Ö÷²¥´óÐã

As host of the Olympics and Paralympics, broadcaster cemented her status as Britain's unofficial national treasure. Now with the publication of her funny but moving memoirs, 'My Animals and Other Family', she flexes her muscles as an author - something she always wanted to achieve, but for some reason seemed outwith her grasp.

On this week's Sunday Morning with me, Cathy Macdonald she recounts some of her adventures growing up in a horse-obsessed household and bucking the trend against her family's attitudes toward women.

We hear about the difficulties surrounding the distribution of Bibles to Iraq's Christian community and the everyday challenges they face living in a volatile environment.

Reverend Chris Foxon gives his verdict on the modern-day reworking of the story of Jesus in the current musical tour of 'Jesus Christ Superstar', which was staged in Glasgow earlier in the week.

As a solution to the post-war housing crisis, Glasgow's Overspill project provided a new life for many families. Half a century on we hear how it also inspired one man to conquer his literacy challenges and take up writing.

And we hear about the difficulties faced by those with adult literacy issues, and how tackling them really can change lives.

There's the usual great selection of music to brighten up your Sunday morning, so catch up with us this week on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, or later on the i-player.

Your weekly list of ceilidhs, traditional music events and classes in Scotland compiled for you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

SATURDAY 29th September

CLASS
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Improvers - 11am)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Beginners - 12 noon)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Whistle Class (Beginners - 12.30pm)
Dundee - Wigton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Medieval Harp with Simon Chadwick - 2pm

DANCE
Elgin - New Elgin Hall - Dance with Sheila Peters - 8pm

CEILIDH
Glasgow - Glasgow University Union - Deoch n Dorus - 8pm

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1987...... late 1987. I am in the home of the 'family of music' CBS Records in Soho Square, London. I'm there to meet Bob Clearmountain who is in London to work with our band and intends to re record one of our songs in order to make it sound like the smash record everyone tells us it should be. Bob's in the A & R office and together we make our way to the studio where we'll be working. I tell him how much I like the new Bruce Springsteen album. (Tunnel of Love has come out in September) He likes it too. We share a few sentences on the themes of love, disillusionment and fear which seem to rise to the surface from Tunnel of Love. 'Yeah' says Bob, as he looks bewildered at the London traffic, ' I said to him at the time,......'Has Julie heard these songs?'

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Roddy Hart writes about this week's show:

Cool can be a slippery kind of character, and the most unquantifiable of concepts. These days measured mostly in skinny jeans, thick rimmed Costello-esque glasses (failing eyesight optional), a nice checked shirt and a penchant for a banjo-jam in the woods, us musicians would do well to remember that many have gone before and many will come after in search of its elusive glow. It is a cruel beast, one that pins the chosen few momentarily to the zeitgeist, whilst making fools of the rest of us. But while some are busy running after something that may serve them all too fleetingly, others are quietly going about their business making beautiful music year after year with no regard for what is going on outside their studio walls. Trends and fads come and go, but it's the ability to last that really counts.

And so this week sees the release of Deacon Blue's new record "The Hipsters" - my Record of Note on the show - 25 years after the Scottish (now) quartet made their bow with debut album "Raintown". They have long been a band for the big occasion, and have enjoyed massive success with songs like "Real Gone Kid", "Wages Day" "Dignity", "Twist and Shout" and "Your Swaying Arms". For me, their 1991 record "Fellow Hoodlums" is one of the great Scottish albums of all time, full of working class romanticism and sweeping bravado, and in many ways "The Hipsters" shares its swagger and confidence. Expertly produced by ex-Delgado Paul Savage, the sound is that of a band who still have much to say: reinvigorated and ready to rejoin the musical landscape with some zest. They are as vital as ever, and in songs such as "Here I Am In London Town", "Stars", "The Outsiders" and "There Is No Way Back To You", Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland's very own Ricky Ross proves there is plenty of gas in the songwriting tank. This is certainly no hark back to former glories, but instead a band still hungry to engage and looking forward. And what could be cooler than that?

Elsewhere on the show we have Paul Weller as our Undercover Writer, so expect to hear some unusual interpretations of The Modfather's work. We'll also be Live On Arrival with Billy Bragg, and if you thought you had the measure of the Essex man's "one voice one guitar" schtick on record, then think again: there is much to enjoy from his live offerings. That and the usual mix of the great and the good. And it's all on Thursday night at 10.05pm on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland.

Here is the latest recipe from The Kitchen Café. To be downloaded, kept, cooked and enjoyed.

