Arts diary: Sam Heughan's secret hike and my boyband hell

At a sell-out event which saw fans travel from far and wide even without a ticket, forcing them to stand outside the venue in hope of a glimpse of the star, Heughan spoke about not only his cocktail book, but his 2022 walking memoir, Waypoints, in which he explores his life through the route - turning up on stage decked out with a rucksack and walking poles.

Heughan revealed he is essentially writing a follow up to Waypoints, but was reticent to admit exactly which part of Scotland he is currently hiking, amid fears he could be inundated with fellow walkers keen to connect.

“He talked about how he had problems with animals on the hike, I think he’s been plagued by deer and cows - and didn’t want anything more from the human animals,” said one observer.

The creme de la creme

The Scottish theatre world is waiting with baited breath as the National Theatre of Scotland’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie prepares to open at Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre on Friday ahead of a Scotland-wide tour.

Adapted by Scottish playwright David Harrower, the script was first performed in London eight years ago, but has, by the author’s own admission, been changed radically since and promises to be a belter.

Gayle Rankin, of House of the Dragon fame, is in the title role, playing the much adored, yet chilling Miss Brodie herself, who Harrower describes as a “daughter of Edinburgh”. However, it is actually not the first time the actor has appeared in the show at the same theatre - having made her professional stage debut in an earlier version of the play.

The Lyceum, which is hosting the premiere of the show before it tours to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Pitlochry, showed me a copy of the prompt script from the 2003 production of Jay Presson Allen’s 1966 adaptation starring Siobhan Redmond, which lists Ms Rankin as one of “the schoolgirls”, Kirsty Mackay.

An interview published in The Stage with Ms Rankin this week revealed another bizarre connection. She was offered the part in the new adaptation on the day that Maggie Smith - who played the eponymous character in the 1969 film.

“There is a kind of beautiful passing of the baton there, to my egotistical mind at least,” she said.

While I can’t wait for Brodie on Friday, there’s another “cultural” (note the quotation marks) event I have to go to before that which I’m somehow not quite so excited about: the Glasgow tour date of American-Australian boyband Midnight Til Morning, which I shall be attending on Wednesday with three teenage girls.

No offence to the boys, who are apparently called Shane, Zach, Conor and Mason and who I’m sure are very talented. I actually know they are, I’ve been made to watch the whole series of Building the Band on Netflix, which created them and I have to admit, they can sing well enough.

But that doesn’t make it any more my thing. I’ll be the awkward middle aged mum hovering at the back. Wish me luck.