Under The Kilt

They say there can only be one Highlander, but that's not true. The Scottish Highlands are a land rich with history, culture and community -- all of which was almost lost when it was systematically stripped away (and they were stripped away from their land) during the Highland Clearances. Actor, producer, entrepreneur and all-around amazing storyteller, Adam Robertson, joins us this week to weave a tale as rich as the lives the highlanders led before the clearances...and surfing...we also talk about surfing a lot.

'The Last of the Clan' by Thomas Faed

More on Adam:

An experienced actor who has also produced film and theatre at a commercial level. In addition to his work in the creative sector Adam has managed several businesses over the years incl. co-founding Western Edge Pictures, a street food business in London and a restaurant in South Wales. Since 2016 He has been the lead facilitator for the charity Street Cones developing and delivering creative projects in Scottish prisons, with young offenders and other marginalised groups and has directed many short films using lived experience individuals. Including 'Something To Lose' and most recently 'A Heavy Price' a film looking at the myths vs realities of prison life.

Follow Adam at @AdamRobertson09 on Instagram and @AdamRobertson9 on Twitter

SOURCES:

Gunn, George. The Province of the Cat: A Journey to the Radical Heart of the Far North. Islands Book Trust, 2015.

Learmonth, Andrew. “Is It Time for the Duke of Sutherland Statue to Come down?” The National, 29 Aug. 2017, www.thenational.scot/news/15502316.is-it-time-for-the-duke-of-sutherland-statue-to-come-down/.

Prebble, John. The Highland Clearances. Penguin, 1969.

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

Grab your boots and kit, we're hitting the pitch and talking football with actor Cameron Jack. Oh, and just like that ball, we're bouncing all over the place in this one because Scotland loves the game but does the game always love all of Scotland? Join us for a little bit of history, a little bit of talking shop and a lotta bit of talking about Adam's best asset.

More on Cameron:

You may recognize Cameron from a whole host of things where he often plays a baddie and/or a thug. Credits include The Dark Knight Rises, Calibre, Outlander, What Happened to Monday and so much more.

Follow Cameron at @rentathug on Instagram.

SOURCES:

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

You can't talk about Scotland's history without talking about poet, icon and lover of dames and drink: Robert Burns. And if you're gonna talk about good ol' Rabbie, you should probably consult an expert. We're so lucky to have Dr. Moira Hansen from the Centre for Robert Burns Studies at the University of Glasgow to share some lesser known tales of The National Bard, his family, his collaborators, and the myths we've spun about him.

Robert Burns, painted by Alexander Nasmyth

More on Dr. Moira Hansen

Follow Moira @MoiraEHansen on Twitter

SOURCES:

Centre for Robert Burns Studies https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/critical/research/researchcentresandnetworks/robertburnsstudies/

'Editing Robert Burns for the 21st Century' https://burnsc21.glasgow.ac.uk/

www.robertburns.org

www.rbwf.org.uk

www.burnsscotland.com

Robert Crawford's 2009 biography The Bard: Robert Burns, a biography, published by Pimlico

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

Grab your prams and practice your Les Mis because this week we're building a barricade--except instead of Marius we're talking about Mary Barbour and the Glasgow rent strikes of 1915. Join Adam, Nat and this week's lovely (and in love) guests actor, Stephen McCole and writer/teacher, Emma Noble.

More on Stephen & Emma:

Follow Stephen at @s_mccole on Instagram & @stephenmccole on Twitter

SOURCES:

“Mary Barbour - a Dangerous Woman?” Dangerous Women Project, 1 Mar. 2017, dangerouswomenproject.org/2017/03/02/mary-barbour-dangerous-woman/. 

Paterson, Laura. “Centenary of Glasgow Women's Rent Strikes.” Womens History Scotland, womenshistoryscotland.org/2015/12/24/centenary-of-glasgow-womens-rent-strikes/. 

rs21. “1915 Glasgow RENT STRIKE: How Workers Fought and Won over Housing.” rs21, 13 May 2021, www.rs21.org.uk/2015/06/12/1915-glasgow-rent-strike-how-workers-fought-and-won-over-housing/. 

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

Welcome to the Ghost Gals podcast, we’re rebranding  and Adam is fired. Okay fine, he isn't fired, but Nat and guest Nicola Roy are dragging his skeptical bum back into the spectral realm as we explore a few famous ghosts of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle (day)

Check out Nicola’s podcast: The Cultural Coven

More on Nicola:

Nicola Roy is an award-winning actress and accomplished voice artist. She has worked extensively in Scottish theatre, TV and radio, is a favorite at the Lyceum Theatre whereshe has appeared in many plays, most recently; ‘An Edinburgh Christmas,’ ‘Belles Stratagem’ (Cats awards ‘Best Ensemble’ 2018) and ‘Thon Man Moliere’ opposite Siobhan Redmond. Nicola has also worked at the Traverse Theatre, Dundee Rep, Kings Theatre, Citizens Theatre and Oran Mor. Joyce McMillan, the Scotsman Reviewer, recently described her as "one of Scotland’s leading comic actresses."

Just prior to lockdown Nicola had an international success playing Elmire in Liz Lochhead’s ‘Tartuffe’ in Adelaide, Australia, which won the ‘critics choice’ award.

