He’s the Scots-American who made America great the first time and we’re celebrating his very special birthday today.
Yes, Alexander Hamilton, whose Caledonian roots we are famously reminded of in the opening lines of the titular musical.
‘How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by Providence, impoverished, in squalor, grow up to be a hero and a scholar?’
Or become the centrepiece of a rap Broadway production?
There is, of course, another Scots-American sheriff, and New Yorker to boot, in town now who will be front and centre of the 250th anniversary celebrations.
Hamilton’s New York
Put your back into it: Hamilton
Whether this year is also the 270th anniversary of Hamilton is difficult to say.
Records for bastard, orphan sons of a whore and a Scotsman weren’t too reliable back in the mid-18th century.
Scots wha hae: With ‘the Donald’
And historians argue about whether he came mewling into the world on January 11, 1775 or 1777, which means it could have been 1776 too.
Which is what we’re hanging on to for the purposes of our lesson today.
Now Hamilton, of course, bestrides Broadway and has done since Lin Manuel Miranda’s show opened in 2015.
On a pedestal
Granite aid: Hamilton in Central Park
But few will, in truth, venture further afield in NY to see the places that define him or his granite statue in Central Park.
Unless, of course, you are a Scots Anglophile history buff, fresh up from Washington DC.
Famously it winds from Chicago to LA and takes in ten other named destinations on the way but we’re glad to say at last that the Route 66 terminus Santa Monica is getting its licks.
Route 66 has been following us all the past year since checking in to Chicago, where the great western highway begins… and we’ll go there again.
But here we’re flagging up the official finishing spot, the pier in Santa Monica, your final stop-off, unless you want to end up in the Pacific Ocean.
Why Bobby Troup bodyswerved Santa Monica when writing his classic 80 years ago about the odyssey to California is lost to history.
But the Santa Monica Travel & Tourism is putting that right.
By inviting musicians and songwriters from across the globe to celebrate the centennial of Route 66 through music.
A hundred-thousand reasons
And he’s off: Route 66 starting point in Chicago
The Route 66 Song Contest offers artists over-18 (we just qualify) the chance to submit an original track capturing the spirit of Santa Monica.
And its legendary connection to the highway for a chance to win $10,000.
Entries are welcome from the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Mexico, and New Zealand.
Route 66, The Mother Road, stretches 2,448 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica.
Now for the bike: Santa Monica Pier
‘The Santa Monica Route 66 Song Contest presents an opportunity for music lovers to be part of this historic anniversary’ said President/CEO Misti Kerns..
‘By invoking their artistic imagination and sharing what the road’s legacy and Santa Monica’s connection means to them.
‘The arts are core to Santa Monica’s community and culture.
‘And we’re pleased to invite artists from around the world to join us in creatively honoring this milestone.’
‘As part of the 100-year celebration, we look forward to welcoming visitors from around the globe.
‘to begin or end their Route 66 journey in our urban beach city.’
Riding into history
That should get us there: Photo time
And, of course, who’s to know if you cheat by getting a picture at the start in Chicago and one at the end in Santa Monica?
Maybe even ask a kind Hell’s Angel to take a photo of yourself next to his motorbike…
Well, it worked with a bicycle at the highest point of the Tour de France on the Col du Tourmalet.
Straddling Britain and Ireland means switching Christmas hats… so St Stephen’s Day v Boxing Day which is better?
Just one of the many cultural differences between the two islands is in what we call the Day After Christmas.
Being the first Christian martyr, St Stephen, of course, came before the consumerist Boxing Day.
And he has the jump on the alternative by dint of being by appointment to the Almighty.
With the Church decreeing early that the first martyr should bank the day after the day of Jesus’s birthday.
While Boxing Day had to wait until 1833, with Queen Victoria’s seat still warm on the throne.
When the aristocracy handed down some crumbs from their table.
From Melbourne to Massachussetts
Get into costume: Boston, Massachusetts
The upper classes would box up gifts and give them to their servants, the poor or tradespeople the day after Christmas Day.
