In this Episode I talk about my up coming shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Yes, I'm taking Burns Banter to Edinburgh and will be performing upstairs in The Pear Tree. The venue is called The Counting House and the room is called The Attic. I'm on from the 16th to the 25th, (not the 24th), 10.30am till 11.30am each day. The show is called 'Burns Banter Live' and is basically an hour long episode of this podcast with extra stories, songs, quizzes and even a few jokes. Yes, jokes about Robert Burns - I'd love to see you there! It's a free show, you can't book tickets, just turn up early on the day as its first come first served. I can't wait!!

In this episode we look at how, why and when Robert published his book, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. We look at the problems he had to overcome before John Wilson agreed to publish the book. We look at the poems and songs in the book, such as, Twa Dogs, A Tale - The Cotters Saturday Night, To a mouse and Composed in August. We see how the public reaction to the book affected him and the direction his life was taking. Specifically we look at his decision not to go to Jamacia and the reasons why he stayed in Scotland. We end the episode by reciting the poem Composed in August, also known as Now Westlin Winds and Slaughtering Guns.

In this episode we look briefly at Robert's father, William - Then a Farm called Mossgiel - Roberts turbulent private life and a book called 'Poem Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect'. This is a wild and unpredictable time in Roberts life, (roughly 1784 - 1786). His father passes away in 1784, they need to move to a new farm, Mossgiel, and as Robert is the eldest son, he is now the head of the family. This responsibility does not sit well on his shoulders and he needs a lot of help from his brother Gilbert. At this point in his life he is very interested in women and we talk about four in particular. Elizabeth Paton, Helen Miller, Jean Armour and Mary Campbell, (Known as 'Highland Mary' - even although her real name was actually Margret!). Robert is now in a bit of trouble and decides to emigrate to Jamaica...

In this episode we see the Burns family move to a new farm, Lochlie. Is it better than Mount Oliphant? How well / badly do they do there? At this point in Roberts life he is in his late teens and is starting to try and move away from farming. He is also spreading his wings socially with country dancing lessons and the formation of the Tarbolton Bachelors Club. Robert also moves to Irvine and tries a new business venture, Flax dressing. What is flax dressing? How successful is this new business? Lastly, we take a look at the poetry Robert is writing at this time. Is it good? Bad? Indifferent? Getting better?....

In this episode we look at Robert life from age 7. We look at his education, the schools and tutors he had. We look at the farm that Roberts Father moved the family to, (Mount Oliphant), and whether it was a good decision. We also look at Roberts health during this period of his life, which was affected by the amount of work he was doing on the farm and the food they were limited to. Then we look at Roberts first poems - what were they about? Why did he start writing?...

In Series two of Burns Banter I am taking a look at the life of Robert Burns. Each episode will look at one part of Robert's Life - as this is episode one, I am looking at the Birth Of Robert Burns. I also take a look at William Burnes, (Robert's Father), and Agnes Broun, (Robert's Mother). where did they come from, what were they like, what influence did they have on Robert? I look briefly at what was happening in Scotland at the time - all of these aspects helped to make Robert into the man we know today. Unfortunately there are no songs or poems in this episode. This is due to the fact that the episode finishes when Robert is only seven years old, he hasn't written anything yet. Check out episode two for Robert's first poem....

The Rights of Women was written by Robert Burns in 1792.

Back in the days of Burns women didn't have many rights. The subject of women's rights was highly unpopular and very rarely talked about. Robert is being a bit of a rebel writing this poem, but he did love women and he was in favour of women's rights. It was written for a specific benefit night which was held at the Dumfries theatre on the 26th of November 1792. The benefit night was hosted by an actress called 'Louisa Fontenelle',

Address to the Toothache, written in 1786.

In the late 1700's dentistry didn't really exist. If you got the toothache you had to just deal with the pain, there was no pain relief. If things got really bad you would have to find someone willing to pull your teeth out. Probably a barber / surgeon.

Robert put all of his pain into this poem. You can almost feel the pain and misery of the ongoing toothache as you make your way through the verses.

Enjoy!