ROBERT SCOTT STAMP - 1972

In February 1972, the Royal Mail brought out a set of stamps on the subject of British Polar Explorers, and needless to say, Robert F Scott was included.

I know he himself is not from Dundee or the Retro decades, but his name will always be linked to the city because of the return of the Discovery in the 80's, so I'm going to allow him a guest of honour spot.

Here he was, all dressed up ready to make an appearance on the Sgt Pepper album cover, but he just couldn't escape from that giant spider web in time!

DISCOVERY'S TEMPORARY HOME - 1986

This shot was taken on the 4th April 1986, the day after the Discovery had arrived back to Tayside and still wearing it's "Home to Dundee" banner.

The Victoria Dock here became it's temporary home until it was moved into it's now more familiar position on the waterfront.

You won't need me to remind you the name of the other ship in the foreground!

Photo by Neale Elder.

DISCOVERY - BACK HOME - 1986

This was the scene down at the docks exactly 25 years ago today - 3rd April 1986 - the moment the Discovery came back home to Dundee.

The Discovery hitched a lift inside the other vessel in shot - Happy Mariner - then after a few days sail from London, was removed like a Russian doll and placed back into the Tay where it had first originated.

The photos are more or less in "time" order, starting at the top, so those of you who weren't present at the unpacking, as it were, you can conjure up the sequence from the images.

And if it puts you in the mood, you could always backtrack to Retro's March 2010 archives and listen to the Lowland Folk, who recorded a song about this very occasion.

I can see a guy with a TV camera in the crowd, which reminded me that not only did it make the local news, the event also cropped up on national telly.

Kids tv show, Blue Peter, broadcast a feature about the Discovery on 24 April 1986, with host, Simon Groom, who followed the ships progress from London to Dundee.

Photos by The Bear.  

MORE DEAN AND DAWN

The latest music theme, which has been running on Retro for the past 3 weeks, comes to an end today, so I thought I'd bring it to a halt the same way the Cranked Up disco ended their stints, by finishing with a Dean & Dawn track.
The song below called "The Bold Discovery", retains the same standards as the previous 2 tracks of theirs I posted, so expect more dodgy harmonising, more duff notes, and as for the lyrics, well I reckon they may have just been jotted down after reading about the Discovery from a leaflet they picked up at the Tourist Info office!
The melody is "Greensleeves", a tune taught in Primary schools and most kids could play blindfold, but good old D&D still manage to fuck it up!!
Anyway, that's all the musical treats for now.
Still got plenty more goodies to dip into for a few more sessions later though!
Thanks to the Bear.

LOWLAND FOLK AND THE MEDIA #2

2 items relating to the release of Lowland Folk's single - "Discovery".

The top one is a review which appeared in the Courier's "Pop File" on 18th December 1986, and tells you a bit about the record and it's link to the Dundee Heritage Trust.

Below it is a letter written by band member, Anne Brown, which was sent to the Producer of the Derek Jameson Programme on BBC Radio 2, and dated 26th January 1987.

It contains details about the single along with the fact that it was getting plenty of airplay on Scotland's radio shows, and so felt that if it was to be played on national radio, the extra publicity would help raise funds to go towards the ship's restoration.

It also adds that Lowland Folk were to be performing at London's Royal Albert Hall in March that year.

A bit of a jump from the Woodlands Hotel!

Click items to enlarge.

LOWLAND FOLK AND THE MEDIA #1

The main members of Lowland Folk were - Stewart Brown, his wife Anne, and brother, Ramsay Brown.

They originally started off in the 60's as the Lowland Folk Four when Philip Gore was with them and were a very popular act on the folk circuit. As well as doing the biz live, they also made many recordings and TV appearances. On one occasion, they supplied the soundtrack to a television documentary about Dundee which was broadcast on BBC in 1966 to coincide with the opening of the Tay Road Bridge. In fact, a reminder that you can view the original preview of the programme from the '66 Radio Times, in the January 2009 Retro Archives.

The following year, they released an album called "Eh'll Tell The Boaby", which must be one of the earliest recordings to be sung in a broad Dundee accent.

Forward wind a couple of decades to 1986, and the Lowland Folk are still at it, this time bringing out a single to commemorate the return of the Discovery to Dundee. It was released on Broughty Ferry label, Balaena Records, and was recorded at Inner City Sound studios by Allan McGlone.

It was a bit of a departure from their traditional folk sound, opting instead for a moody Clannad kind of vibe. The session also featured Allan Barty on various stringed instruments and Derek Thomson on keyboards.

(Sorry for the crunchy noises on my vinyl copy by the way!)

Finally, a wee bit of trivia - Stewart Brown was also Editor of DC Thomson magazine, "My Weekly".