1TURNER WATERCOLOURS Your only chance in 2007 to see the 38 ethereal watercolours that make up the Vaughan Bequest before they are locked up for another year. Donated in 1900 by London art collecter Henry Vaughan, they were originally deemed too fragile for anything but the weakest winter light, and traditionally only come out in January.

Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, January 1-31

2ZANE LOWE The enthusiastically stern Radio One DJ has persuaded a roster of musicians to be guest DJs on his evening show next month. Listen out for Mike Skinner of the Streets on January 8, Snow Patrol two days later, Jamie T - whose excellent debut album is out in the new year - on January 15 and Chris Martin from Coldplay on January 18.

Radio One, 7-9pm, January 2-18

3CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER The show we love to hate hits our screens this week with another cargo of rotting celebrities ready to fascinate/repel the nation. So who will it be this time - Gail Sheridan, perhaps? The other Cheeky Girl?

Freaky BBC weatherman Daniel Corbett?

Please, please, please, please, please let it be him. However the word on the street is that Jermaine Jackson, Dirk Benedict (Face from the A-Team), Julie Goodyear and Gavin Rossdale (aka Mr Gwen Stefani) are to be among the housemates. Of course that's only a rumour.

Meanwhile, auditions for the "real" Big Brother 8 take place in Glasgow on January 6 and 7. Just turn up to the SECC and form a disorderly queue.

Celebrity Big Brother Five starts on Channel 4 on Thursday

4DORIS LESSING Agiant of 20th century English letters, the 87-yearold's new novel is published next month. It's called The Cleft and it blends feminism and fantasy - though those are crude terms for Lessing's oeuvre - to tell the story of an ancient tribe of women who have controlled childbirth and bear only daughters. One thing's for sure:

you won't see Lessing on Celebrity Big Brother next year.

Out January 8 (Fourth Estate, GBP16.99)

5CELTIC CONNECTIONS 2007 Over 1000 artists from every continent will soon be packing their winter woolies (and whatever hangover remedy they favour) and heading to Glasgow for the Sunday Heraldsponsored music festival that now ranks among the best in the world. Donald Shaw's first festival in charge boasts too many highlights to mention, really, but it would be remiss to ignore: John Martyn, John Cale, Rosanne Cash, Boys Of The Lough, Kate Rusby, Isobel Campbell, Dick Gaughan, The Cowboy Junkies and - don't laugh - Chumbawamba, whose close-harmony readings of traditional English folk songs are a far cry from the agitpop stompers of the mid-1990s.

January 17-February 4 (0141 353 8000 for bookings and programme information) www. celticconnections. com

6BRIAN ENO You've probably passed it on the train into Newcastle, but if you haven't been in, Gateshead's huge Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art is well worth the visit. Next month it hosts work by Roxy Music founder and ambient music pioneer Brian Eno whose exhibition - The Constellations (77 Million Paintings) - features screens showing constantly changing patterns generated from Eno's handmade slides. Accompanying the visuals is a soundtrack by the man himself.

Baltic, Gateshead, January 31-April 15 www. balticmill. com

7HIGHLAND 2007 In2003, Jack McConnell announced that 2007 would be "Scotland's year of Highland culture".

Since then, a wide-ranging programme of events has been organised across the region.

Among the first is the Fort William Mountain Festival, which starts on February 16 and runs until March 3. Bring your brolly.

www. highland2007. com www. mountainfestival. co. uk

8NME AWARDS TOUR The NME tour hits Glasgow on February 1 with Scottish hopefuls The View up front with The Automatic, shock-rock loons The Horrors and Mumm-Ra, the best thing to come out of Bexhill-on-Sea since Eddie Izzard.

Carling Academy, Glasgow, February 1-2

9GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL Now in its third year, the picks of GFF 2007 are The Good Shepherd, directed by Robert De Niro and starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie; Zhang Yimou's martial arts epic The Curse Of The Golden Flower; and a retrospective of films by Marion Michael Morrison, aka John Wayne.

Glasgow Film Theatre and other venues, February 15-25 www. glasgowfilmfestival. org. uk

10 RENOIR Around 70 works by the Impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir come to London next year for Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883, which includes works from his travels in France, Italy, North Africa and Guernsey.

