Graham Ogilvy

Turning Point: The Vietnam War, NetflixThe new five-part documentary series on the Vietnam war, now available on Netflix, charts the course of the war and skilfully explores how the Vietnam debacle has weakened American democracy and continues to do so. It may lack the subtlety and incredible show-d

It is a curious fact, strange but true, that the best books on Spain are written by foreigners. It is impossible to think of Andalucía without Irish writer Gerald Brenan springing to mind. The lives and careers of the poet Lorca and film-maker Buñuel are likewise synonymous with anothe

The recent announcement by Lord Pentland of the publication of a court reporters’ guide by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is a welcome recognition that the decline of what is now termed the ‘mainstream media’ has serious implications for the administration of justice and

Dorothy Parker was celebrated in her time as a poet, a critic and a writer. Above all, she is cherished today for her acerbic wit. But she is less well-known for her Hollywood screenwriting career which spanned three tumultuous decades. Parker detested Hollywood from the very start – despising

A monumental new history of Irish republicanism in Dundee reveals much of the Irish diaspora experience in Scotland and leaves Graham Ogilvy impressed by its thorough research. As a young boy I walked through the derelict tenements of Tipperary every day to get to school and in the evening, after sc

Eighty years have elapsed since the heady days of August 1944 when Paris, the City of Light – and to many, a beacon of light in the pre-war days – liberated itself from the ignominy, shame and cruelty of Nazi tyranny.

Many lawyers dream of writing a book in their retirement but well-known legal figure Ken Swinton has done just that and spoke to Graham Ogilvy about his new book, St Bernard’s Crescent: A History. Congratulations, Ken, on writing such a detailed and fascinating account. Can you outline the sco

All eyes are on Paris and the publishers are cashing in on the Olympics with a raft of new books focussing on ‘The City of Light’.

If you are in Edinburgh during the Festival be sure to visit the National Gallery’s new Lavery on Location exhibition – a well-curated tour de force of the works of Sir John Lavery, the Irish Impressionist who carved out a distinguished career for himself and became one of Britain’

Graham Ogilvy tells the story of the remarkable Scottish advocate who became a reforming lord chancellor, developed the French Riveira and narrowly avoided a damaging sex scandal. The next time you are promenading along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, spare a thought for Henry Peter Brougham, the

As controversy rages over the reinstatement of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art, this timely and thoroughly researched book makes an eloquent plea for the restoration of what was a jewel in Scotland's artistic and cultural crown. The Mack was considered to be the great masterpiece o

Graham Ogilvy reviews the autobiography of James McIntyre, the Scottish criminal defence lawyer who got too close to his clients and ended up on the wrong side of the law. Firstly, a declaration of interest. I knew and liked James McIntyre at university where he was popular, cheerful, charismatic an

Scottish Legal News is saddened to report the death of the well-known Dundee solicitor William G Boyle who died, aged 71, in the early hours of Sunday morning at Ninewells Hospital where he had been receiving treatment for several weeks. Universally known to his legion of Dundonian clients and colle

In Solicitors to Scotland, author Ewan McCall has succeeded in producing that rarest of publishing phenomena — a company history that is both interesting and readable. Anderson Strathern, and the dozen or so earlier incarnations that contributed to its development, is the firm in question. The

Based on the real-life theft of a Goya portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London in 1961, The Duke is that rarest of movies – a gentle comedy that packs a punch, in this case a powerful defence of the right to trial by jury. Jim Broadbent as Kempton Bunton, the ecc