body. 'If it's just about being naked, I didn't see the big deal,' Wightman says. 'I still don't.' Once she made her name, she became a local celebrity. Often she engaged with her friend LauriUmansky on local talk-show appearances. Umansky, the author (under a pseudonym) of 'Naked Is the Best Disguise: My Life as a Stripper,' had quit the business and become a feminist scholar. 'She didn't believe I could have feminist views and do what I was doing, and I disagreed,' Wightman explains. Wightman took a respite from dancing when she reconnected with Stevens in London. For a moment, she thought she might marry the singer — he'd given her the copy of the Qur'an that had introduced him to the Islamic faith. Her mother met the famous entertainer and pronounced him humorless and 'boring'; Wightman and Stevens went their separate ways. Advertisement There were other notable encounters. One day in the club, a strange man with a curious accent came in, badgering the staff with requests to speak with 'zee Pleencess.' Amused, Wightman sat down with him and tried to communicate through doodles and playing Charades. It turned out to be the comedian Andy Kaufman, who'd become famous as Latka, the immigrant cab driver on the sitcom 'Taxi.' He was famous, that is, to almost everyone but Wightman, who worked nights and didn't watch TV. She had no idea who he was. 'He was otherworldly, above everyone's pay scale,' she recalls of the time she spent with Kaufman, who died in 1984 at age 35. 'It took me about a year to figure out he wasn't life-partner material. I was pretty naive. Still am.' Wightman's publisher is the independent, Boston-based He and Wightman have developed a close friendship, they both say. He was impressed with her writing as soon as he began reading her manuscript. 'I barely touched it,' he says. 'Her personality really comes through. Funny, smart, sensitive, tough — all of it. There are no flies on her.' Advertisement Wightman stopped dancing in 1988. 'The Zone was being cleaned up,' she says. 'And I was getting bored.' Though the book ends there, her life has remained eventful since. Beginning in 2005, she endured a public trial after being charged with 'That was a life-changer, at a cellular level,' she says. Other than a bout with long COVID, her spirits in recent years have been good, she says. She still dances around the Cape Cod house she bought last year to the sound of her most prized possession, her stadium speakers. The bird banding keeps her busy, and she's been making new friends through that. 'You're walking eight miles a day together,' she says. 'You have to have a certain intellectual capability to do the research and sort through the tiny little details.' Sometimes, when she tells a new acquaintance she has a book coming out, they blanch when she tells them about her former life. 'If somebody doesn't like it, what… ever,' she says. 'Because I had a blast.' James Sullivan can be reached at .
BBC News
20-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Are these Roman remains in Colchester Britain's earliest church?
Christians are coming together to celebrate their most important festival, Easter. While the arrival of the faith in England is usually associated with St Augustine's mission from Rome in AD597, its roots go further back. Archaeologists now believe 4th Century remains unearthed in Colchester are probably those of Britain's earliest known church. So what does the evidence say? When it was first unearthed during the Victorian era, it was assumed to be the remains of a Roman temple or now archaeologists believe a 25m by 7.5m (82ft by 24ft) Roman building in the Essex city may have a rather different 4th Century foundations in Butt Road, along with dozens of graves, were first excavated by Victorian archaeologist William Wire, and further digs were held in the 1930s and returned in the 1970s and 80s, and made more discoveries, suggesting another way of looking at the finds and the building itself."It was rectangular, had stone and tile walls and a tiled roof and was aligned east-west, with a curved eastern end," says Adam Wightman, director of archaeology at Colchester Archaeological began to suspect the ruins, just a stone's throw from a major roundabout and the city's police station, were in fact those of a Christian date of the building was crucial, since it was from a time shortly after religious toleration for Christians was established. Mr Wightman admits there is no "definitive evidence", such as the discovery of Christian iconography, that the building must have been a church."But you get this wholesale change in burial practice surrounding the building and it's very, very apparent; 61 of the later Roman burials were oriented east-west," he burials were associated with Christian beliefs that Jesus was expected to return to Earth from the churches were also aligned in the same way."There is also a lack of the grave goods seen in earlier Roman burials. The Christian belief is the soul goes up to heaven and that you don't need all of this material to take with you," adds Mr Wightman. In addition, the graves were laid out "very, very neatly... much like a cemetery today".This contrasts with early Roman cemeteries, where people "just cut across" the old graves, he the east-west graves, the bodies were buried on their backs, whereas in earlier Roman burials, they were laid out in a variety of positions, including on their sides. Finally, a hoard of more than 500 coins, dating from AD330, was discovered on the site, after the Roman Empire became officially building dates from AD320 to 340, was divided by a wooden screen, and seems to have been in use until at least AD400."As archaeologists, we're trying desperately as detectives to piece these things together, but there's lots of smaller bits of evidence and it's those weighed together that suggest it's a Christian church," says Mr Wightman. How Rome became Christian Ancient Rome was a pagan empire, believing in a pantheon of gods, which included some of its emperors. Christians rejected this, arguing there was only one true god, and refused to make sacrifices to the Roman deities. They remained a small cult, suffering periods of persecution by emperors including Nero (AD54 to 68), Domitian (AD81 to 96) and Diocletian (AD284 to 305) - and while some were "thrown to the lions", other horrible punishments were more typically meted out. This changed when the Edict of Milan (AD313) permanently established religious toleration for Christianity, helped by a soldier called Constantine who attributed his victory in a key battle a year earlier to the Christian became emperor (AD324 to 337), proclaimed his conversion and began the empire's evolution into a Christian state. After the withdrawal of the Roman armies in AD410, Anglo-Saxon settlers from the Germanic lands brought their own pagan did cling on in west and north parts of the British Isles, including Cornwall and Wales, but the re-Christianisation of much of England began with St Augustine's arrival on a mission from Rome in is possible the remains of other Romano-British churches have been found at sites, including St Albans, Hertfordshire, and Colchester is home to some of the best Roman finds in Britain, so perhaps it is not surprising that one of these could the foundations of its oldest church. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Associated Press
15-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Kansai International Airport's Populous Redesigned Terminal 1 Opens Ahead of World Expo 2025
KANSAI, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 15, 2025-- Kansai Airports and global design firm Populous have been working for more than seven years to completely reimagine the airport's floor plan, bringing a new level of efficiency and experience for travellers to Japan's west. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: KANSAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT'S POPULOUS REDESIGNED TERMINAL 1 OPENS AHEAD OF WORLD EXPO 2025. The final phase of the refurbished Kansai International Airport (KIX) Terminal 1 has opened on 27 March 2025 to accommodate the millions of passengers expected to pass through the iconic building to attend World Expo in Osaka. Kansai Airports and global design firm Populous have been working for more than seven years to completely reimagine the airport's floor plan, bringing a new level of efficiency and experience for travellers to Japan's west. Populous Senior Principal and Director, Brett Wightman, said the original Kansai International Airport (KIX) Terminal 1 wanted to make the best possible use of the existing infrastructure and maximize commercial return for Kansai Airports. 'Working closely with the facility operators, key stakeholders and end users, as well as expert retail and planning consultants, we have been able to craft a design that is built upon operational functionality, passenger convenience, accessibility and sustainability, while delivering innovative solutions that create an authentic and experiential environment with a clearly defined spirit of place,' Mr Wightman said. The new Terminal 1 includes a 60% increase in the size of the international departure lounge and retail offerings, the introduction of innovative retail layouts based on passenger experiences, and the creation of a seamless processing experience. PHASED RENOVATION TO ALLOW FOR CONTINUED OPERATIONS Populous led the architecture and interior design of the redevelopment, as well overseeing the project throughout construction. Mr Wightman said, importantly, the design considered operational functionality during renovation. The project has been completed in four phases to allow for continued operations of the airport, which is expected to accommodate more than 40 million passengers a year from 2025 and almost double international capacity. In October 2022, KIX opened the new Phase 1 domestic area followed by the new international area. Phase 2 of the project was completed in December 2023, and included 6,650 square meters of additional airside retail outlets, 1,130 square meters of food and beverage space and a new centralized immigration area. The Populous team and Kansai Airports completed Phase 3 on March 27, 2025, allowing the consolidation and extension of the security screening area to be ready before World Expo 2025 begins in April in Osaka. PHASE 3 – INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CHECKPOINT OPENS 27 MARCH 2025 Phase 3 includes faster, more comfortable and smoother security inspection with additional smart lanes capable of processing between 4,500 and 6,000 passengers an hour. The new queuing management system is the first of its kind in Japan, automatically controlling flapper gates to switch waiting lines by utilizing real-time passenger flow data. The system enables passengers to be automatically guided to the security inspection lanes based on the number of passengers and their flow. A new commercial area includes 13 stores across international departures, international arrivals and a street food court. The project has already been recognised for its architectural vision as a finalist in the 2023 World Architecture Festival Awards for Future Projects – Infrastructure. Originally designed by world renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, the airport is considered an architectural icon. Regarded as part of the high-tech architecture movement of the 1990s, KIX's industrial design is famous for its asymmetrical clear-span sweeping aerofoil roofline. At 1.7km long, it is one of the longest airport passenger terminal buildings in the world. Principal Design Manager, Architect Jack Kato said the redesign had to respect the old while embracing new commercial opportunities for passengers. 'We broke away from the former gray color scheme, reinvigorating the interior spaces with a palette of natural materials to give the terminal a distinctly Japanese feel, but at the same time we opened up areas like the relocated immigration hall to provide an open space reflecting the original architecture and offering an inspiring arrival experience to start each journey,' Mr Kato said. 'This will transform the arrival experience of each journey into something inspirational.' View source version on CONTACT: Charlie Brooks [email protected] +44 7881268501 KEYWORD: AFRICA UNITED STATES JAPAN NORTH AMERICA ASIA PACIFIC EUROPE MIDDLE EAST CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: RETAIL ARCHITECTURE TRANSPORTATION DESTINATIONS TRAVEL COMMERCIAL BUILDING & REAL ESTATE RESTAURANT/BAR LUXURY CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY AIR TRANSPORT LANDSCAPE FOOD/BEVERAGE INTERIOR DESIGN SOURCE: Populous Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 04/15/2025 05:00 AM/DISC: 04/15/2025 05:00 AM
