Arts diary: From panto to porridge and Angus Robertson's love for Tam O'Shanter

Looking ahead to the summer, we have even had news of a new Fringe venue to come to Edinburgh in the form of Brighton veteran Rotunda - and a promise of one of the first major shows announced for this year's Fringe, more to come on that soon.

'Can anyone recite Tam O'Shanter?'

"Is there anyone here who can recite Tam O'Shanter off the top of their heads?" asked Angus Robertson in a room packed with Ukrainians and Scottish Government officials, before giving a potted synopsis of the epic Robert Burns poem, "about somebody going out and having too much to drink" who then "stumbles on ghosts".

The room was quiet.

"No? It's a bit of a poetic feat," he added. "If you ever get the chance, go to a Burns Supper and make sure you hear Tam O'Shanter."

The culture secretary was speaking at an event with the Consulate of Ukraine at Dovecot Galleries to mark the connections between Robert Burns and Ukraine's national poet, Taras Shevchenko, who grew up in surprisingly similar circumstances - and have had a comparable cultural impact on the culture of their homelands.

"Robert Burns and Taras Shevchenko lived in different eras and different places, but they do share remarkable parallels," Mr Robertson explained. "They were national poets who shaped their countries' identities. Both poets' writing became foundational to their nation's sense of themselves. They elevated the vernacular language, just as cultural forces from larger imperial neighbours were imposing another language on people."

I've had a quick read through translations of Shevchenko's greatest works and I haven't seen anything about ghosts - or odes to mice yet. But the comparison is nevertheless a fascinating one.

Pantos and porage oats

On Friday, family and friends of Fay Lenore will bid farewell to the Crossroads and Take the High Road actor, in a celebration of her 97 years on Earth.

I spoke to her daughter, Shona, earlier this week, who gave me a flavour of her mother's colourful life: from entertaining WW2 troops in India to performing alongside Stanley Baxter as a pantomime principal boy and teaching singing to Susan Boyle. She was also married to Jay Scott, the inspiration for the iconic Scott's Porage Oats Highland Games champion who adorned the product's boxes for decades.

"Mum had a very full life," said Shona, who described her parents as the "Posh and Becks of their day". I couldn't agree more. RIP Fay.