Coordinates: 55°53′45″N 3°18′27″W / 55.895956°N 3.307439°W / 55.895956; -3.307439

Currie
Scottish Gaelic: Currach
Currie  Currie shown within Edinburgh
Population	14,271 (2001)
OS grid reference	NT182677
Civil parish	Currie
Council area	City of Edinburgh
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CURRIE
Postcode district	EH14
Dialling code	0131
Police	Lothian and Borders
Fire	Lothian and Borders
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Edinburgh South West
Scottish Parliament	Edinburgh Pentlands
List of places: UK • Scotland • Edinburgh

Currie (Scottish Gaelic: Currach) is a civil parish and suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated 10 kilometres south west of the city centre. A former village within the County of Midlothian, it lies to the south west of the city, between Juniper Green (NE) and Balerno (SW) on the Lanark Road. Administratively, Currie falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edinburgh Council.

In 1995 the population of Currie was 6,343 and it contained 2,300 houses, 850 of them less than 20 years old.

History[link]

There is no accepted derivation of the name Currie but it is possibly from the Scottish Gaelic word curagh/curragh, a wet or boggy plain, or from the Brythonic word curi, a dell or hollow. The neighbouring suburb of Balerno derives its name from Scottish Gaelic, whilst the nearby Pentland Hills derive their name from Brythonic, so either is possible.

The earliest record of a settlement in the Currie area is a Bronze Age razor (1800 BC) found at Kinleith Mill and the stone cists (500 BC) at Duncan's Belt and Blinkbonny. There are a few mentions of this area in mediaeval and early modern documents. One of the first is when Robert of Kildeleith became Chancellor of Scotland in 1249. Kildeleith means Chapel by the Leith, and survives today as Kinleith. Robert the Bruce gave Riccarton as a wedding present in 1315 and in 1392 the land passed to the family of Bishop Wardlaw. In 1612 the land went to Ludovic Craig, a Senator of the College of Justice. In 1818 it passed to the female line and became the property of the Gibson-Craigs.

There has been a Christian community in the area for more than 1,000 years. In 1018, the archdeacons of Lothian set up their headquarters in the area. John Bartholomew's Civic and Ecclesiastical maps of the 13th century do not show Currie, but the Index of Charters 1309-1413 records Currie as being 'favourite hunting grounds' for the Lords and Knights of Edinburgh Castle. A settlement began to take shape around Currie Kirk and the main Lanark Road, which was the main route south and continues to be known as 'The Lang Whang'.

The weaver poet James Thomson was brought up in the village in the late 18th century, and is commemorated by the dell of the Kinleith Burn being named the "Poet's Glen" where it runs down from beside his cottage at Mid Kinleith Farm to join the Water of Leith.

The period 1921-1951 brought great changes with the building of more council houses in Currie and private building along Lanark Road. Wider scale development began in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the construction of a private housing estate to the east of Curriehill Road. House builders began to promote Currie as a pleasant commuting suburb of Edinburgh and much house building took place to the north of Lanark Road West. Currie High School was constructed on its present site in 1966 and extensively refurbished and renewed in 1997. There was a short loop railway running over what is now the Water of Leith Walkway. The physical topography has ensured that the original historic core to the south of Lanark Road West including the Water of Leith has remained undeveloped. In March 1972 the historic centre of Currie was declared a Conservation Area.

Famous Residents[link]

• James Thomson (weaver poet)

Education[link]

The earliest record of education in the area is contained in the Minutes of Edinburgh Town Council in 1598, when Baillie Lawrence Henderson was sent to "the toun o Currie to help the gentlemen of the Parish select a Schoolmaister"; however it is not stated where the school was situated. In 1694, the heritors appointed a Mr Thomson to teach scholars in the Church until Thomas Craig of Riccarton found a place for the building of a school and house for the schoolmaster. The foundations of the school were laid in 1699. The school and school house cost 500 merks and the salary of the Schoolmaster, a Mr Thomson, was 20 pounds Scots per year.

Currie is served by Currie High School, Nether Currie Primary School and Currie Primary School, formed by an amalgamation in 2005 of Curriehill Primary School and Riccarton Primary School which shared neighbouring campuses.

