Talk of the Town: Pipers lament their costly judging error

A COUNTY band have been left ruing a judging mistake at the World Pipe Band Championships after their third-place finish was rescinded.

Bathgate and Boghall Caledonia Pipe Band thought they had their best-ever finish at the event in Glasgow Green but, following the announcement, judges then made a dramatic U-turn and instead gave third place to former world champions Simon Fraser University (SFU) of Canada.

The West Lothian pipers were level on 27 points with the Canadians, but the sticking point was the fact that the North American band scored a better first round, which counts for more if any bands are tied.

The band's secretary William McCafferty said: "Everyone was left a bit disappointed and jaded, but everyone makes mistakes."

Addison is at great pains to deliver stand-up show

PRIZE for trooper of this year's Fringe goes to Chris Addison, who took to the stage at the Assembly Ballroom for his first show on Monday night.

The star of The Thick Of It paced about with undiminished energy for an hour, despite the fact he had earlier leapt down the stairs at his New Town flat to meet the supermarket delivery man, torn a ligament and then fainted from pain amid the groceries.

Arriving on stage with crutches, he quickly flung them aside so he could perform unhindered, claiming he'd only persuaded the nurse to hand them over so he could make a stylish entrance.

Now that's suffering for your art.

The real match of the day

FOR Sara Mears there was the perfect "get out" when asked to bring along her skills as a Scotland Touch rugby internationalist to Leith Links on September 10 and participate in a Family Day organised by Active Schools Edinburgh and designed to get more youngsters playing sport.

"I'd love to have been there . . . but this is my wedding day!" Sara has told organisers in an e-mail.

Take note of lost wallets

EDINBURGH usually does well in surveys as a good place to live or a big draw for visitors.

But a new report out today found the Capital did not quite pass the "lost wallet" test.

Across the UK, three-fifths of Brits claimed they would either hand in a lost wallet or try to track down its owner, but only two in every ten lost wallets are returned.

In Edinburgh, two-fifths said they would hand in a lost wallet, but 94 per cent never see their wallets again. The report also found that in addition to the average 85 cash, people from Edinburgh carry more than 10,000 in credit in their wallets every day.