What makes any magazine collectable? Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, the principal reason is that it still exists to be collected; yes, there’s likely to be some value placed on a particular publication because of what’s inside its covers, but what’s most likely to make any issue collectable is the fact that […]
About paulfcockburn
Edinburgh-based freelance magazine journalist, specialising in equality issues (disability and/or LGBT+), popular science, and arts & culture.Author Archive | paulfcockburn
Full Steam Ahead – 70 Years of the Waverley
Glaswegians quickly dubbed it a “Paddler for a Pound” but the deal, which saw ownership of the PS Waverley change hands on 8th August 1974, wasn’t quite how it appeared. “The brand new Royal Bank of Scotland One Pound note was actually given to me by the Chairman of the Scottish Transport Group, which I […]
The Search for Vulcan
It’s 50 years since American television viewers first sat down to watch Star Trek, and its popular character Mr Spock, from the distant planet Vulcan. A century earlier, though, many respected astronomers believed that a real planet Vulcan existed within our own solar system – and it took the genius of Albert Einstein to ultimately […]
Crime Scene #5 Reviews
First published in Crime Scene #5. THE FJÄLLBACKA MURDERS (Arrow Films) Out Now Following her parents’ deaths in a car accident, author Erica Falck (Claudia Galli) and her policeman husband inherit the parental home in the Swedish coastal town of Fjällbacka, described by their lawyer as “Paradise on Earth” but – as this first series of […]
Claire Cunningam on ‘The Way You Look (At Me) Tonight’
How do we look at each other? How do we allow ourselves to be seen? How do our bodies shape the ways we perceive the world around us? These are some of the questions raised by a new work by acclaimed Scottish disabled artist Claire Cunningham, who will be performing – for the first time […]
Avoiding Spoilers
As I write this, the Edinburgh Festivals – in particular the Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and Edinburgh International Book Festival – still have more than a week to run. My Festival, however, is already over; I’ve reviewed all the shows I’m reviewing, and am back to pitching for work – albeit taking advantage, whenever […]
‘I saw him before he was famous, you know!’
Mark Gatiss is, for the time being, the one. No, not like that! With one notable exception, we’ve never breathed the same air. Nevertheless, Mr Gatiss is the one. To elaborate: the much-admired actor/writer/producer/etc is the one person I can honestly point at and say: “I saw him on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before he […]