From the 1970s onwards, Heriot-Watt University moved from its city centre location to occupy the lands of the former Riccarton Estate, gifted to the university by the then Midlothian District Council. The move has now been completed and the main campus of Heriot-Watt University occupies and manages a wooded area with enough space for future expansion.

Sport[link]

Football[link]

Currie has two youth football teams Currie Boys Club and Currie Star FC (Currie Star play their games in the Kingsknowe area of Edinburgh)

Rugby[link]

Currie has one rugby team, Currie RFC who are based and play their home games in the neighboring village of Balerno

Culture and attractions[link]

On the first Saturday of May The Currie Riding of the Marches takes place.

Local newspaper[link]

The Currie and Balerno News^[1] is Currie's community newspaper which also includes coverage of nearby Balerno, Baberton and Juniper Green. Published monthly, the paper features local news, a monthly police neighbourhood watch update, an SSPCA appeal and coverage of local planning applications and developments.

Local History Society[link]

Currie and District Local History Society meets 12 times a year and has speakers on all aspects of the area.

The society meets every first and third Monday in the month and their year starts in October. The venue is in the Gibson Craig Hall on the Lanark Road in Currie.

Transport[link]

The A70 runs through the area and Currie is serviced by the 44 bus route, which is operated by both Lothian Buses and First Edinburgh. Currie is served by rail by Curriehill railway station on the Glasgow-Edinburgh via Shotts Line. Currie is also close to the City of Edinburgh bypass and is bordered by the Union Canal to the north and the Water of Leith to the south. Edinburgh Airport is located approximately 4 miles north of Currie and the M8 motorway to Glasgow is around 2 miles north. It also has connections to Livingston in West Lothian through Prentice Westwood's 424, between Juniper Green and Livingston.

Famous residents[link]

• Dougal Haston - pioneer of Scottish mountaineering
• Jamie Dick - Youth Olympic Gold Medalist in Curling
• Matthew Lloyd - Australian Rules footballer, Essendon

See also[link]

• Heriot-Watt University
• Currie High School

References[link]

External links[link]

• Currie Community Council
• Currie Community High School
• Currie Rugby Football Club
• Heriot-Watt University
• Currie Primary School
• Nether Currie Primary's page on Scottish Schools Online
• Currie and District Local history Society
• Nether Currie Primary School

v t e Areas of Edinburgh Abbeyhill Alnwickhill Ardmillan Baberton Balerno Balgreen Bankhead Barnton Beechmount Bingham Blackford Blackhall Bonaly Bonnington Burghmuirhead Braepark Braid Hills Broomhouse Broughton Brunstane Bruntsfield Bughtlin Burdiehouse The Calders Calton Hill Cameron Toll Cammo The Canongate Canonmills Chesser Church Hill Clermiston Clerwood Colinton Comely Bank Comiston Corstorphine Cowgate Craigcrook Craigentinny Craigleith Craiglockhart Craigmillar Cramond Crewe Toll Currie Curriehill Dalmeny Dalmahoy Dalry Davidson's Mains Dean Village Drumbrae Drylaw Duddingston Dumbiedykes East Craigs East Pilton Easter Road Eastfield Edinburgh Park Fairmilehead Ferniehill Ferry Road Firrhill Forrester Fountainbridge Gilmerton Gogar Gogarloch Goldenacre Gorgie The Grange Grassmarket Granton Greenbank Greendykes Greenhill Haymarket Hermiston Holy Corner Holyrood Holyrood Park Hunter's Tryst Ingliston Inverleith Jock's Lodge Joppa Juniper Green Kaimes Kingsknowe Kirkliston Lauriston Leith Liberton Little France Lochend Lochrin Longstone Marchmont Maybury Mayfield Meadowbank The Meadows Merchiston Moredun Morningside Mortonhall Mountcastle Muirhouse Murrayfield New Town Newbridge Newcraighall Newhaven Newington Niddrie Northfield Old Town Oxgangs Parkgrove Parkhead Piershill Pilrig Pilton Polwarth Portobello Powderhall Prestonfield Ratho Ratho Station Ravelston Redford Restalrig Riccarton Roseburn Saughton Sciennes Seafield Shandon Sighthill Silverknowes Slateford South Gyle South Queensferry Stenhouse Stockbridge Swanston Tollcross Torphin Trinity Turnhouse Tynecastle Warriston West Coates West Craigs West Pilton Wester Hailes Wester Broom Western Harbour Westfield West End

Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Cherie Ann Currie
Born	(1959-11-30) November 30, 1959 (age 52) Encino, California, US
Genres	Punk rock Hard rock Rock and Roll
Occupations	Musician, singer, songwriter, actress, artist
Instruments	Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active	1976–present
Associated acts	The Runaways, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Lita Ford
Website	Official site

Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actress, and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Life and career[link]

Currie was born to Don Currie and actress Marie Harmon.^[1] She was raised in the Encino district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. Her brother is Don Currie Jr., and her sisters are actress Sondra Currie and Cherie's twin, Marie Currie.

Currie was the teenage lead vocalist for the all-female rock band The Runaways with bandmates Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox, and Vicki Blue. Bomp! magazine described her as "the lost daughter of Iggy Pop and Brigitte Bardot".^{[citation needed]}

Currie joined The Runaways in 1975, at age 15. The teen rock anthem "Cherry Bomb" was written for her at the audition. Assessments of her impact at that time differ; one reviewer has written that "the received wisdom that [the Runaways] carved out new territory for female musicians is hard to justify – it's doubtful that the predominantly male audience who flocked to see the 16-year-old [Currie] in her undies picked up any feminist subtext".^[2]

After three albums with The Runaways, (The Runaways, Queens of Noise, and Live in Japan), Currie went on to record three other albums. She recorded Beauty's Only Skin Deep as a solo artist for Polygram Records. With her twin sister Marie, she recorded Messin' With The Boys for Capitol Records and Young and Wild for Raven. She then worked as an actress, starring in movies such as Foxes, Parasite, Wavelength, Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Rosebud Beach Hotel, Rich Girl, and others, as well as numerous guest spots on TV series (Matlock and Murder She Wrote, among others).

Currie struggled with drug addiction for much of her younger life, which was a major factor in the abrupt ending of her career. She later wrote a memoir, Neon Angel, recounting life in the band and her traumatic experiences with drug addiction, sex abuse and her broken family. The Runaways, a 2010 musical biographical drama film executive-produced by Joan Jett, focuses on the group's early beginnings and explores the relationship between Currie and Jett. In the film Currie is portrayed by Dakota Fanning.

Currie was married to actor Robert Hays in the 1990s and they had one son together, Jake Hays. They are now divorced.^[3]

In 2008, Currie contributed to Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna's book, Cherry Bomb.^[4][5]

Currie is now a wood-carving artist who uses a chain saw to create her works.^[6]

Currie is putting the finishing touches on a new album, produced by Velvet Revolver drummer and ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum and due out in 2011. This will be Currie's first album since 1980. During an interview with Currie and Sorum on That Metal Show, Sorum revealed that his Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan as well as Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan, who has written and sings a duet with Currie, are also on the album. The rest of the album's lineup was also revealed on the Road Runner website.^[7]

Discography[link]

With The Runaways[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1976 – The Runaways
• 1977 – Queens of Noise

Live albums[link]

• 1977 – Live in Japan

Solo[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1978 – Beauty's Only Skin Deep
• 1980 – Messin' With The Boys (with Marie Currie)
• 1998 – Young and Wild (compilation, with Marie Currie)^[8]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Cherie Currie's Chainsaw Art site
• Cherie Currie on Myspace
• Official Runaways website
• Cherie Currie at the Internet Movie Database

Dakota Fanning
Fanning at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Hannah Dakota Fanning (1994-02-23) February 23, 1994 (age 18) Conyers, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Relatives	Elle Fanning (sister)

Hannah Dakota Fanning^[1] (born February 23, 1994), better known as Dakota Fanning, is an American actress who rose to prominence after her breakthrough performance in the 2001 film I Am Sam. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web.

