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 – Edition 142”

August 30, 2020

The Ancient One is pleased to say that the podcast for Show No 142 “Tall Tales Vol 9” is now available. This show highlights some excellent long tracks from Ukraine, Germany, Netherl ands, Australia and the UK. Playlist. 1 Greenslade – Spirit of the Dance (excerpt used as Intro) 2 Pacifica – The Mariner 3 […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 141”

August 16, 2020

The Ancient One is delighted to say that Show No 141 is now available as a podcast. This is one of the series, Short Stories Vol 6, which are shorter songs, all under 6 minutes. Hear music from Germany, Switzerl and, Norway, France, USA, Belgium, Australia, Irel and, Japan, Israel, Brazil, Netherl ands, Sweden and […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 140”

August 5, 2020

The Ancient One is very pleased to say that Show No 140 is now available as a podcast. This is a very special show, tracing the history of the b and, Abel Ganz, from the beginning in 1980 to the release of the latest album, The Life Of The Honey Bee and Other Moments Of […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 97”

August 4, 2020

The Ancient One is delighted to say that Show No 97 is now available as a podcast. This is one of the PB4X shows from 2018. The Prog Before Xmas is an annual “mini festival” held in the Drygate Brewery in Glasgow at the beginning of December. This show featured Glen Brielle (creative vehicle for […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 123”

August 3, 2020

The Ancient One is pleased to say that the show from PB4X 2019, from late 2019, is now available as a podcast. At the time it was recorded, featuring the b ands appearing at the annual Prog Before Xmas gig in the Drygate Brewery in Glasgow, it was not uploaded as a podcast due to […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 139”

July 20, 2020

The Ancient One is very pleased to say that Show No 139, “Featuring Adventure, Fatal Fusion and The Windmill is now available as a podcast on the Progzilla website. This features music from the back catalogues of each of the b ands. Adventure and Fatal Fusion have released 4 albums and The Windmill have released […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 138”

July 5, 2020

The Ancient One is pleased to tell everyone that the podcast for Show No 138 “The Canadian Special Vol 1” is now available. This highlights some of the best, past and present, progressive artists from Canada. We go from 1974 all the way up to 2019. Playlist 1 Greenslade – Spirit Of The Dance (excerpt […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 137”

June 21, 2020

The Ancient One is pleased to announce that Show No 137, “Mixed Bag Vol 12” is now available as podcast. This contains 14 superb tracks from Germany, France, Poland, Canada, Netherlands, Belarus, Ukraine, Norway and the UK. Playlist 1 Greenslade – Spirit Of The Dance (excerpt used as Intro from Recollections CD) 2 Traumhaus – […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 136”

June 7, 2020

The new show by The Ancient One is now available as a podcast. This is Show No 136, “Swedish Tall Tales” which is a fusion of two types of show, a Country show (all Swedish artists) and a Tall Tales Show (all long tracks). Seven epics in the 3 hour show. Majestic. Playlist 1 Greenslade […]

“Podcast: The Ancient One – Edition 135”

May 24, 2020

The Ancient One is again delighted to be able to state that Show No 135 is now available as a podcast. This is one of the series of shows called “Featuring” and this can be a particular band or a particular album, but for Vol 11 (Show 135) the 3 hours are given over to […]