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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The Ancient One Show No 216

July 27, 2023

  Show No 216 from The Ancient One is now available as a podcast. This is a show in the series “Alphabetically Speaking” where all the artist names begin with the same lette…in this case, the letter G. Playlist 1 La Torre Dell’Alchimista – Risveglio (excerpt used as Intro) 2 David Gilmour – Where We […]

The Ancient One Show No 215

July 26, 2023

Show No 215 from The Ancient One is now available as a podcast. This show is one of the “Tall Tales” series, meaning all the tracks will be of epic lengths. Playlist 1 La Torre Dell’Alchimista – Risviglio (excerpt used as Intro) 2 The Samurai Of Prog – The Man In The Iron Mask Pt […]

101 Dimensions 110623 Jim2

June 30, 2023

The podcast for Jim’s 2nd show (110623) in the 101 Dimensions slot is now available. Playist Intro 1 Can – Halleluwah (Orbus 2 remix) 2 Ozric Tentacles – Afroclonk 3 Mochael Rother – Tiefenscharfe 4 Kraan – Inner Cycle 5 Jean Michel Jarre – Waiting Foe Cousteau 6 Mobius and Plank – Rastakraut Pasta 7 […]

The Ancient One Show No 208 The Samurai of Prog Story Pt 3

June 16, 2023

The third part of the Samurai Of Prog Story is now available as a podcast. This part moves through the Bernard and Porsti releases, The Guildmaster Project, Kimmo’s solo material and a collaboration album by Kimmo Porsti and Rafael Pacha. Information about the album, track and musicians will be given by Kimmo and Rafael. Playlist […]

The Ancient One Show No 206 The Samurai Of Prog Story Pt 1

June 16, 2023

The first part of The Ancient One’s “The Samurai Of Prog Story” is now available as a podcast. This covers albums 1-6 and features comments and information, about album/track/musicians, from Kimmo (Porsti) and Steve (Unruh) from Samurai of Prog. Playlist 1 Intro from Jim Lawson 2 Starship Trooper 3 World Of Adventures 4 Three Piece […]

The Ancient One Show No 207 The Samurai Of Prog Story Pt 2

June 16, 2023

The second part of The Ancient One’s “The Samurai Of Prog Story” is now available as a podcast. This covers albums 7-12 and features comments and information, about album/track/musicians, from Kimmo (Porsti) and Steve (Unruh) from Samurai of Prog and Marco Grieco, who is an integral part of SoP for album 12. Playlist 1 Intro […]

101 Dimensions 070523 Jim1

June 6, 2023

The podcast for Jim’s first 101 Dimensions show (070523) is npw available. Playlist 1 Intro 2 Klaus Schulze – Weird Caravan 3 Poor Genetic Material – Red Bird Of The South 4 Tonto’s Expanding Head Band – Cybernaut 5 Kosmonaut – Contagion Vapours 6 Breidablik – Omicron Pt 1 7 Ulrich Schnauss – Molfsee 8 […]

The Ancient One Show No 212

June 2, 2023

Show No 212 from The Ancient One has koined the list of podcasts available. This is a Mixed Bag show with a difference, in that all the tracks come from Norwegian bands, Playlist. 1 La Torre Dell’Alchimista – Resviglio (used as Intro) 2 Fatal Fusion – Tears I’ve Cried 3 Magic Pie – Full Circle […]

The Ancient One Show No 213

June 1, 2023

Show No 213 from The Ancient One is now available as a podcast. This is one of the “2 from 6” series of shows, wher Jim chooses 6 bands, 1 album in their back catalogue and plays 2 tracks from it. Hear music from Ukraine, Norway, UK and Italy. Playlist. 1 La Torre Dell’Alchimista – […]

The Ancient One Show No 214

May 31, 2023

The podcast for the latest show by The Ancient One is now available. This is a Mixed Bag show featuring 15 tracks from Australia, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Italy, Poland and France. Playlist 1 La Torre Dell’Alchimista – Resviglio (excerpt used as Intro) 2 Eros – Capricornia 3 Grand Tour – Back In The […]