National Gallery, London, February 21May 20. Booking recommended www. nationalgallery. org. uk

11 KT TUNSTALL The Scottish singersongwriter had a remarkable 2006 thanks to the ongoing success of her debut album Eye To The Telescope and has capped it with a Grammy nomination. She is already hard at work on the follow-up, and is apparently aiming for a spring release. No title as yet.

Release date TBC

12 IAIN BANKS Originally titled Matter, Banks has since changed the name of his new novel to The Steep Approach To Garbadale. Whatever: fresh work from the author of The Crow Road and Complicity is always a literary event.

Out March 1

13 PLAYSTATION 3 The battle for gaming supremacy continues with the release in March of Sony's PlayStation 3. Already on sale in the Far East and North America, it will go head-to-head with Nintendo's user-friendly Wii and Microsoft's technology-packed XBox 360 when it hits the European market in March. Complete with a next generation Blu-Ray DVD drive, this console will be the most advanced - and expensive - of the three. Might be a good idea to get your pre-order in now.

Release date TBC

14 GLASGOW INTERNATIONAL COMEDY FESTIVAL The official launch isn't for a few weeks but so far it's been confirmed that Russell Brand, Jimmy Carr and Joan Rivers will all be appearing at the March mirthfest. Also on the bill are Cannon And Ball who will be celebrating 40 (or is it 400? ) years of funny-bone tickling in 2007. Catch them at the King's Theatre on March 14.

March 8-24, various venues www. glasgowcomedyfestival. com

15 BILLY MACKENZIE It will be 10 years next month since The Associates' Dundee-born frontman killed himself. To commemorate his passing, the charity Sound Seekers has organised a concert in London. It features the British Electric Foundation, Electric Soft Parade and Subterraneans, who will be joined on stage by Paul Haig, former frontman with influential Edinburgh art-punks Josef K.

Shepherd's Bush Empire, March 28

16 SUGABABES The ever-popular, ever-modular girl band play only one Scottish date on their spring arena tour and it is in Glasgow, so here's hoping they dust down their cover of Rocks by local boys Primal Scream. If not, there are plenty more modern pop classics to choose from, and they've already had a decent stab at the Arctic Monkeys' I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor.

SECC, Glasgow, April 9

17 FUTUROLOGY A big show with big venues by a theatre company - Suspect Culture - with a big reputation. A co-production with the National Theatre of Scotland, Futurology bills itself as a black comedy stuffed with song, dance and ventriloquism. It opens at Glasgow's SECC in April, then tours to Edinburgh (Corn Exchange) and Aberdeen (Exhibition and Conference Centre) before heading south to the Brighton Dome.

SECC, Glasgow, April 10-14, then touring www. nationaltheatrescotland. com

18 SCOTTISH BALLET The national company's spring season takes it on the road in April with a programme of modern works, including a piece by master choreographer George Balanchine and a revival of the 1971 piece Othello, by Scottish Ballet founder Peter Darrell.

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, April 11-14; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, April 18-21;

His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, April 26-28 www. scottishballet. co. uk

19 BOB DYLAN Bob Dylan's Modern Times album has been hailed as his best for years and has topped the Best Of 2006 lists in both Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone. He's recently tried his hand at being a DJ in the magical, mystical Theme Time Radio Hour. And, of course, the never-ending tour rolls on. Catch the legend live in Glasgow this spring.

SECC, April 11

20 TUTTI FRUTTI With a 2006 tour that only reached Aberdeen and Edinburgh it was a case of Fruttis Interruptus for the National Theatre of Scotland's staging of John Byrne's classic telly romp. Remedying that, the NTS is bringing it home in April for a nine-day run at the King's Theatre. It then returns to the capital for five nights before heading south to Blackpool.

King's Theatre, Glasgow, April 12-21; King's Theatre, Edinburgh, April 24-28; The Grand Theatre, Blackpool, May 1-5 www. nationaltheatrescotland. com

21 GILBERT & GEORGE London's Tate Modern undertakes the largest ever retrospective of work by the British duo, who met at St Martin's School of Art in 1967 and who have courted controversy in every decade since. This will probably be the British art event of 2007 so is well worth getting on a train for.

