Graham Ogilvy

To Perth, and just a few steps from the busy Sheriff Court, Cardo has become an institution in the local dining scene. This year it celebrates its 20th anniversary – and continues to defy the economic and cultural headwinds that are laying waste to Britain’s restaurants. Cardo (Portugues

To the ‘silver city of the North’, as it was once styled, and home to Scotland’s other Faculty of Advocates. Aberdeen is in the economic doldrums following the downturn in the North Sea, the current government’s reluctance to ‘drill baby drill’ and the failure of

This is a serious, well-researched consideration of how the prosecution of violent crime in Scotland has developed and of society’s changing attitudes to it. Some of the fifteen cases carefully selected by Dr Louise Heren are well-known landmark cases like those of Burke and Hare, Madeleine Sm

The Battle of George Square which took place on January 31, 1919 has entered the mythology of the Left and, indeed, the mainstream of Sottish history as Bloody Friday when thuggish Glasgow police baton-charged thousands of peaceful but revolutionary-minded workers striking for a shorter working week

The vaults of the Antwerp Diamond Centre were thought to be impregnable until, on February 15, 2003, a gang of professional thieves made off with a haul of diamonds worth over £100 million – none have ever been recovered. Patient planning and stunning ingenuity allowed the gang to loot h

Sebastian Smee’s Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism was published last year to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the first exhibition by 30 artists who rebelled against the stultifying grip of the French art establishment and who jointly ushered in the age of the Im

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’