Peter Mullan's Orphans and related documentary on BBC iplayer

 For UK readers, Peter Mullan's film Orphans, and an accompanying documentary reuniting the cast, will be available on BBC iplayer, or whatever it's cried these days, for the next four weeks; search for BBC Scotland.

Seeing it on the big screen at the time of its release was, for me, a cathartic moment, and this is what I wrote about it afterwards:

Its (rhythmic) wails were as of Jaspar, or Why I got a kick out of Sanky

I bought it on a Saturday in 1975 or 1976 at a jumble sale or record fair - or some compromise between the two - held in the McLellan Galleries in Glasgow. Neither side of my purchase, an obscure 78, proved to be a masterpiece, but I would dearly love to hear them again. Which is unlikely, because there is almost no trace of this record online.

It ain't no sweet thing, the toll of the bell ...

Well, this is unexpected - gobsmacking, even.

You may recall that some time ago, in the Gnome Thoughts series about David Bowie's early influences, I briefly alighted on the Myles Rudge and Ted Dicks song Toll the Bell For Minnie Dyer, recorded by Kenneth Williams on the album For Pleasure Bent with an arrangement by Baz Booth.

The song can be heard on Mr Booth's own website but tonight I searched youtube to see whether a higher-fi version might have been uploaded there. The answer is no - at least, not as recorded by Kenneth Williams.