Irish heroes, Greek demi-gods, and sundry fraudsters
Tomorrow's programme features two mighty ballads, "Lodas Gespenst" and "Amphiaraos". "Lodas Gespenst" or "The Ghost of Loda" is a hummdinging account of Fionn MacCumhaill's battle with Loda in the Orkneys. How on earth did Schubert end up writing a song about an Irish hero? Well, the answer is Ossian, aka James MacPherson, a wily Scots fraudster, who palmed off celtic "manuscripts" on a gullible public under the pen name "Ossian". MacPherson was rumbled by Dr. Johnson among o