Steven Devlin's Scallops with chanterelles, black pudding & pancetta

The Kitchen Café is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400

In the first hour of this week's Sunday Morning, with Cathy Macdonald, former journalist and television presenter, will be discussing 'From MTV to Mecca' - her inspiring story of how, at the height of her career as one of Europe's leading pop culture icons, she converted to Islam.

A new Ö÷²¥´óÐã2 3-part series called "Dead Good Job" has been going behind the scenes in the world of modern day funerals; I'll be discussing the series and exploring the changing face of modern funeral rituals.

There's a lot more than dead people and gravestones in our ancient cemeteries, but what do visitors on the organised tours of Angus Council's historic Kirkyards get from their visits? The council is promoting the Kirkyards as amenities to be enjoyed, but also as fascinating places to learn about our ancestors' beliefs and ways of life. We'll be finding out more on this week's show

Acclaimed historian and science writer discusses his new book, " Unapologetic" and explains why he believes that, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense!

And can documentaries really mobilise film-goers and change the world? Simon Bateson, director of - the UK's "global change film festival" explains all.

Plus a great selection of music - it's worth tuning in to Sunday Morning With Cathy Macdonald on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland.

Your weekly list of ceilidhs, traditional music events and classes in Scotland compiled for you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 21st September
ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB

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"Arthur Donaldson used to claim that we only had a thousand members, and I used to say to him, "Arthur, you're an exaggerating old scoundrel!" There would be perhaps nearer 150 members in the whole country!" .

"It was a sect...it was curiously like Trotskyism actually, and it was something that at that time was a blind alley."

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Stop me if I've told you this before. It's the Ö÷²¥´óÐã canteen circa 2008 and I am meeting a man called Richard Murdoch who has lately arrived from Radio One and between us we've been tasked with putting a show called Another Country on air. I'm parking the car thinking to myself, 'Who is this guy? Why am I doing this? I know this won't work...and I'm about to get found out.' (add your own here) We meet over a Ö÷²¥´óÐã table. Me 'So, Richard, do you know anything about country music?' Him 'No.' Me 'Neither do I.' Us....'so shall we just muddle through?'

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Roddy Hart writes about this week's show

In this rather slick and advanced digital age we find ourselves inhabiting - one that provides instant access to an embarrassment of musical riches - it can be easy to forget the simple thrill of walking into a record store and actually buying an album. No hovering a mouse over a little "play" button. No clicking to hear a short excerpt of a track. And no downloading the fruits of an artist's labour in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea (unless you're still struggling with a dial-up internet connection, granddad). And so it was a thrill I rediscovered last week when I visited a certain record shop on Glasgow's Byres Road and clapped eyes on Bill Fay's "Life Is People".

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Here is the latest recipe from The Kitchen Café. To be downloaded, kept, cooked and enjoyed.

Lea Harris' Espresso Cappuccino Cake

The Kitchen Café is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400

Your weekly list of ceilidhs, traditional music events and classes in Scotland compiled for you by Dawn Baxter and the Take the Floor team.

FRIDAY 14th September

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Lewis and Harris - Dark Island Hotel - 8pm

SATURDAY 15th September

CLASS
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Improvers - 11am)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Beginners - 12 noon)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Whistle Class (Beginners - 12.30pm)
Dundee - Wigton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Medieval Harp with Simon Chadwick - 2pm

Concert
Edinburgh - Usher Hall - Lothian Schools Strathspey and Reel Society 30th Anniversary concert - 7.30pm
Elgin - Elgin Town Hall - Fiddlers Rally - 7.30pm

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In 1989 I was on tour with Deacon Blue when we played at the Royal Court in Liverpool almost a month after the Hillsborough disaster. People in that city were clearly in shock and we received many letters in the dressing room from members of families who were grieving. Some of the people had been planning to come to our gig that night never made it and we were asked to remember them at the show. When we went on stage the standing crowd started to bombard us with flowers until the apron at the front was covered. Half way through the show I felt we had to deal with the emotion running through the hall. We played a song called Take Me To The Place and, even as I write this, the tears are coming to my eyes. There was a raw emotion in that room which, once we named how much we were all shaken by what had happened to the whole city, rose to the surface. The entire theatre sang us 'You'll Never Walk Alone." We stood and listened. As it ended I turned round to see if the band were ready to get the gig going again as, by now, I was in pieces at the front of the stage. I'll never forget turning round to my fellow musicians and seeing they were as emotionally wrecked as I was. It took an almighty push but we managed to get through that show and , as often happens, peoples' spirits seemed lifted by the power of music.

