Obama homecoming?
First Minister Alex Samond has invited Barack Obama to come to Scotland during the Year of 91Èȱ¬coming.
Admittedly, it was on Tuesday before the result and he hedged his bets and invited both presidential hopefuls on the grounds that they both have Scottish ancestry.
But how much Scottish ancestry does the new American president have?
Bruce Blacklaw at the National Library of Scotland was keen to find out and asked the organisation's genealogy unit to run a few checks.
Early research suggests Barack Obama has 3.1% Scottish ancestry - the detail relating to a relation on his mother's side of the family.
They also said there was substantially more English ancestry in his background than Scots, but I'm guessing the Year of 91Èȱ¬coming organisers don't want to hear that particular detail.
The first event of 91Èȱ¬coming 2009 officially gets under way at the national library this week with a new exhibition which draws together artefacts from the National Burns Collection.
The exhibition called Zig Zag, examines some of the myths surrounding Robert Burns, many of them perpetuated by the poet himself.
It's the first major collaboration between the museums and institutions which keep the various parts of the collection - they'll be officially recognised for their efforts next week - and the exhibition will stay intact for a few more months as it tours onto Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dumfries.
It's also a good chance to see material from the Burns Museum Collection, whose state-of-the-art £21m museum is pending - but unfortunately not due to open for another two years.
Not London’s South Bank, but the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow - every bit as lively in cultural terms as its namesake. I’m Pauline McLean, 91Èȱ¬ Scotland’s arts correspondent, and I’ll be blogging here about arts events and issues happening across the country.
Comment number 1.
At 7th Nov 2008, respectedsenator wrote:I wish Alex Salmond, who incidentally I think is full of his own importance since he became First Minister, should get his priorities right. Instead of inviting Obama to Scotland he should concentrate on the people of Scotland and their problems and carry out the promises he made to them before becoming First Minister instead of trying to gain Browny Points with the Yanks.These are hard times for everyone but Scotland more than most has suffered due to the recession and it's about time we had a Leader who genuinely cares about the people of Scotland and try to resolve the main issues that are effecting them rather than boosting his own ego!
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