It could only be Keith

THE Scots legal community has been mourning the sad passing of Keith Bovey, at the age of 89.

Gordon Casely remembers: “Keith and his wife Helen, both solicitors, once had their practice in Byres Road. They lived in the West End, too.

“Keith was a kenspeckle figure, possibly one of the last professional folk in Scotland to wear a bowler hat every day.

“He and Helen were Greens long before the term had been invited, and ardent pacifists too.

“In keeping with their green credentials, they drove a Citroen 2CV, and one of the well-remembered sights of the West End was that of a hot summer’s day, and Keith and Helen in their 2CV, roof-cover rolled back, and Keith’s bowler stickin’ oot ...”

Book went down a bomb

BACK in 1994 the Herald told how Keith, at a time when he sold antiquarian books to aid SNP funds, despatched an old first edition to Sheriff Simon Fraser, who sat at Dumbarton Sheriff Court.

Unfortunately, he used an old Jiffy bag which had the SNP address crossed out. Thus were the envelope and book deemed to be a “suspicious package “ when they arrived at the court buildings. The court was cleared, and the business transferred some 200 yards away.

The package was X-rayed. A police sniffer dog was brought in, to no avail. Finally, the Army Bomb Disposal Unit had to be called in, and the package unwrapped with painstaking care.

The book, incidentally, was a 19th humorous work by George Outram, an Edinburgh advocate who also edited this very paper.

Tiny Chancer

SIR Elton John brings his latest tour to Scotland tomorrow night with a long-awaited concert at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium.

No doubt, says John Mulholland, there will be a raucous crowd in attendance. And with this in mind, Sir Elton might want to adapt some of his best-known songs for the North Lanarkshire audience.

A few quick examples:

• Every Night’s Alright for Fighting

• Don’t Go Breaking my Jaw

• Tiny Chancer

• I Guess That’s Why They Call Them the ‘Gers.

And you must be Ruby

APROPOS of nothing in particular we pass on this comment, spotted online yesterday: “There was a bus driver on my route in Newcastle who looked exactly like Kenny Rogers. Middle-aged women would go ‘One for Eldon Square, Kenny. I’m taking my love to town’.”

Old before our time

MARK Gibson, a photographer colleague of the Diary’s, remarks on Facebook: “You know you’re getting auld when the Stone Roses and Primal Scream are on the new compilation album, Dad Songs.”

One of his mates sympathises. “I already knew I was old”, he says, “when my youngest son asked me what I did in WWII for a project he was doing at school!”

And someone else weighs in with: “I’m getting to the age now that when see it’s really windy, my immediate thought is: ‘Perfect! The washing will be dry in next to no time.’”

Can any Diary readers think of other definitions of ‘You know you’re getting old when ...”?

Braveheart on a budget

FILM news. Mike Ritchie alerts us to next month’s release of The Gaelic King, a historical fantasy action film set and made in Scotland. The film-makers relied on crowdfunding, friends and families, plus sales advances, to make it all happen. Apparently the cast and crew were quick to dub the film ‘The budget Braveheart’.