In 2006, Fanning began the transition to more adult roles with Hounddog and The Secret Life of Bees. Her recent films have included The Twilight Saga, the fantasy/horror animated children's movie Coraline, and The Runaways. In 2002, she became the youngest nominee for a Screen Actors Guild Award.^[2]

Early life[link]

Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia. Her mother, Heather Joy (née Arrington), played tennis professionally, and her father, Steven J. Fanning, played minor league baseball, and works as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles.^[3][4] Her maternal grandfather was former American football player, Rick Arrington, and her aunt is former ESPN reporter Jill Arrington.^[5] Dakota is the elder sister of Elle Fanning, also an actress.

Fanning has German and Irish ancestry (her paternal grandmother was born in Ludwigshafen, Germany).^[6] She and her family are Southern Baptist.^[7]

Acting career[link]

1999–2000[link]

Starting in 2000, Fanning began acting at the age of five after appearing on a Tide commercial. Her first significant acting job was a guest role in the NBC prime-time drama ER, which remains one of her favorite roles ("I played a car accident victim who has leukemia. I got to wear a neck brace and nose tubes for the two days I worked.").^[8]

Fanning subsequently had several guest roles on established television series, including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The Practice, and Spin City. She also portrayed the title characters of Ally McBeal and The Ellen Show as young girls. In 2001, Fanning was chosen to star opposite Sean Penn in the movie I Am Sam, the story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter (played by Fanning). Her role in the film made Fanning the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, being seven years of age at the time.^[9] She also won the Best Young Actor/Actress award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association for her performance.^[10]

In 2002, director Steven Spielberg cast Fanning in the lead child role of Allison "Allie" Clarke/Keys in the science fiction miniseries Taken. By this time, she had received positive notices by several film critics, including Tom Shales of The Washington Post, who wrote that Fanning "has the perfect sort of otherworldly look about her, an enchanting young actress called upon ... to carry a great weight."^[11] In the same year, Fanning appeared in three films: as a kidnap victim who proves to be more than her abductors bargained for in Trapped, as the young version of Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama, and as Katie in the movie Hansel and Gretel.

A year later, she starred in two prominent films; playing the uptight child to an immature nanny played by Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls and as Sally in The Cat in the Hat. In addition, Fanning did voice-over work for four animated projects during this period, including voicing Satsuki in Disney's English language release of My Neighbor Totoro, a little girl in the Fox series Family Guy, and a young Wonder Woman in an episode of Cartoon Network's Justice League.

2004–2007[link]

Fanning at the London premiere of War of the Worlds, June 2005

In 2004, Fanning appeared in Man on Fire as Pita, a nine-year-old who wins over the heart of a retired mercenary (Denzel Washington) hired to protect her from kidnappers. Roger Ebert wrote that Fanning "is a pro at only 10 years old, and creates a heart-winning character."^[12]

Hide and Seek was her first release in 2005, opposite Robert De Niro. The film was generally panned, and critic Chuck Wilson called it "a fascinating meeting of equals – if the child star [Fanning] challenged the master [De Niro] to a game of stare-down, the legend might very well blink first."^[13] Fanning voiced Lilo (succeeding Daveigh Chase) in the direct-to-video film Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch. She also had a small part in the Rodrigo García film Nine Lives (released in October 2005), in which she shared an unbroken nine-minute scene with actress Glenn Close, who had her own praise for Fanning: "She's definitely an old soul. She's one of those gifted people that come along every now and then."^[14] Fanning also recorded voice work for Coraline during this time.^[15]

Fanning completed filming on Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story (opposite Kurt Russell) in late October 2004. Russell declared he was astonished by his co-star's performance in the film. Russell, 54, who plays her father in the movie, says, "I guarantee you, (Dakota) is the best actress I will work with in my entire career."^[16] Kris Kristofferson, who plays her character's grandfather in the movie, said that she's like Bette Davis reincarnated.^[17] While promoting her role in Dreamer, Fanning became a registered member of Girl Scouts of the USA at a special ceremony, which was followed by a screening of the film for members of the Girl Scouts of the San Fernando Valley Council.^[18]

