{"id":2753,"date":"2024-09-29T14:25:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T13:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/?p=2753"},"modified":"2024-09-29T14:25:04","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T13:25:04","slug":"james-cosmo-and-buddhist-monk-wow-wigtown-book-festival-audiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/?p=2753","title":{"rendered":"James Cosmo and Buddhist Monk Wow Wigtown Book Festival Audiences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>From tough guy and horseman to\u00a0<em>Nightsleeper\u00a0<\/em>and whisky<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Buddhist monk explores how to thrive in hard times<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scottish actor James Cosmo \u2013 who has appeared in no less than 130 Hollywood movies \u2013 made a sell-out appearance during the first weekend on the Wigtown Book Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Known for everything from&nbsp;<em>Braveheart<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Highlander&nbsp;<\/em>to&nbsp;<em>Game of Thrones<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>The Chronicles of Narnia<\/em>,&nbsp;<em>Troy<\/em>and&nbsp;<em>Trainspotting<\/em>&nbsp;he spoke about his long career and the people he has met along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fact that he was a big man and an accomplished rider proved to be a huge help in his early days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said:&nbsp;<em>\u201cI tended to play Bigfoot lumps. I did a lot of tough guy stuff. I could ride horses, so did an awful lot of stuff on horses. In fact, if you look at me from behind, my backside is actually saddle-shaped.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cAnd then I tried to deny middle age as long as possible. But it arrived anyway, and I found that you actually start to play more interesting and deeper characters. And that&#8217;s a wonderful thing about being an actor, you can act until you fall over.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He is currently appearing in the BBC&nbsp;thriller&nbsp;<em>Nightsleeper<\/em>&nbsp;and has a three-part series for Amazon, filmed in Glasgow, with Martin Compson called&nbsp;<em>Fear<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recently his career has taken a new turn as he has been working with Annandale Distillery to develop his new&nbsp;<em>Storyman<\/em>&nbsp;label whisky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A contrasting figure was Gelong Thubten, actor-turned-Buddhist monk, whose Handbook for Hard Times offers a guide to surviving and thriving through life\u2019s difficulties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The monk, who spent years at the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Centre at Eskdalemuir, is a world-renowned teacher of meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the weekend he led a workshop allowing people to try relaxation techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This year\u2019s festival features more than 250 events and activities and runs until 6 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highlights of the second weekend include a festival-within-a-festival dedicated to food with demonstrations and talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They feature a host of well-known guests such as The Hebridean Baker&nbsp;Coinneach MacLeod, Scotland\u2019s National Chef Gary MacLean, MasterChef finalist Sarah Rankin and Sanjana Modha Sanjana, creator of amazing modern Indian cookery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>-Ends-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Notes&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This year\u2019s Wigtown Book Festival has more than 250 events and takes place from 27 September to 6 October. See\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/wigtownbookfestival.ticketsolve.com\/products\/donation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donations<\/a>\u00a0to support the work of WFC are welcome.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For more about Wigtown Book Festival see\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wigtownbookfestival.com\/\">www.wigtownbookfestival.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About EventScotland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">EventScotland is working to make Scotland the perfect stage for events by securing and supporting an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events. It provides funding opportunities and access to resources and information to develop the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">EventScotland is a team within VisitScotland\u2019s Events Directorate, the national tourism organisation, alongside Business Events and Development teams.&nbsp;For further information about EventScotland, its funding programmes and latest event news&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitscotland.org\/events\">visit www.eventscotland.org<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EventScotNews\">follow Twitter @EventScotNews<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/eventscotland\/\">follow us on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About Creative Scotland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here.&nbsp;&nbsp;It enables&nbsp;people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life.&nbsp;&nbsp;Creative Scotland&nbsp;distributes&nbsp;funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit&nbsp;www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and&nbsp;www.facebook.com\/CreativeScotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For media information:&nbsp;<\/strong>Matthew Shelley at&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:Matthew@ScottishfestivalsPR.org\">Matthew@ScottishfestivalsPR.org<\/a>&nbsp;or 07786 704299.<strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Wigtown Festival Company Ltd, 11 North Main Street, Wigtown, Dumfries &amp; Galloway, Scotland, UK, DG8 9HN. Wigtown Festival Company Ltd is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Scottish Charity No. SCO37<\/em><em>98&nbsp;<\/em><em>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scottish actor James Cosmo \u2013 who has appeared in no less than 130 Hollywood movies \u2013 made a sell-out appearance during the first weekend on the Wigtown Book Festival. Known for everything from&nbsp;Braveheart&nbsp;and&nbsp;Highlander&nbsp;to&nbsp;Game of Thrones,&nbsp;The Chronicles of Narnia,&nbsp;Troyand&nbsp;Trainspotting&nbsp;he spoke about his long career and the people he has met along the way. The fact that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2753"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2755,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions\/2755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cool-banzai.185-132-38-6.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}