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This week on Sunday Morning with me, Cathy Macdonald, my guest in the first hour of the show is award-winning author and journalist, and former Moscow Bureau Chief of Staff for the Guardian newspaper - .

Now a full time writer, he talks about his life, his latest book - The Heart Broke In - a tale of morality in modern Britain, and how his experiences of other cultures taught him about the human condition.

In the second hour we explore why today's youth fail to engage with organised religion after a recent Ö÷²¥´óÐã survey on morality revealed they thought that looking after your family was more important than following a religion.

I'll be finding out how the increasing number of food banks have helped put churches back into the heart of communities.

Author and journalist Julie Davidson explains why Mrs Livingstone was just as tough as her famous missionary husband, David, although she has more or less been overlooked by history.

And as an international tour of sacred Buddha relics comes to Edinburgh, whose theme is to encourage inter-faith dialogue I'll be welcoming custodian, Siliana Bosa, who explains why they have such an impact on those who come into contact with them.

All this and the usual excellent selection of music, listen in between 7am-9pm this Sunday Morning With Cathy Macdonald.

There's a tradition in the programme Past Lives of letting a listener throw a dart at a map of Scotland and then making a programme where we look for history around the spot where the dart comes down. Imagine our surprise in this series when listener Stuart Gibbs threw a dart which severed the River Spey just above Boat of Garten near the site of the Miracle Stone of the Spey! So our last programme in the series will be set in the area around Boat of Garten and Grantown and we'll be exploring the mystery of the Miracle Stone - Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, September 17th, 1405

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Past Lives, this week, looked at a gruesome murder case in Kirriemuir where the owner of the Newton Hotel, John Webster, was in 1891 accused of murdering his wife Mary Ann Innes by poisoning her with arsenic. Webster was acquitted but many locals have never believed in his innocence. Mark went to the hotel - still there - to meet listener Dave Orr who got in touch about the case and Bob Newton, the current landlord. Meanwhile for our listeners who like a bit of 'True Crime', Louise Yeoman went to delve into the newspaper records and legal papers for the case...

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Here are the latest recipes from The Kitchen Café. To be downloaded, kept, cooked and enjoyed.

John Quigley's Fish Chreime

John Quigley's Latkes with apple sauce and sour cream

Mary Contini's Zabaglione

The Kitchen Café is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400

Read on for Roddy's inaugural blog:

Every blog has its day, and mine - for better or worse - has finally arrived. But rather than mourning a loss, we are celebrating an arrival, for over the coming months I'll be checking in as much as possible with a word or two on the goings on at The Roddy Hart Show (Thursday nights from 10.05pm, as if you didn't know). So, expect musings, meanderings, mutterings, and other things that may or may not begin with the letter "M".

And yet, rather conveniently, "M" is the perfect place to start. For in addition to the usual array of majestic music from all corners of the globe (predominantly focused on classic troubadour-ing and new directions in folk-rock, but increasingly gaining in errant eclecticism - Seu Jorge's Portuguese cover of Bowie's "Life On Mars" for our Undercover feature a few weeks ago was a particular highlight), it also brings us the name of our very first guest on the show this week: Mike Scott.

For those who don't know, Mike is artist in residence with The Waterboys - the band he started in 1983 that would go on to enjoy huge success with its trademark fusion of Celtic Folk and Rock n'Roll music. Songs like "Whole Of The Moon", "Fisherman's Blues", "And A Bang On The Ear", "A Rock In The Weary Land" and more recently "Sweet Dancer" all lay claim to his influential brand of literate and romantic songcraft and mark him out as one of our great songwriters. He recently published his brilliant autobiography Adventures Of A Waterboy (or as I've come to refer to it, in my best Alan Partridge-esque voice, his "Waterboyography"), and prior to the launch at Glasgow's Oran Mor last month, we nabbed him for an exclusive chat.

From gatecrashing Patti Smith's touring entourage as a teenager, to writing "Whole Of The Moon" in a moment of dizzying inspiration, through to his recent celebrated collaboration with the work of WB Yeats, his life in music is fascinating and illuminating and we have two 30-minute specials with him starting on this Thursday's show. Not to be missed.

