Talk of the Town: This time John will do it by the Brook

But actor John Hannah is set to take on the role once again, only this time as a spoof in a new series parodying police shows – Sky1’s A Touch of Cloth, created by satirical comic Charlie Brooker.

“Many people considered me to be a bit of a failure in the part,” mused Hannah.

Time to take a walk on the wildly inaccurate side

“VISIT West Lothian,” says the press release.

“Don’t mind if we do,” says Talk of the Town – but let’s set the county boundaries before we make the trip, eh? By all means we’ll enjoy the gentle strolls offered at Almondell & Calderwood Country Park and the moderate ascents around Linlithgow, but when it comes to challenging walks it appears West Lothian is all out of ideas, according to the release, which encourages visitors to enjoy “Capital View Walks” – with views of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth no less – and the Harlow Woodland walk.

What the author fails to mention is these jaunts explore Edinburgh and Midlothian respectively!

Picture this

THE BBC’s big screen in Festival Square will be expecting to draw big crowds when it starts showing the London Olympics next year.

But after going to all the expense of setting up the screen it now seems that the picture quality will be second rate.

The Beeb announced at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival that it will be setting up three new screens.

Despite choosing to unveil its plans in the Capital, however, the screens will not be coming to Edinburgh – with the closest one set to be put up in Glasgow.

Dalyell tells a tale

IN his autobiography, former West Lothian MP Tam Dalyell recalls how his parents were approached in 1944 about allowing their ancestral home, The Binns, near Linlithgow, to become the first country house run by the Scottish National Trust.

One of the reasons they chose it, he says, was there was little likelihood of competing claims for the property. “I was an only child of an only child and our nearest relatives were in the United States. The man with the best claim was Harry Truman, President Franklin D Roosevelt’s running mate in the 1944 US election and very soon to be president after FDR’s death – although clearly he had more to think about than ‘fussing about some claim of doubtful validity to an obscure property in Scotland’.”