The Highlands and
Glens - Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ ONE episode summary
The breathtaking Highlands and Glens of Scotland, Northern
Ireland and parts of the Republic of Ireland are David Dimbleby's destination
for this episode of A Picture of Britain.
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From Scotland, David crosses the Irish Sea to visit Sligo,
home of William Butler Yeats, and travels north to discover the inspirational
Glens of Antrim.
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Back in Scotland, David visits Fingal's Cave, Iona and finally
Alloway in Ayrshire, birthplace of Scotland's national poet Robbie Burns.
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Tonight's journey begins in the Highlands - Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine,
the setting for so many of Scott's popular adventures that drove 19th
century tourists flocking to Scotland.
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The most famous tourist was Queen Victoria, who fell in love with the
Highlands, building Balmoral Castle as her summer residence. Her favourite
artist, Edwin Landseer, would come and stay with her
at Balmoral, creating some of his most famous paintings, including the
iconic Monarch of the Glen.
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This is the landscape that Sir Walter Scott introduced
to the world in his best-selling novel Rob Roy and poems like The Lady
of the Lake. Drawing on Scotland's myths and legends, he created a picture
of Scotland that still grips the popular imagination today - the Scotland
of the Highlands, tartan, and bagpipes.
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David travels on to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city that at the
turn of the 19th century was in the grip of an intellectual and
social revolution.
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Alexander Nasmyth, engineer, town planner, and landscape
painter reflected his city's achievements in a series of majestic landscapes
which emphasised Scotland's modernity.
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Travelling north-west, David visits Glencoe, the site of the infamous
1692 massacre of the MacDonalds by the Campbells. The Scottish artist
Horatio McCulloch captured the bleak beauty of the
valley in his huge painting of Glencoe.
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Travelling further west, David visits the peninsula of Kintyre, where
William McTaggart painted in the late 19th century.
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David sails to Ireland, where he visits Sligo, childhood home to William
Butler Yeats, the national poet of Ireland. He was inspired
by the Irish landscape to create a national art.
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Further west on Achill Island, the northern Irish painter Paul
Henry found the 'soul of Ireland' amongst the windswept rocks
and beaches of this secluded island.
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And in Northern Ireland, a whole school of northern Irish painters
found inspiration amongst the beautiful Glens of Antrim. David learns
how James Humbert Craig built a studio by the sea in
Cushendun and composed many paintings of this beautiful village.
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Back in Scotland, David visits Fingal's Cave, inspiration to both Felix
Mendelssohn and JMW Turner, and makes the
short journey across to Iona, where the Scottish Colourists painted
in the Twenties and Thirties.
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Finally David visits Alloway in Ayrshire, birthplace of Scotland's
national poet, Robbie Burns, who forged an image of
Scotland out of the hard toil of the working man and woman.
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