Tate Britain, April 15-May 7 www. tate. org. uk/modern

22 THE REITH LECTURES Topeconomist Professor Jeffrey Sachs is giving this year's Reith Lectures, to be broadcast on Radio 4 in April and May. The title of the lectures is Bursting At The Seams and in them Sachs will argue that we are currently in a period of turbulence and transition and that global warming, terrorism, poverty, disease and bad governance can only be navigated by broader and deeper global co-operation.

www. bbc. co. uk/radio4/reith

23 SUNSHINE ON LEITH Itwill inevitably be billed as The Proclaimers: The Musical, but in fact this production, written by River City creator Stephen Greenhorn and mounted by Dundee Rep, weaves the bespectacled Fifers' music around a tale of two soldiers who leave the army and return to Edinburgh. It's an audacious and thrilling prospect and if early interest is anything to go by it's shaping up to be one of the mustsee theatrical events of 2007.

April 18-May 12 then touring to Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow. Call 01382-223530 for bookings www. dundeerep. co. uk

24 TRIPTYCH 2007 The everintriguing music festival returns at the end of April with the usual esoteric line-up splayed across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. The full line-up has yet to be confirmed, but there's a rare appearance by German singer, actress and performer Ute Lemper at the Usher Hall.

Keep hitting the website for details - and audio highlights of Triptych 2006.

Various venues, April 25-29 www. triptychfestival. com

25 SPIDER-MAN 3 In a year in which every other blockbuster is a third instalment, Sam Raimi's stuffed Spider-Man sequel looks set to be the biggest and busiest. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst crank up the sexual tension again as Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson, with Bryce Dallas Howard thrown in as a potential new squeeze for the dorky Parker. Three is also the magic number when it comes to the villains: weird alien creature Venom (played by Topher Grace), petty-criminalturned-force-of-nature Sandman (Sideways's Thomas Haden Church) and the return of Harry Osborne ( James Franco), looking to avenge the death of his father in the first film.

Our Spidey sense is tingling already.Out May 4

26 WORD FESTIVAL 2007 Scotland's fastest-growing literary festival returns in May and will be looking to build on a programme which last year featured Alain de Botton, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and Richard E Grant.

Aberdeen, various venues, May 11-13 www. abdn. ac. uk/word

27LUCIA DE LAMMERMOOR Gaetano Donizetti's 1835 opera based on Sir Walter Scott's novel The Bride Of Lammermoor is Scottish Opera's new touring production for 2007. Set in the Scottish lowlands in 1669, it turns on the fortunes of two feuding families, the Ashtons and the Ravenswoods, and hasn't been staged by the national company for 20 years. The director is Inverness-born John Doyle, who recently helmed Sweeney Todd on Broadway.

Theatre Royal, Glasgow, May 16-31; Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, June 16-22; His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen, June 26 www. scottishopera. org. uk

28 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:

AT WORLD'S END The third part in the trilogy takes Captain Jack Sparrow off the edge of the map as the crew of the Black Pearl prepare for its final battle.

Keep your eyes peeled, though, for a cameo from a certain Mr Keith Richards, the man on whom Johnny Depp's character is quite obviously based. The famous Rolling Stones guitarist has been invited to play Captain Grant Sparrow, Jack's dad.

Out May 25

29 GLASTONBURY The greatest music festival in the world is back and, while Kylie has definitely pulled out, The Who, Scissor Sisters, Razorlight and Kasabian are all rumoured to be on the bill. Most intriguing, however, are the whispers surrounding a certain supergroup: Genesis. They have reformed and are undertaking a major European tour in 2007 - might they stop off in Somerset?

Stranger things have happened (Phil Collins's film career comes instantly to mind). Tickets will go on sale in April.