Now as you’d expect Boxing Day took root in the countries of Empire, now Commonwealth, and are still celebrated today.
With Boxing Day in Melbourne, Australia, noted for its Test Match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, or MCG.
Although England, on the end of an Ashes humiliation, aren’t doing much partying.
Randomly, there is a corner of America where Boxing Day is a thing and that is in the least likely, Patriots’ Massachusetts.
Where since 1996 it’s been celebrated, in response to the efforts of a coalition of British citizens to ‘transport the English tradition to the United States’.
Long to wren over us
Czech it out: On the King Charles Bridge in Prague
Stephen’s Day, on the other hand, is where the rest of the Christian world outside of the King’s hails the first Christian martyr.
And a Joyeux Noel to all our pets and why a dog is for Christmas with Aer Lingus.
All animal lovers will know the challenges of transporting their creatures great and small at this time of year.
And our first-born, Celtic the Cat, would travel up in the back of the plane with a wee sleeping jag to help him with the journey.
Not that he would have needed it as he would sleep on Herself’s lap on the motorway into work in Berkshire back in the day… don’t tell!
Things are looking up: Wee Celtic
We’ll all have our tails (sorry) about how we reunite with our pets or bring them home.
And just like us they don’t like waiting in a tailback on the motorway.
Which, and don’t shoot us here, is why short-haul flights are often the answer.
Puppy heroes
Christmutts cheer: With Aer Lingus
Our friends at Aer Lingus certainly know how to look after our furry friends.
As can be seen here with Aer Lingus cabin crew member Pedro de Barros giving a warm welcome to Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland’s superhero puppies.
Or Rocket, Hulk and Phoenix to their friends, as they checked in at Dublin Airport today.
The three golden labradors, who are just 8 weeks old, were flying with Aer Lingus to Brussels.
Where they will begin specialised training to become life-changing assistance dogs for autistic children.
Aer Lingus worked closely with Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland, a Cork-based charity dedicated to providing assistance dogs to families of autistic children.
To ensure the pups travel safely and comfortably.
That’s a brood
Donegal doggies tale: With my Dear Old Dad
The puppies are part of a record-breaking litter of 15 golden labradors born in Co Tipperary in October to Labrador parents, Omma and Mango.
Which in Grandpa McNulty’s day wasn’t unusual for country folk, as he was the youngest of 15 in the Donegal townland of Brockagh.
The pups, nine male and six female, are all named after superheroes.
And I’m thinking here that my Grandpa’s poor mum was something of a hero herself.
Over the next two years, the adorable litter will transform from playful pups into expertly trained companions.
And they’ll offer independence and support to children who need them most.
To sing Galway Bay, just before the bells on Christmas Day.
All on video as part of the They Gave the Walls a Talking exhibition to showcase the diaspora.
Which Shane of course did more to champion than most.
Singing Galway Bay
Bing sings: The voice of Christmas
It was one-such Irish emigrant Dr Arthur Colahan, native of Fermanagh but reared in County Galway who wrote the much-loved song about the City of Tribes while living in Leicester.
Making Galway Bay at one point the biggest selling record of all time.
Ain’t that a Shane: Shane MacGowan
And you can’t get better Christmas cred than Bing and Shane a double act we’d have loved to have seen.
And we’ve even come up with the perfect collab… Eiretale of New York.
While Aer Lingus will fly you to the Big Apple with pre-clearance out of the Oul Country and we found a sample return flight from €566.76 for next month.
Which I do after the Son and Heir drained my Czech licquer with his pals on one of the occasions we left him with a Free House.
And he defensively told me that he would replace it after thinking that I would be duped by him and his Daft Pals leaving just a dribble at the bottom.
So if it’s Pittsburgh or Prague, Montpellier or Santiago be sure to get on board and get those stickers on your suitcase.
To show off, of course, but also to ensure your luggage stands out on the carousel.
The show offers exquisite costumes and a vibrant celebration of tradition and culture.
The next rodeo runs from February 12-March 1.
And of course it’s not a rodeo without a cast of Country greats including Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crowe and Ludacris.