And yet Mr Scott isn't the only man of note to feature, for a certain Bob Dylan is back with his 35th studio album this week "Tempest". Much discussion from the Zimmerman Zealotsâ„¢ as to whether this is Bob's swan song, given that it shares its name with Shakespeare's final work, but don't you believe it: there is plenty of life in the old dog yet. Expect some heavy rotation and, I'm sure, a healthy dose of critical assessment from our listeners. As long as it isn't Self Portrait Part II then we can all breath easy (SPOILER ALERT: it's very good).

So that's Mike Scott, Bob Dylan and of course the usual host of great music from across the years and genres. And that's all happening this Thursday at 10.05pm on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland. But you knew that already, didn't you?

This Sunday morning my guest is a man who has seen the world through a camera lens. He has travelled to some of the most volatile countries in the world as a photojournalist, but his focus on the disadvantaged and vulnerable has come at a personal cost. Join me in the company of photographer .

With the close of the Paralympic Games this weekend many people have had to question their perceptions of disability. But has it all been positive, and what will be the lasting impact? I'm joined by Professor John Swinton of Aberdeen University, and Susie Fitton of Capability Scotland.

is remembered by many as a hostage in Beirut for nearly 5 years in the late 1980s. He's used this experience to inform his role with the homeless charity Emmaus, and during a visit to Glasgow last week Sunday Morning caught up with him. Scottish artist was also at that event to see his painting of The Road to Emmaus gifted to the charity, and he joins me to talk about the significance of that moment.

I will also be hearing about the book that's inspired the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Albert Bogle. Listen in to find out what it is.

There's also the final poem in the Written World series. All this and the usual excellent selection of music, listen in between 7am-9pm this Sunday Morning With me, Cathy Macdonald.

TAKE THE FLOOR EVENTS GUIDE

SATURDAY 8th September

CLASS
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Improvers - 11am)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Fiddle Class (Beginners - 12 noon)
Dundee - Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Whistle Class (Beginners - 12.30pm)
Dundee - Wigton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Medieval Harp with Simon Chadwick - 2pm

Concert
Kilmartin - Kilmartin House Museum - Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell

SUNDAY 9th September

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Biggar - Biggar Bowling Club - Neil Caul Scottish Dance Band - 7pm
Montrose - Park Hotel - Wayne Robertson Duo - 2pm

MONDAY 10th September

CLASS
Carnoustie - British Legion - RSCDS Class - 7.30pm

Fitness Class
Edinburgh - Community Centre, Oxgangs Brae - Tartan Trainers Exercise class - 6pm

FOLK CLUB
Glenfarg - Terrace Bar, Glenfarg Hotel - Simon Hopper - 8pm

TUESDAY 11th September

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Blairgowrie - Red House Hotel - James Coutts trio - 7.45pm
Dunfermline - CSSA, Castle Road, Rosyth - Calppy Doo Ceilidh Band - 7.30pm
Thornhill - Thornhill Bowling Club - Roger Dobson Scottish Dance Band 7.30pm

CLASS
Dundee, Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library - Scots Song - suitable for beginners - 2pm

WEDNESDAY 12th September

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Forres - Victoria Hall - Iain MacPhail Scottish Dance Band - 7.30pm
Langholm - British Legion - Allan Gardiner Band - 8pm

CLASS
Fife - Kenoway Community School - Accordion Class - George Lawrie - 7-9pm - *Tickets £5.60/half price first lesson*
Midlem - Village Hall - Live Music - Old Time Class (GB Scott) - 8-10pm - *Tickets £2*

THURSDAY 13th September

ACCORDION AND FIDDLE CLUB
Windygates - Grieg Institute - Raith Probus Club Band - 7pm
CLASS
Penicuick - Town Hall - Ceilidh Class - 8-9:30pm - *Tickets £2.90/£1.50*

Linlithgow Folk Festival - 5th 9th September - www.linlithgowfolk.com
Northern Piping Meeting - 6th - 8th September
Inverness

Sometimes you've got to do it: just get in the car and drive. Last month I organised the rest of the family to get on the plane home and drove back from Italy all alone. I went through the mountains with no better plan than the hope of some scenery and time alone with...MY ENTIRE RECORD COLLECTION! Well the stuff I'd burned on CD or had in the old 60gb iPod. 'Was it worth it Rick?' I hear you say.

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Here are today's Kitchen Café recipes for you to try at home:

Neil Forbes' Salmon Fishcakes with Egg and Parsley Sauce

Josh Doherty's Hollandaise sauce

Sue Lawrence's Salmon with soy and noodle stir fry

The Kitchen Café is on Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio Scotland, every Wednesday 1315-1400