Jim Lawson

Born back in the mists of time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth…well, the year that Sir Edmund Hilary climbed Mt Everest, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and when Watson and Crick unravelled the structure of DNA, The Ancient One truly lives up to his name. After spending 33 years in teaching, the last 25 as Head of Biology, I successfully applied for early retirement (2008) and moved lock and stock (I didn’t possess any barrels at the time) to the beautiful Isle of Skye, off the west coast of Scotland, to join my partner, The Landlady. (now known as Mrs Ancient One) As a retired person, I looked around the various voluntary openings that existed and one led me to the local radio station, Cuillin FM. I thought I might be able to help out sorting cds or something. Within a couple of weeks I was asked if I wanted to present a program and trained up as soon as I said “Yes”. Launched onto the airwaves was the show “Strangely Strange but Oddly Normal” and I was able to foist some of my shedload of music onto an unsuspecting public. From mainstream rock/folkrock the contents slowly evolved to full blown progressive rock with leanings towards the symphonic melodic areas. The title of the show also changed to “Strangely Strange and The Ancient One”, which initially confused listeners as they expected 2 presenters, and thus the show title was shortened to simply “The Ancient One”. The show has appeared onCuillin FM,North Highland Radio, Pipeline Radio International and. More Music Radio The Ancient One show on Progzilla Radio is a 3hr show going out fortnightly, (every Tuesday night at 21:00 UK) highlighting the best in progressive music, so expect lots of modern progressive music, but with the odd excursion back in time to the classic works of the late 60’s/early 70’s, all showing a more symphonic nature. Every 2nd Saturday at midday UK, there is the chance to hear an Ancient One Archive Show from 7 years ago, and every 5th Sunday between the hours of midnight and 02:00 UK, The Ancient One presents 101 Dimensions a show featuring ambient, electronica, krautrock and more with no mic work.

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“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition102”

February 18, 2019

I’m delighted to say that the latest show from The Ancient One, Show No 102, “Short Stories Vol 3” is now available as a podcast. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandenburger (excerpt used as Intro) (The Immediate Collection 3CD Boxset) 2 Adam Rabin – The Badger Flies At Dawn (The Badger Flies At Dawn 2018) […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 101”

February 5, 2019

The Ancient One Show No 101 “Featuring..Vol 5” is now available as a podcast. This show features 4 tracks from the Norwegian band, Adventure and 3 tracks from the multinational band, The Samurai of Prog. Not only that, the competition to win a signed copy of “New Horizon” (Adventure) and “Omnibus The Early Years” (The […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 100”

January 26, 2019

The Ancient One Show no 100 is now available as a podcast. This is the second part of “Best of 2018, The Short(er) Ones) 21 tracks which the Ancient One really liked in 2018. Playlist 1 The Nice -Brandenburger (excerpt used as intro) (The Immediate Collection 3CD set) 2 John Holden – Ancient Of Days […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 99”

January 22, 2019

It gives me great pleasure to say that The Ancient One Show No 99 is now available as a podcast. This is part 1 of The Ancient One’s Best of 2018..The Long Ones. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandenburger (excerpt use as the intro) (The Immediate Collection 3cd boxset) 2 The Windmill – The Tree […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 98”

January 21, 2019

It gives me great pleasure to say that The Ancient One Show No 98 is now available as a podcast. This is one of the “Mixed Bag” series Vol 5. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandenburger (excerpt used as intro) (The Immediate Collection 3cd set) 2 La Torre Dell’Alchimista – Risveglio Procreazione e Dubbio (Neo […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 96”

December 8, 2018

I’m pleased to say that Show No 96 from The Ancient One is now available as a podcast. This show is subtitled ” The Concept Show Vol 3″ This is a show featuring sections from concept albums both old and new. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandenburger (excerpt used as the intro) (from The Immediate […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 95”

December 8, 2018

I’m pleased to say that Show No 95 from The Ancient One is now available as a podcast. This is subtitled ” Featuring…Vol 4″ and the artist is The Windmill from Norway. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandnburger (excerpt used as the Intro) (From The Immediate Collection 3CD set) 2 IQ – Fading Senses (Ever […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 94 (Short Stories Vol 2)”

November 4, 2018

The Ancient One is delighted to inform everyone that the podcast for Show No 94 “Short St0ries Vol 2” is now available. This is the show of shorter tracks not exceeding 10 minutes. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandenburger (excerpt from The Immediate Collection 3cd set) 2 Fractal Mirror – Close To The Vapour (Close […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 93 (Tall tales Vol 3)”

November 4, 2018

I’m delighted to announce that the podcast for The Ancient One Show No 93 “Tall Tales Vol 4” is now available. Playlist 1 The Nice – Brandenburger (excerpt from The Immediate Collection 3cd set) 2 Erik Norlander – Dark Water (The Galactive Collection 2010/2012) 3 Octavarium – Out Of Time (Out Of Time 2018) 4 […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 92 (The Can Story Part 3)”

November 1, 2018

Now available as a podcast, The Ancient One show to complete The Can Story with Part 3.This part deals with solo material from the 4 core members plus some collaboration work. It also features a couple of jingles with Holger Czukay and also Kumo, as well as a short explanation of Cool In The Pool […]