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Recollections
1.
June Robertson Wood
Central Coast, California, USA |
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Thank you to June
Robertson Wood for posting a message in the EdinPhoto guest book.
June wrote: |
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Soap Boxes
"Do you remember Sundays in Edinburgh?
There was nothing to do for entertainment.
We went to the Mound where all these
men would get on their soap boxes and rant and rave about the
state of the world. I don't know when this started or when
it ended.
One Sunday, a wee man was giving
Americans what's what, then pointed to me and said,: "That's
what they want! Bottled blondes!"
I can assure all that I was not a
bottled blonde. It's funny the things we remember.
Does anyone else remember these days at The Mound?"
June Robertson
Wood, Central Coast, California, USA
Message posted in EdinPhoto guest book, January 29, 2012 |
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Recollections
2.
Dave McKinlay
New Zealand |
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Thank you to Dave
McKinlay for posting a reply to June Robertson Wood's question in
the EdinPhoto guestbook.
Dave wrote: |
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Hecklers
"Yes, June. I remember it
well some were very entertaining. Many's a Sunday afternoon my
pals and I would spend an hour or so listening more to what the
hecklers were saying, rather than the speakers.
Great days, checking out the girls
too, especially the blondes! Thanks for the memories, June."
Dave McKinlay, New
Zealand: January 30, 2012 |
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Recollections
3.
Jim Woolard
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Thank you to Jim
Woolard for posting a reply to June in the EdinPhoto guestbook.
Jim wrote: |
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Girls
"June Robertson
Wood's comments on Sunday entertainment in Edinburgh brought back
memories of Sundays at the Chamber Street Museum, trying to
meet some girls, then a walk down to The Mound to listen to the
hecklers and speakers.2
Wendy Wood
"The one that sticks in my mind was Wendy Wood and her crusade for
home rule for Scotland Does anyone know what became of
Wendy?"
Jim Woolard,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: January 30, 2012 |
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Wendy Wood
Wendy Wood died in
1981, aged 89. This was just two years after the Scots
had been granted a referendum on independence.
Peter
Stubbs, Edinburgh: January 30, 2012 |
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Recollections
4.
Allan Dodds
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire,
England |
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Thank you to Allan
Dodds for posting a reply to June Robertson Wood's question in
the EdinPhoto guestbook.
Allan wrote: |
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Speakers' Corner
"My parents referred to this
venue as 'Speakers' Corner'. It was frequented by eccentric
obsessives who invariably took it upon themselves to hector their
audience with quasi-religious outpourings.
It was a practice tolerated by the
authorities because verbal heckling was as far as it ever went,
and a place where malcontents could safely let off steam
- better than the riots that we see today, although
Edinburgensians** traditionally did riot over more serious matters."
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** I asked
Allan about his use of this word, rather than Edinburghers.
He explained:
"I was brought up in the
classical tradition. Edinburgensis is the Latin for 'from/of
Edinburgh', as in 'Universitas Academica Edinburgensis'."
Allan Dodds,
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England: January 30, 2012 |
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TV
"Thank goodness someone invented
television where one could be entertained in the privacy of one's
own home.
The downside of the demise of such
venues is that people now absorb other people's opinions with
little opportunity to debate any issues live, unless, that is, by
pressing the Red Button, Twittering, Tweeting or just ranting here
on Peter's website as I'm doing now!
But the ritualised face-to-face
aggression has sadly gone, leaving one vaguely dissatisfied that
one hasn't quite managed to put one over on another frail human
being and got away with it in public!" |
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Placards
"People used to attend these venues
carrying placards to advertise the fact that they belonged to some
'movement' or other. 'The end of the world is nigh'
was a regular feature - wrong because I'm still here!
The only placards I ever see now on my
regular visits to the city are those advertising tattoo parlours
or golf equipment. That's progress, of a sort, I suppose:
materialism has replaced ideology.
My own personal solution to the 'soap
box' scenario at The Mound in the 1960s was simply to scuttle into
the Scottish National Gallery and leave struggling humanity safely
behind outside behind its doors." |
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Allan Dodds,
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England: January 30, 2012 |
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