It's all about the furniture

How 'formal' will the all-new Scottish Nine be ?  Editor Hayley Valentine's words as reported by The Herald are somewhat opaque “We are very definitely a news programme – it has two presenters and a sofa, and we want that relationship to be part of the programme, but that is as far as it goes.”

Presumably she also considered two armchairs, some bar stools, a chaise-longue, and a range of different stances in the hunt for informal innovation in the relationship with two presenters. Ms Valentine continues: “We will aim to bring the best of the BBC, so you will see some well-kent faces from the 6 o’clock news and 10 o’clock news, alongside the best of what is on BBC Scotland.”

My online Oxford Dictionary says well-kent means 'familiar'. The construction goes way back: "Mid 16th century; earliest use found in David Lindsay (c1486–1555), writer and herald. In some forms from well + kenned." Current use is almost entirely within Scotland, according to a cursory Google search.

Lindsay, based near Aberdeen, wrote poems including The Deploratioun of the Deith of Quene Magdalene (‘O Cruell Deith, to greit is thy puissance’), a morality play, Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits ( 'The mysdemeanours of Busshops Religious persones and preists within the Realme'). The comedic devices of The Testament and Complaynt of Our Soverane Lordis Papyngo included a dying parrot giving advice to the King and his court.  Must tell Mr Cryer....

Here's more Hayley.

📺 ICYMI: Yesterday, The Nine's Editor @HayleyVa announced what viewers can expect to see when the programme launches on the new @BBCScotland channel in February. pic.twitter.com/JYy7uyoNil

— BBC Scotland Comms (@BBCScotComms) November 29, 2018