Victorian influencers, oldest and newest hotels and a new mural in Edinburgh
Newsletter from Scotland for the creative and curious wanderer
When Victorian influencer Walford Bodie and the Henry sisters went viral
Perhaps you've never heard of him but this Scottish magician and music hall entertainer was one of the most famous and highly paid influencers and pioneers of his era and a friend of Harry Houdini.
He was Samuel Murphy Bodie, AKA Walford Bodie, AKA the Electrical Wizard of the North. Born in George Street, Aberdeen in 1869, he began performing in Stonehaven Town Hall in 1884, age 16, introducing electricity to his show. At that time, electricity was considered a mysterious force. The Bodie Show grew in popularity with illusions, hypnotism, magic tricks and ventriloquism.
Mystic Marie, La Belle Electra and Princess Rubie, the Henry Sisters
He married one of his fellow acts from the show, mind reader and illusionist Jeannie Henry AKA Princess Rubie.
Two of her sisters also got involved. Mary, musical director and telepathist, was known as Mystic Marie and Isabella was La Belle Electra. Isabella also performed as a chorus comedienne under the name Miss Bella Skene. Both Walford Bodie and Isabella would strap themselves into electric chairs and seemingly pass 30,000 volts through their body to light up various bulbs and lamps with their hands.
By 1900, he had renamed himself as Doctor Walford Bodie MD (cheekily claiming the MD stood for Merry Devil) and claimed to be a 'bloodless surgeon' curing people with electricity and hypnotism. The Bodie Show toured the UK, went viral and became known around the world. The methods he used on stage seem to be a mix of suggestion, electro-therapy, magnetism, physiotherapy and early use of NLP.
He fell from favour following a high profile trial and rioting student doctors challenging his claim to be a medical doctor, yet he still believed he was onto something. So, he then set up The Bodie Electric Drug Company of London, producing and selling ‘Dr Bodie’s Famous Electric Liniment’ and ‘Dr Bodie’s Renowned Electric Life Pills’. His adverts would have been popping up in your Instagram feed today.
In 1920 Houdini gifted Walford Bodie with a real electric chair, the one used for the first ever execution at Sing Sing prison. Charlie Chaplin impersonated him on stage and later in film.
Walford Bodie settled in Macduff with his extended family and children, living his best life in his specially-commissioned Manor House on Skene Street in 1905.
Jeannie, his only daughter, a talented vocalist and musician who assisted in his shows, died in 1909 at age 18. Walford commissioned a grey and pink granite memorial fountain in her honour which you can find today at the Maritime Garden on Crook O'Ness Street.
Walford Bodie died in Blackpool after collapsing on stage at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 1939, aged 68. The entire family is buried in the cemetery at Macduff.
New hotel in Edinburgh
opening 23rd June
A new Hoxton hotel with 214 bedrooms has just opened in Edinburgh city centre. Located in a block of 11 adjoining Georgian townhouse on a peaceful street. It's a short walk from Haymarket station and tram stop making it super easy to access from the airport, rail and bus network.
Rooms have modern interiors mixed with original features and accessible rooms. Some great features include flexible check-in/out, free cancellations, black-out blinds, single rooms - each room has a cute Roberts radio. It even has its own mini cinema. It also comes with its own Italian restaurant, Patatino, with a local produce-led menu.
Coming soon: three self-contained three-bedroom houses with kitchen and living space.
It's an easy walking distance to the Paolozzi stained glass windows, National Gallery of Modern Art, Dean Village as well as being city centre. Loyalty members get 50% off.
The Kings Arms Hotel, Lockerbie
29 High Street, Lockerbie DG11 2JL
One of Scotland's oldest hotels, and likely to be the oldest building in Lockerbie, this early 17th Century coaching inn, retains its traditional exterior and some interior features including log fires and original beams in the public areas. It retains evidence of the wide passageway which would have led horse-drawn coaches to the old stable.
Each room has its own individual character and single rooms are available. You can get a fully cooked Scottish breakfast here, with veggie and GF options too. There is also a popular restaurant with seasonal menu using local produce and function room for private events and their Hogmanay ceilidh.
above images are from Lockerbie Past and Present Facebook page
Of course the inn has a history of many visitors over the centuries, including Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites in 1745, Rabbie Burns and Sir Walter Scott in 1813 and Bing Crosby - yes there’s golfing opportunities nearby. Could there be ghosties there too? There’s thought to be the ghost of a Jacobite soldier, Walter Scott and an anonymous lady in crinolene.
Lockerbie is easy to reach by train being equidistant between Edinburgh and Glasgow and a great first stop from England, with the hotel a five minute walk from the train station. Staying here would allow access to Lochmaben, Drumlanrig and Caerlaverock castles, Traquair House, Sweetheart Abbey, Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall and Rabbie Burns' residence in Dumfries.
new mural for Consulate of Ukraine
Windsor Street, Edinburgh
The Consulate of Ukraine in Edinburgh has just unveiled a new commissioned mural project for its public space in Windsor Street. The mural was created by Abandoned Artists, a collective social enterprise of displaced artists from the Ukraine. Everstill is a tribute to resilience and includes a poem by Ukrainian poet Vasyl Symonenko.
Abandoned Artists also has an exhibition planned for Custom House in September. Abandoned Artists mission is the belief that creativity can be a transformative force for individuals and communities.
In May, the team also unveiled a new mural at a pedestrian tunnel in Wishaw, North Lanarkshire - now renamed the Scottish - Ukrainian friendship tunnel.
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From Scotland with love x