Fanning in January 2009

She then went directly to the set of War of the Worlds, starring alongside Tom Cruise. Released in reverse order (War in June 2005 and Dreamer in the following October), both films were a critical success. War director Steven Spielberg praised "how quickly she understands the situation in a sequence, how quickly she sizes it up, measures it up and how she would really react in a real situation."^[19] Afterwards, Fanning moved straight to another film without a break: Charlotte's Web, which she finished filming in May 2005 in Australia. Producer Jordan Kerner said, "...when she was so caught up in War of the Worlds, we had to end up going on a search for other young actresses. They would have been nothing compared to her."^[20]

Over the summer of 2006, Fanning worked on the film Hounddog, described in press reports as a "dark story of abuse, violence and Elvis Presley adulation in the rural South."^[21] Fanning's parents have been criticized for allowing her to film a scene in which her character is raped. However, Fanning defended the film by saying "It's not really happening," to Reuters. "It's a movie, and it's called acting."^[22] In the same year, at the age of twelve, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, becoming the youngest member in the Academy's history.^[23] Later that year, she was ranked 4th in Forbes list of "Top Earning Stars Aged Under 21", having earned an estimated $4 million in 2006.^[24]

In the spring of 2007, she filmed Fragments – Winged Creatures alongside Kate Beckinsale, Guy Pearce, Josh Hutcherson, and Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson. She plays Anne Hagen, a girl who witnesses her father's murder and who turns to religion in the aftermath. In July, Fanning appeared on a short film titled Cutlass, one of Glamour's "Reel Moments" based on readers' personal essays. Cutlass was directed by Kate Hudson. Then from September to the end of the year, Fanning filmed Push, which centers on a group of young American expatriates with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities who hide from a U.S. government agency in Hong Kong and band together to try to escape the control of the division.^[25] Fanning played Cassie Holmes, a 13-year-old psychic.

2008–present[link]

International Film Festival in Toronto 2008

In January 2008, Fanning began filming the movie adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees, a novel by Sue Monk Kidd.^[26] Set in South Carolina in 1964, the story centers on Lily Owens (Fanning), who escapes her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father by running away with her caregiver and only friend (played by Jennifer Hudson) to a South Carolina town where they are taken in by an eccentric trio of beekeeping sisters (played by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, and Alicia Keys). Her movies Coraline and Push were released on the same day, February 6, 2009.

Fanning played Jane, a member of the Volturi Guard, in New Moon and reprised the role in Eclipse, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer.^[27] New Moon was released on November 20, 2009, and Eclipse was released on the following June. In 2010, she starred in the movie The Runaways, alongside Kristen Stewart, Stella Maeve, and Scout Taylor-Compton, where she played Cherie Currie, the lead singer of the band. Then from the end of the year till early 2011, Fanning filmed Breaking Dawn, reprising the role of Jane.^[28]

Fanning's voice was heard in Rise, a documentary film commissioned by U. S. Figure Skating to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the crash of Sabena Flight 548 which resulted in the loss of the entire American team and subsequent cancellation of the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships. She read a poem written by US national champion Laurence Owen (who died in the crash) that was said to be an eerie premonition of the afterlife.^[29][30]

During the summer of 2011 she played Tessa in Now Is Good. Fanning also became the face of Marc Jacobs’ Oh, Lola! perfume campaign, but the ad was banned in the U.K. as the Advertising Standards Authority judged that "the ad could be seen to sexualize a child."^[31][32] In 2011, she played Annie James in The Motel Life, due to be released in mid-2012. In the fall of 2011, Fanning played the starring role in Effie, directed by Richard Laxton, written and co-starred by Emma Thompson, with Greg Wise, Tom Sturridge, Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters, Derek Jacobi and Claudia Cardinale.

Personal life[link]

In June 2011, Fanning graduated from Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, California,^[33] where she participated on the varsity spirit cheerleading squad and was voted homecoming queen.^[34][35] She is currently studying at New York University.^[36]

In January 2012, it was reported that Fanning signed to be represented by William Morris Endeavor,^[37] thus ending a 10-year-plus relation with Osbrink Talent Agency.^[38]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dakota Fanning

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dakota Fanning

• Dakota Fanning at the Internet Movie Database
• Dakota Fanning's biography on filmbug
• Dakota Fanning act in her latest movie Now is Good