June 22-24 www. glastonburyfestivals. co. uk

30 ST MAGNUS FESTIVAL The second most northerly British arts festival after the Shetland Folk Festival, the St Magnus Festival takes its name from Orkney's martyred saint and punches well above its weight when it comes to attracting big names. It's no different this year, with the National Theatre of Scotland preparing to premiere its adaptation of Orkney-raised author Luke Sutherland's Venus As A Boy at venues in Hoy, Kirkwall and Stromness.

A co-production with the Burnt Goods theatre company, it stars Tam Dean Burn (who also adapted and co-directed).

Orkney, various venues, June 22-27 www. stmagnusfestival. com

31 RICHARD LONG He walks, he reflects upon landscape and the natural world, he collects stuff then he turns it into art using photographs, drawings, maps and sculptures. Not the best known British artist but certainly one of the most venerated, Richard Long's new exhibition is his first large-scale show since 1991.

Opens June 30, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

32 CASTAWAY It's back. Six years ago, 36 people, including the now ubiquitous Ben Fogle, spent a year on the Hebridean island of Taransay (though only 29 actually managed to stick it out). This time the show has been transplanted to New Zealand and, again, it is refreshingly celeb-free. BBC One will give a weekly update but there will be daily programmes on BBC Three.

Transmission date TBC

33 PICASSO National Museums Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland have teamed up to show a range of Pablo Picasso's works at two sites over the summer. The National Museum of Scotland will present Picasso: Fired With Passion, a show featuring work made by the Spanish master between 1947 and 1955 and including ceramics, jewellery, metalwork and lithography. The Dean Gallery, meanwhile, will exhibit a range of prints and linocuts.

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, July 6-October 28; Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, July 14-September 7

34 T IN THE PARK Such is the status of Scotland's biggest music festival that 35,000 tickets for T in the Park 2007 sold out in just over an hour after release. And that was before any bands were even announced. Such is the enthusiasm for the festival that it's almost impossible not to have a good time when you head for Balado airfield in Kinross-shire. But who might actually be headlining? We'll find out sometime next year - Balado, Kinross, July 7-8 www. tinthepark. com

35 HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX Him again. The Potter films seem to be alternately good and not-so-good with the odd numbers being the pick, in particular Alfonso Cuaron's third instalment, The Prisoner Of Azkaban. By that logic, David Yates should have sculpted a treat for this fifth film in the series. His directorial track record is certainly pretty good: his G8-set drama The Girl In The Cafe recently won an Emmy, and Sex Traffic was hailed as a tour de force when it first screened. Moreover his favourite directors are Ken Loach and Martin Scorsese.

Out July 13

36 THE SIMPSONS MOVIE Aliveaction film was mooted at one point but, thankfully, The Simpsons Movie has gone ahead as an animation, filmed alongside the normal series episodes.

A clutch of teaser trailers has already been released on the internet and the poster shows Homer holding a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Business as usual then? Let's hope so.

Out July 27

37 THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM British director Paul Greengrass returns to helm the third instalment of the Bourne saga as the reluctant superspy finally finds out who he really is. Or does he? It seems unlikely that Universal will let the franchise slip away once Ludlum's original trilogy of novels are in the can, and the previous movies have strayed a long way from the books. Two things we can say for certain, however: Paddy Considine will appear alongside returning stars Julia Stiles and Joan Allen; while Matt Damon will wear a puzzled look and a black winter coat for most of the film.

Out August 3

38 EDINBURGH FRINGE Always different, always the same - and bigger every year. The beast returns.August 5-27 www. edfringe. com

39 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL This is the year that Australian Jonathan Mills attempts to follow the legacy of long-serving EIF overlord Sir Brian McMaster. The young, energetic Mills has promised that evolution rather than revolution is his watchword; he will tinker but not traduce. We do know that he is introducing a visual art strand - long a bone of contention where the International Festival is concerned - and that he is starting the festival two days earlier, a concession perhaps to those who think the EIF should mirror the dates of the Fringe. The programme proper is unveiled on March 28.

August 10-September 2 www. eif. co. uk

40 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL No programme details as yet but the dates, at least, are confirmed.

August 11-27 www. edbookfest. co. uk

41 EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL The programme is launched on July 11 and the box office opens two days later, on Friday, July 13. Let's hope that doesn't prove unlucky for new artistic director Hannah McGill, who should otherwise be looking forward to a bumper year for the festival's 61st anniversary.

August 15-26 www. edfilmfest. org. uk

42 DR WHO David Tennant is back as everyone's favourite Timelord, with Billie Piper replaced by newcomer Freema Agyeman, who will play medical student Martha Jones. The actress has already appeared in one installment - she was killed off by the Cybermen in episode 12 of series two - but that hasn't stopped her being assigned this new role.

John Barrowman is back from moonlighting in Torchwood as the irrepressible Captain Jack Harkness and among the historical figures the time-travellers will meet in series three is William Shakespeare. Odds bodkins!

Transmission date TBC

43 CONNECT Set against the picturesque backdrop of Inveraray Castle, Argyll, the first Connect festival promises a new kind of experience.

Details of who's actually playing are still a little thin on the ground, but as it's backed by Geoff Ellis and DF Concerts - the guys behind T in the Park - expect a line-up that will match the ambitious levels of comfort and atmosphere that the website suggests.

August 31-September 2 www. connectmusicfestival. com

44 STEPHEN POLIAKOFF Television's most mercurial writing talent is back on our screens in 2007 with two separate films set in the same grand country house but linked only by one character. Poliakoff regular Michael Gambon returns, as always, and he's joined by Maggie Smith, David Walliams, Rupert Penry-Jones, Jane Eyre's Ruth Wilson and newcomer Danny Lee Wynter.

Transmission date TBC

45 ARCTIC MONKEYS The band will be touring America intensively in 2007 but have finished recording their second album, the follow-up to the Mercury Award-winning Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. No release date yet, but at least it's in the can.

Release date TBC

46 ATONEMENT Ian McEwan will be omnipresent next year. The film adaptation of his Booker-shortlisted novel, Atonement, is released in the autumn, and he's also got a new novel called On Chesil Beach, which tells the story of two newly-weds on their honeymoon in 1962. Those of you who can't wait for publication can read an extract in the current edition of The New Yorker.

On Chesil Beach will be published in June; Atonement will be released September 14

47 RADIOHEAD Work restarted this month on a long-in-progress and as-yet-untitled seventh album, the band's first since leaving EMI. Longtime associate Nigel Godrich is back in the producer's chair and on the band's Dead Air Space blog, lead singer Thom Yorke has likened the new material to OK Computer, in mood at least. The expected release date is summer, though Radiohead have never been predictable: one idea already mooted is to release the album as a series of EPs.

Release date TBC www. radiohead. com/deadairspace

48 THE SOLOMON KEY Howdo you follow something like The Da Vinci Code?

For author and cryptogram fan Dan Brown, the answer is The Solomon Key. Instead of Europe, this time the action is set in Washington DC but once again involves a secret society: the Freemasons. Robert Langdon - originally described in print as "Harrison Ford in Harris tweed", realised on film as "Tom Hanks with a ridiculous haircut" - is back, while the Solomon of the title is thought to be one Solomon Kullback, a famous real-life cryptologist who worked with the American secret service in the 1950s and 1960s.

Publication date TBC

49 HEROES Ifyou thought Lost was gripping, prepare yourself for Heroes. A smash hit in America where it debuted on NBC in September - 14 million people tuned in for the first episode - it tells the story of 12 people who "thought they were like everyone else - until they woke with incredible abilities". The British terrestrial broadcast rights have been snapped up by BBC Two, who are set to screen it some time in the next 12 months.

Transmission date TBC

50 I AM LEGEND Sometime rapper and one-time Fresh Prince of Bel Air Will Smith is back in actionhero mode (remember Wild, Wild West? ) with this soupedup adaptation of Robert Matheson's 1954 classic horror novel, centred on the lone survivor of a biological plague that has turned the world's population into crazed vampires. It's already been filmed twice before - most notably as The Omega Man with Charlton Heston in the lead role fighting a city of habit-wearing mutants led by the great Anthony Zerbe - but the ever versatile Smith has no fear of high-concept sci-fi: if he can turn Independence Day, Men In Black and I, Robot into worldwide blockbusters, expect nothing less for I Am Legend. Out December 14