AT the summer show with the Alexander Brothers at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen, on the day oil was discovered in the North Sea, Johnny Beattie ("Farewell to the nicest man in showbiz", The Herald, July 10) ever so casually walked up to the microphone, and gurgled at the audience “Well oiled, eh?”.
Johnny knew how to work both a stage and an audience. Once asked “Did you train for comedy at an acting school?”, he responded with two words “Aye, Fairfields”.
Blue jokes were the sole occasion on which he’d be abrupt. “I don’t do stag”. And he never did.
At the end of each night at His Majesty’s – something of a second home to him – he’d reel off show greetings to visiting parties without a note. Jack Alexander recalled the stagecraft behind this: “I’ve seen him do 17 different greetings from memory.”
I’ve more than 17 memories of Johnny, and his passing nearly has me greeting.
Gordon Casely, Crathes.
THE NEW NORMAL?
I WONDER if this is the “new normal”? I have just received a letter from the NHS advising me that an appointment I have at Stobhill Hospital next March has been rescheduled approximately one hour earlier on the same date. The letter also advises that this is now a “telephone consultation clinic” which I am not required to attend, but I should be aware that the telephone call may be up to an hour later than the rescheduled time.
Due to a problem that arose during lockdown I had to contact my GP surgery, when I was advised by another telephone consultation that I should discontinue taking one of my regular pills. As this particular medication relates specifically to the appointment next March. I am left wondering if the consultant will be aware of this change or if my GP will be aware of the planned clinic arrangement?
Obviously there will be a huge backlog of cancelled appointments to deal with once we are further on in the lockdown process and telephone consultations may help with this problem, but there could also be situations where this may not be helpful.
Duncan Miller, Lenzie.
PRIMARY ERROR
THE Scottish Government has made a serious error in making the cut-off age for children's non-distanced socialisation 12 years. It would have much fairer to have included all Primary school age children.
Is the Government not aware that Scottish children are often aged 12 in P7 and that this dividing line prevents many law-abiding 12-year-old P7 children from socialising closely with their 11-year-old friends and classmates?
These children have suffered enough from isolation and are in much need of social contact, so I beg the Government to please put right this oversight.
Margaret McGregor, Aberdeen AB15.
MASKED MARVELS
WITH hair over the back of my collar, steamy specs, ears pulled forwards, my new mask stretched over the old honker, and a deteriorating shopping list in hand, I accept that my allure is seriously compromised, unlike that of the mysteriously-masked Uzma Mir ("I know masks are important – but they feel so odd", The Herald, July 10).
On the plus side, I can now allow myself frustrated mouthings unobserved as I forage in my local supermarket and track down cleverly hidden items.
R Russell Smith, Kilbirnie.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel