| I think it was the Russian writer | | | | thousands to play Scarlet O'Hara in |
| Tolstoy who said that the most | | | | 'Gone With the Wind'("I'll think about |
| significant revolutions were internal; | | | | it tomorrow"), Elizabeth Taylor, Michael |
| in other words they happen individually | | | | Caine, the dodgy Hugh Grant, Kate |
| and in your head. I can see what he | | | | Winslett (Titanic) and Sean Connerry.The |
| meant, although if the old boy had been | | | | first film I ever saw, when I was seven |
| around in 1917 he might have bitten his | | | | years old, was 'Red River' with John |
| lip.We tend to think of revolutions as | | | | Wayne and Montgomery Clift. I was taken |
| being violent and bloody conflicts, | | | | by my dear foster parents and I have |
| which of course they are, the French, | | | | never forgotten it. The following week I |
| Russian and American Revolutions being | | | | was taken to see 'Winchester 73', |
| prime examples. On the other hand, the | | | | starring the already mentioned James |
| Industrial Revolution, which, in the end | | | | Stewart. Cinemas in those days were |
| was more far-reaching than any of the | | | | wondrous places with, it seemed to me, |
| other contemporary revolutions, was on | | | | impossibly high ceilings and extravagant |
| the whole, peaceful.At this point I have | | | | baroque decorations everywhere. This one |
| to do a little flag waving for Scotland. | | | | had an amazing colour and light-filled |
| Well, I don't have to, but I'm going to. | | | | organ, which came up out of the floor. |
| Three important inventions of the time, | | | | The whole thing, the electric organ like |
| without which it's difficult to see how | | | | a rainbow in the dark, and the ten-foot |
| the Industrial Revolution could have | | | | high cowboys clanking across the screen |
| made much progress, were all Scottish. | | | | (we always sat near the front), made an |
| In 1769 James Watt patented the first | | | | indelible impression on me.It was only |
| effective steam engine and subsequently | | | | later, when I started to read the likes |
| had a unit of power called a Watt, named | | | | of Dee Wells' 'Bury My Heart at Wounded |
| after him. Then there was the | | | | Knee' that I began to realize that the |
| macadamised road, invented by - yes, | | | | Western myth, powerful as it was, had |
| you've guessed it - a man called | | | | another side. When you grow up, you |
| McAdam.Finally there was the pneumatic | | | | realize that everything has another |
| tyre, invented in Scotland not once but | | | | side.As for books, I suppose I read |
| twice, and forty years apart. It was | | | | mainly English writers, from Kipling to |
| first patented in 1845 by Robert | | | | John Galsworthy and G.K.Chesterton. |
| Thomson, used successfully for a while | | | | Chesterton could be poignant, as |
| on bicycles and then, unbelievably, | | | | in;'With monstrous head and sickening |
| forgotten. Forty-three years later John | | | | cry,And ears like errant wings,The |
| Dunlop re-invented it, and the rest, as | | | | devil's walking parodyOn all four-footed |
| they say, is history. Robert Thomson, | | | | things.Fools! For I also had my hour;One |
| went on to invent the fountain pen, and | | | | far fierce hour and sweet:There was a |
| he gets my vote for that, as I detest | | | | shout about my ears,And palms before my |
| biro pens (excusez-moi, Monsieur | | | | feet.'The Donkeyand he could be funny in |
| Biro).Just for the record I might as | | | | an odd sort of way;'The souls most fed |
| well mention a few other contemporary | | | | with Shakespeare's flameStill sat |
| Scots inventions.James Simpson - first | | | | unconquered in a ring,Remembering him |
| doctor to use anaesthetics,Joseph Lister | | | | like anything'.Chesterton once dedicated |
| - first to use antiseptics,The Kelvin | | | | a story to his readers - 'So many of |
| scale,Maxwell's equations in | | | | which belong to the human race'.One of |
| Electro-magnetism (whatever they | | | | my favourite writers at the time was |
| are),Marmalade,The macintosh. A | | | | Henry Williamson, a contemporary and |
| waterproof coat, invented by a Scots | | | | friend of T.E.Lawrence, 'Lawrence of |
| chemist called (why, of course) Charles | | | | Arabia'. His best-known book was 'Tarka |
| Macintosh. He invented it whilst trying | | | | the Otter', a gritty, realistic story |
| to do something else, but it still | | | | about the life of an otter in North |
| counts as a Scottish invention.I'm | | | | Devon. Much later I was disillusioned to |
| tempted to add whisky to the list, but I | | | | find out that he was a Nazi sympathiser, |
| have a feeling that this particular | | | | and I think he once actually met Hitler. |
| invention would have had the effect of | | | | I can only think he was attracted by the |
| slowing the march of progress to a walk, | | | | idea of 'purity'. Well, we all know |