TV appearances include playing Jen Lewis in BBC Scotland’s River City, Hope Springs and being directed by Robert Carlyle in the film ‘Barney Thomson’

Follow Nicola at @nicola.m.roy on Instagram & @NicolaMRoy on Twitter

SOURCES:

Hallinan, Bridget. “The 10 Most Haunted Cities in the World.” Condé Nast Traveler

“Scottish Folklore - Ghosts, Myths AND Legends.” VisitScotland

Stratford, Sam. “Peeves's Edinburgh Tomb: GreyFriar's Black Mausoleum.” 

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

They can take our lives, but they can’t take…wait, know what? They can’t take our lives. We’re standing up to ‘The Man’ this week and we’re fighting alongside Jackie Crookstone and the whole lot of angry folks from Tranent. Actor and writer Paul Tinto brings us the little-known story of Jackie (aka Joan), the riots against the 1797 Militia Act, and the subsequent Massacre of Tranent.

EDIT: We mispronounced Tranent throughout this episode. Apologies!

More on Paul:

Born and bred on the Isle of Arran off Scotland’s west coast, Paul Tinto’s career has enjoyed a wide range of stage and screen work. Credits include the multi award winning 1917, Outlander, Amazon Prime’s adaptation of King Lear, and the BBC mini series The Last Post. His stage work includes productions in London’s West End, The Sheffield Crucible, national and international tours with the National Theatre of Scotland and before lockdown he was touring nationally in the title role in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. As a writer he is soon to publish his spoken word novel, Trouble In Spiritland, a hard hitting reflection on wealth inequality and social divides within western society, which is also currently being developed into an immersive audio drama with the backing of Scotland’s arts council, Creative Scotland.

SOURCES:

Handful of Rogues - Hector MacMillan

Feisty and Firey and Fierce. Badass Celtic Women To Live Your Life By From Scotland, Ireland and Wales - Mhairi Kidd

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

We’re starting to think that the Scots did everything first. At least, that’s how it feels when the ever-fascinating actor/writer Brian McCardie joins to teach us a little bit about New Lanark, a ‘Company Town’ and proto-socialist utopia that was a century ahead of its time. The town may be in the “middle of nowhere” but it was also at the center of early labor reform and innovation.

More on Brian:

Brian McCardie is a Scottish actor and writer best known for...well...a lot of different things, his CV is a mile long. Listeners might recognize him recently from Jimmy McGovern's 3-part drama, Time, where he acted opposite Stephen Graham and Sean Bean. Or, less recently, from Line of Duty, Speed 2, Rob Roy and a whole host of others.

SOURCES:

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

Did the Picts have it all figured out? Where did Hadrian learn to build walls? When will Nat reference another Doctor Who episode? We're exploring all this and more (mostly more0 on this week's episode about The Picts, with special guest, award-winning screenwriter Jillian Mannion.

More on Jillian:

Jillian Mannion is a screenwriter with over 20 hours of broadcast television for BBC. She studied English and History at university before winning a Donald Dewar Arts Award for Creative Writing and going on to Vancouver Film School where she studied Writing for Film and TV, receiving awards in Academics, Professionalism and Script Analysis. She is currently a mentee on Women in Film and Television UK's 4 Nations Mentoring programm where she is being mentored by British screenwriter Sally Wainwright. Since her time at university she has continued to study and have a major interest in Scottish history.

Link to Jillian’s short film, Young Offender, on YouTube

Rhynie - Archaeological Investigation (video)

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

This week, we’re not ashamed, we just have to return some video tapes…to the naughty part of the video shop.  Writer, director and producer, John Fairfield, is taking us through the cheap beaded curtain and into the history of Video Nasties, The Obscene Publications Act, and The Video Recordings Act of 1984. But fear not, Adam, Nat & John will NOT be censored, not by Mary Whitehouse, not by MP Graham Bright, and certainly not by Adam’s Gran.

More on John:

John Fairfield (@MrFly3oy), is a Scottish (duh) award-winning writer, director and BAFTA nominated producer.

A sign to visit Longforgan

SOURCES:

The Original Video Nasties: From Absurd to Zombie Flesh-Eaters , by Allan Bryce

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]

Adam, Nat, Claire, Big Rachel, Margaret McIver, Catherine Cranston AND a sexy Centurion ghost who may or may not resemble Arthur Darvill? It’s getting pretty crowded on this, the first-ever episode of Shared History: Under The Kilt. Join us as we take on three exceptional Glaswegian women. Well, not actually ‘take them on,’ they’re rather intimidating, tbh. But, we are learning about them, thanks to our lovely guest, author and screenwriter, CS Duffy.

More on Claire:

Claire Duffy, aka CS Duffy (@CSDuffyWriter), is a Glasgow-based author and screenwriter, but she's kind of from all over? She's the author of Glasgow Kiss series of crime thrillers and The Stranger for Storytel. Her new book, Before Again, an urban fantasy/adventure set in Glasgow is available for preorder and is currently being serialised for free via her website here.  It features both Rachel and Kate and I'm sure Maggie will make an appearance at some point in the series!

Big Rachel & her pipe

SOURCES:

Great Glasgow Stories compiled by John Burrowes, Wiki & others

@csduffywriter on Facebook, Twitter and InstagramPlug would be my urban fantasy/adventure Before Again which is on preorder (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Before-Again-CS-Duffy-ebook/dp/B0968NLSXR) or is being serialised for free via my website (http://www.csduffywriter.com/start-here/). It features both Rachel and Kate and I'm sure Maggie will make an appearance at some point in the series!

SOCIALS: Follow Under The Kilt at @underthekiltpod on Twitter & Instagram

CREDITS:

Original Theme: Tyler Collins aka “Two Metre Man”

SPONSORS: Direct sponsorship inquiries and other questions to [email protected]