CITY OF SURVIVAL Over the years I’ve increasingly begun to
appreciate the fortitude of Dundee and the sense it was surviving despite being written off so many times as a city. My election as rector of the university, which is a fantastic resource, in 2010 has brought me even closer to the city. There are still problems, such as the blight of heroin, but I’ve seen this incredible cultural awakening that has been encapsulated in the coming of the V&A, which is a huge thing. The thing about the city is that it is like the
phoenix from the ashes. On a personal level, that journey kind of mirrors my own fortunes; the good moments, the bad moments, the rejec- tions. I feel the city and I are very in harmony with one another in terms of our ups and downs. I feel at home here.
FIELDFACTS DUNDEE & ANGUS
ACCOMMODATION
‘The city is like the phoenix from the ashes. On a personal level, that journey kind of mirrors my own fortunes’
time in Glasgow that he ended up going mad and dying in Gartcosh asylum having been in the poorhouse, so I think that aversion to Glasgow, which I’m now over, is in my DNA. Coming back to Dundee from London,
the city was still in a mess right through the Sixties into the Seventies. Still, no matter what they do to the buildings, the spirit of the city has remained unbroken because the city is its people and they haven’t changed at all. Coming back, I was struck by the Dundonian wit and humour: there was a big difference between this city and the rest of Scotland because ours is a much more surreal humour that’s not as based on oppression. It’s based on making the best of things, so your fantasy world is boundless. The character I’m playing at the moment is
Above: Brian Cox on board Discovery, Captain Robert Scott’s polar ship, which was launched from Dundee in 1901 and returned in 1986.
very typical of that kind of humour. When I first heard about the Bob Servant thing, about this kid from Broughty Ferry called Neil Forsyth who was writing this stuff, I had a slightly patronising attitude. I didn’t even prepare, we did the radio programme and I couldn’t get through it cause I was pissing myself laughing because it was so funny and I realised it was gold. It helped that my brother Charlie, a real character who died a couple of years ago, was just like Bob Servant, even if Charlie was a little less affluent. The ironic thing about playing Bob Servant
was that I had to recreate the Dundonian accent I did so much to lose when I moved to London. Fifty years ago I had a Dundonian accent you could cut with a knife until a voice coach called Kristin Linklater, the sister of Magnus Linklater [former editor of The Scotsman newspaper], completely remodelled my voice.
Glen Clova Hotel Tel: 01575 550350
www.clova.com
Kinnaird Castle Tel: 01674 810240
www.southesk.co.uk
Westport Serviced Apartments Tel: 01382 313666 www.westport servicedapartments. com
Forbes of Kingennie Tel: 01382 350777 www. forbesofkingennie. com
Balbinny Tel: 07990 542776
www.balbinny.com
Balmuirfield House Tel: 01382 819655 www. balmuirfieldhouse. com
ANTIQUES
Gow Antiques & Restoration
Tel: 01307 465342 www.gowantiques. com
FOOD
Mackays Tel: 01241 432500
www.mackays.com
Aberfeldy Oatmeal Tel: 01241 860579 www.aberfeldy
oatmeal.co.uk
Sarah Gray’s Tel :01241 860579
www.sarahgrays.
co.uk
Bel’s Butchers Tel: 01356 648409 / 01674 672766
www.belsbutchers.
co.uk
FASHION
Flair Fashions Tel: 01307 818842/ 01307 462266 www.flair-fashions.
co.uk
GARDEN CENTRE
Ashbrook Nursery Tel: 01241 873408 www. ashbrooknursery.
co.uk
THEATRE
Dundee Rep theatre Tel: 01382 223530 www.dundeerep.
co.uk
WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK 61
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