| or possibly a stagger.Fortunately we do | | | | where that leads.I read a lot of science |
| not have revolutions anymore; we have | | | | fiction in those days, starting with |
| elections. Not even that business with | | | | H.G.Wells, Arthur C.Clarke, C.S.Lewis, |
| the holes punched in voters' cards in | | | | and going on to the American writers, |
| the Bush vs Gore election scramble | | | | Ray Bradbury etc. Thats probably how I |
| caused more than the American equivalent | | | | discovered American writers in general; |
| of a Gallic shrug (and doesn't that seem | | | | Hemingway, John Steinbeck, who wrote |
| a long time ago now?)All the same, the | | | | East of Eden, from which the film |
| earth has moved a couple of times in our | | | | starring James Dean was made, and the |
| lifetime (well, in mine, anyhow); once | | | | wonderful James Thurber, whose elegant |
| in the fifties and then again in the | | | | and witty prose deserves to be better |
| nineties, with the coming of the | | | | remembered than it is. Perhaps he really |
| communications revolution, based on the | | | | belongs to that black and white era in |
| silicon chip and the all-conquering | | | | which Spenser Tracy always wore a suit |
| computer. Incidentally, while we're on | | | | and Katherine Hepburn would glide |
| the subject, hands up all those who | | | | through a marble hall bigger than most |
| actually know what a silicon chip is. | | | | people's houses today.I must also |
| Hmm, I see you're all with me and Homer | | | | mention William Faulkner who wrote about |
| Simpson on this one. You remember when | | | | the Deep South and the mythical |
| the doctor asks him if the alien life | | | | Yuknapatawpha County. In all his novels |
| form he'd seen was silicon or carbon | | | | he explored the sometimes convoluted |
| based, and he thinks for a moment and | | | | relationship between the races. He also |
| says, "Um, the first thing - | | | | wrote one humorous story, 'The Reivers', |
| zilophone".Anyway, the fifties, as | | | | which was made into a film starring |
| everyone knows, saw the rise of the | | | | Steve McQueen. For me, he was one of the |
| teenager. Before the fifties, young | | | | best mid-century writers, although |
| people wanted nothing more than to grow | | | | apparently he was not much liked by the |
| up like their parents. They dressed like | | | | local farmers, who referred to him as |
| them and probably thought like them. If | | | | 'that writing fella'. Perhaps he got too |
| Dad wanted to wear his trousers under | | | | close for comfort in his stories. Or |
| his armpits and have shoulder pads so | | | | maybe it was his habit of retiring to |
| broad that he looked wider than he was | | | | bed for a couple of weeks every once in |
| tall, then that was okay for Junior | | | | a while with a bottle of whisky and a |
| too.All that changed with the coming of | | | | copy of Shakespeare. You can never tell |
| James Dean and Marlon Brando. James Dean | | | | what these writing fellas are going to |
| was gone by the time I reached my teens, | | | | do next!Finally in this tale of |
| but I still went through the black | | | | influences, it was as far as I remember, |
| leather jacket and white T-shirt phase. | | | | a book I'd been given for Christmas that |
| Dean had such an impact that he still | | | | first kindled my interest in art. It had |
| seems modern today. It's as if he | | | | pictures of boats and water - mostly oil |
| belongs to an entirely different world | | | | paintings - and I was fascinated by the |
| than, say, Jimmy Stewart.It was the | | | | way the reflections in the water had |
| recent passing of two icons from my | | | | been portrayed. They looked so real, and |
| early years; the great Ray Charles, | | | | at the same time you could tell they had |
| followed by Marlon Brando which set me | | | | been painted. I still try to keep that |
| thinking about my early influences. | | | | feeling in my work today. Later on, at |
| Inevitably a lot of them were American. | | | | art college, I think one of the tutors |
| At that time in the UK we didn't have | | | | described painting as a dialog between |
| many international stars, although | | | | reality and illusion, but I think what |
| throughout the history of the cinema | | | | he meant was - it's magic. James |
| there has been a steady trickle of | | | | Donaldson CollinsDonaldson Collins is |
| actors from the UK who have made it big | | | | an artist and writer. |
| time in the US; Chaplin, Stan Laurel, | | | | He lives in the Scottish Highlands with |
| Cary Grant (Tony Curtis's atrocious | | | | his wife, daughter and three dogs. |
| English accent as the phoney millionaire | | | | His interests are history, sci-fi, |
| in 'Some Like it Hot' was based on Cary | | | | chess and snooker. |
| Grant's accent), Bob Hope, Hitchcock, | | | | He also claims to play guitar like a |
| the beautiful Vivien Leigh, picked from | | | | ringing a bell. |