Make a deal
Horn of plenty: Your Bandanaman
Now over to our friends from Visit San Antonio for an update on where we are in getting a direct flight.
From these islands to the fifth biggest city in the Oo Es of Eh.
With President and Chief Executive Marc Anderson revealing that their timeline of the next year has been extended because of the introduction of a Frankfurt service with Condor.
‘We’ll revisit the UK [flights] in 2026,” Anderson said.
My kinda stop-off
Telling us that we still have a “very convenient” journey to San Antonio via Houston or Dallas.
While our adventure took us through the hub that is Chicago which is our kinda town, people who.
But that’s another story and one we’re happy to share.
It’s just another staging post on the Tartan Army‘s world tour, and no doubt we’ll be coming down the road singing No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party.
We have, of course, been here before in Beantown, where Scotland’s first two games against Haiti and Morocco will be played.
With Scots early pioneers out to the American colonies.
And obviously being a Scot I got to walk this Son Of Liberty’s footsteps.
A Scot’s Swansong
James, I discovered, was quickly identified by Samuel Adams and the leaders as important to the cause.
Through his work at the mercantile house Thaxter & Son and their dealings with the sale of tea.
James, or Swannie as he was probably never known but would have been if he had been a footballer, brought his Scottish ways with him to New England.
I learned that he became a member of the St. Andrew’s Lodge of Freemasons, the Scots Charitable Society of Boston, and enlisted in the Revolutionary Army.
Ya dancer: The Boys in Blue
Where this Scottish soldier rose to the rank of colonel for the Battle of Bunker Hill.
And also held positions on the Massachusetts Board of War and Legislature.
My own time working as a busboy at Guadalaharry’s in Quincy Market and an ice cream shop in Faneuil Hall.
Stars in Stripes: Boston, cradle of the Revolution
Swannie, of course, would have been too busy fighting the English, and no doubt some Scots with the Brtitish Army, to have concerned himself with such pastimes as football.
Although it was a game, having been played back in the Old World since the 1500s with the oldest ball housed in Stirling Castle, not far from Swannie’s Fife fiefdom, from 1540.
Coming down the road: SuperMac Scott McTominay
Even if organised or Association football, from where we get the word soccer, had not taken hold in Scotland until 1873, 43 years after Swannie’s death in Paris.
Scotland’s famous Tartan Army will, of course, get a warm welcome from Bostonians.
And we will doubtless repay our hosts by supporting the Boys in Stars and Stripes when they play.
Just as Greenock native Ed McIlvenny did when he captained America to victory over England at the 1950 World Cup.
And there’s a trivia question for you and money you can take from your English friends in a bet.
America The Bountiful
In with the bricks: Your bartender
All of which trips down memory lane lead us neatly to our modern-day American friends at Brand USA.
Who hae put together a handy guide for footie fans for next summer.
Which celebrates this sports-mad city’s rich legacy.
Inside TD Garden, home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.
And would-be sportscasters can sit at a replica New England Sports Network (NESN) desk, where visitors can ‘Be the Broadcaster.’
This time: Scotland’s World Cup odyssey
So you can practise: ‘And Andy Robertson makes history as the first Scot to lift the World Cup.’
For those of who will go native, of course, there is the hub of American soccer fans, The Banshee.
A 14 television sports bar across two floors where the Tartan Army will converge.
Because No Scotland, no Boston Footie Party.
The wailing Banshee
Off your rocker: Boston Airport
This is where, The Banshee, the American Outlaws (supporters of the U.S. national football team) congregate as well as fans of other major sports leagues.
And on special celebrity bartending nights, local athletes pour drinks at this mainstay Dorchester-based Irish pub.
Now what Swannie and his pals would think of the America of today we can only imagine, but we’d say pride would be their foremost emotion.
Particularly as the tournament coincides with America 250, and Brand USA is spotlighting 250 things to do.
Across the US through a themed content series.
And as with all else with transatlantic travel from these islands to the Oo Es of Eh, we always advise travelling through Ireland.
And Aer Lingus with pre-clearance where you can get a sample return flight for a week, covering both matches from £963.58.
