Fact and fiction sometimes collide in spectacular fashion.
Such as when I’m talking to Lorraine Kelly about her love of Orkney and she tells me: “If I had a magic wand, I would live up there.”
And then the conversation moved on to what sounded like Harry Potter. Erm, hang on a minute.
In the event, though, Lorraine was actually referring to Andrew Appleby, a master of ceramics who has been working at his kiln on the island for the last 50 years.
Which explains why he is known from Kirkwall to Stromness as the Harray Potter.
But he’s also the president of the John Rae Society; the organisation dedicated to preserving and enhancing the reputation of the pioneering Victorian explorer.
It has done a terrific job of highlighting the achievements of Rae, who discovered the final portion of the Northwest Passage in Canada in 1854 after unearthing the gruesome fate of Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated polar expedition in 1845.
That tragedy led to the death of 129 men, including Franklin himself, and subsequently became the focus of Ridley Scott’s acclaimed TV drama series The Terror.
Rae was ostracised from society
Sadly, at least during his lifetime, the Orcadian’s controversial conclusion – which has since been validated – that several crew members had resorted to cannibalism shocked Victorian sensibilities and led to a furious rebuttal from Charles Dickens.
But the society has attracted patrons of the stellar quality of Sir Michael Palin and Ray Mears. And Lorraine is the latest to join the ranks and talk about her admiration.
She told me: “On my first trip to Orkney back in the 1980s, I obviously visited St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall – and was struck by the sculpture of John Rae.
“He was dressed in proper Inuit clothing and had a book and a rifle at his side. He looked as though he had just fallen asleep in the snow.
The society is a dedicated team
“I had to find out more about him and, when I visited Orkney last year and met up with Andrew (the renowned Harray Potter), he told me about the society and how they were trying to restore his house at the Hall of Clestrain and install a museum in his honour.
“I am delighted to become a patron because I think that John Rae deserves to be given his place alongside the great explorers – and this building will do just that.
“There is a lot of hard work still to be done, but Andrew has a dedicated and passionate team working with him and I am confident that we can do it.”
Lorraine was smitten with Orkney from her maiden visit, whether reporting on the world’s shortest commercial flight – a two-minute hop, skip and jump between Papa Westray and Westray, where there is barely time to sit down before you’ve landed.
She speaks with genuine warmth about such mesmerising sights as Skara Brae – “Which has been there for more than 5,000 years and people were living there before the Pyramids were built – and the mystical standing stones dotted across the landscape.
It has something for everybody
Yet Lorraine is as keen on savouring the future as the past and is thrilled about being a pivotal figure at the opening ceremony of the Island Games in Orkney this summer.
The broadcaster, chat show host and author will welcome athletes from 24 islands and island groups across the world to Kirkwall for the biennial competition in July.
The event, which features 12 different sports, is taking place in Orkney for the first time and Lorraine is relishing the opportunity to welcome global vistors to the islands.
She told me: “I’m very excited, it’s like a mini Olympics, and there are so many reasons why I’m keen to promote this as much as I can.
“It’s about sport, obviously, and youngsters coming together from across the globe. But it’s not just about winning medals, but participants forging friendships, making memories and discovering why Orkney is such a treasured place.
‘I haven’t been to all the islands’
“I’m honoured to have been asked to host the opening of the Games and I’ll be trying to tell the different teams about some of the reasons why Orkney is special.
“Shetland previously hosted the games [in 2005], but, since then, they have been held in places such as Jersey, Rhodes, Bermuda and Gibraltar. And now they are being held in my ‘happy place’. I’m so looking forward to it.”
As somebody whose life is often a whistle-stop tour of hotel check-ins, arrivals at airport departure lounges and interviews with A-listers, Lorraine is clearly grateful for how Orkney allows visitors to soak in the fresh air, the silence, the tranquillity.
Some residents might complain about the slow broadband speeds on the islands.Yet such considerations seem irrelevant amid the rugged serenity of Skara Brae, where not even 24’s Jack Bauer would manage to find a mobile phone signal.
Her first book is based in Orkney
Unsurprisingly, when the chance presented itself for her to write a novel, Lorraine chose to set The Island Swimmer in Orkney. But, befitting a journalist with more than 40 years experience, she poured her heart and soul into the venture.
And, even as it comes out in paperback this month, she has been ecstatic at the reception, not just from the public, but the critics as well.
She said: “There was nothing more thrilling than when I went into the bookshop in Kirkwall and saw my novel. Seeing your book on the shelf makes it real.
“I noticed someone reading it at the airport and I wanted to tell them: ‘That was me’ – but I didn’t, that’s too boasty.
The next one is in the pipeline
“The thing is though that I’ve found that authors are really supportive, especially other women. And I think that’s very important.
“I always say: ‘Don’t raise the ladder, if you’ve got a position in life – in whatever area – you have to put out your hand and give help’.”
It’s a positive philosophy and Lorraine was as good as her word when we returned to discussing just one of the ways she is boosting the John Rae Society.
First, she sent me a selfie of her wearing a silver necklace in the shape of a snowshoe.
John Rae would have approved
Then she added: “Isn’t it great? It will help raise funds, it was designed by Orkney-based Karen Duncan and you’ll find her at Karen@karenduncanjewellery.com”
And that, ladies and entlemen, is how you start a new Instagram sensation.
The Island Swimmer is published by Orion.
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