850 years

Every year, around August, the Twilight Zone holds the St. Magnus Festival. It was founded by our local composer, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (currently Master of the Queen's Music) and the late George Mackay Brown (poet and playwright, also my babysitter, many,many moons ago ). It's an arts festival, much like a mini- Edinburgh Festival, and there is usually a theme to it.

This year, the theme is "Rognvald 850", being the 850th anniversary of the killing of Earl Rognvald Kali Kolsson. Amongst the honours heaped on Rognvald Kali (e.g. sainthood) is the overwhelming honour of having my senior Border Collie named after him!

Rognvald Kali was a crusader knight, amongst other things, and he was, for his time, an extremely cultured man (he could read and write, for a start, and was, apparently, a chess-player of note.) He was also the founder of Kirkwall's magnificent St. Magnus Cathedral, one of Scotland's four mediaeval cathedrals which are still functioning today.


St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall


Snorri