h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Every couple of weeks I drive past a Glasgow chip shop called the Val D'oro on the way back from the Barras where I've been getting Mrs swl's cheap fags. It's at Glasgow Cross, the junction of the Trongate & Gallowgate and there's always a queue of traffic at the lights giving you time to look around. The Val D'oro is, like most of the businesses at this end of town, a rather grubby looking establishment with a neon sign in the window proclaiming "Home of the Famous Glasgow Fish Tea". I've never heard of a Glasgow Fish Tea but I have heard of the owner because he was in all the papers a couple of years ago. Apparently he's the son of Italian post-war immigrants and he is quite the opera singer. An accomplished tenor "Gee Gee" as the Weegies call him or Luigi Corvi as his dad named him, belts out opera songs in between serving sausage suppers.

Here he is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eOqRvoLlWY

Certainly adds local colour

But that's not what I'm writing about. Outside the chippy, above the facade is a brilliant piece of art. Put there for the Pope's visit it's hung at the spot where (before the chippy was built) Scotland's only post Reformation Saint was hung and gralloched (disembowelled) in 1615. John Ogilvie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ogilvie_(saint) was a priest who ministered to the very few Catholics who dared to remain in Scotland after the religious hysteria typified by John Knox saw Catholics hounded from Scotland by Protestants. The East End of Glasgow is still strongly Catholic to this day though, perhaps due in part to Ogilvie's sacrifice and the reason he was made a Saint by the Pope.

Anyway - the picture http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/49424484.jpg

It's huge and dominates the street. Obviously the bloke being crucified is Ogilvie. To the left is Peter Corvi, father of Luigi and the man who established the Val D'Oro, offering up a fish supper to the dying priest. But the figure who always makes me smile is the wee boy by the cross, offering up his bottle for the crucified man to take a swig from.

This to me typifies Glaswegians. Generous to a fault, they have a warmth and spirit that you find in oppressed communities the world over, interspersed with a real sense of humour. The wee boy - in England he'd be a Chav but in Scotland he's a Ned - is undoubtedly in my mind shouting in that unmistakeable high pitched nasal Weegie whine;

"Haw big man! Gaun then, try an' swally that ya walloper", safe in the knowledge that his Buckfast is safely out of reach for the man with his hands nailed to the cross-member.

The youtube link was quite entertaining. Nice to see the staff at 3.00 looking really busy.

But, seriously, the man could do with shifting a few chip butties. Who's the fat supplier? That'll be him then!

Nice description of the venue - the video bears this out. I'll take a look next time myself and the significant spender are that way.

I also appreciate the cultural and historical information that you took so much time to supply, but unfortunately, after watching the fat bloke and soaking up the ambiance, there was no other option.

I heartily enjoyed my fish-supper. Sod the history.

Oh I wouldn't recommend eating anything from there! The only place in the East End where the food won't kill you is Coia's in Duke Street - another Italian. You stand a better than average chance of getting mugged in that neighbourhood though, so get a taxi right to the door