Everything Scotland

The Highland Games - Sport, Spectacle & the World's Heaviest Telephone Pole

Lesley Kennedy is not a sporty person. She has not voluntarily participated in sport since a game of netball in primary school and has no intention of starting now. She is, however, completely in love with the Highland Games, which tells you everything you need to know about the Highland Games. This week: a man the size of a wardrobe throws a hundred-and-seventy-five-pound pine tree, and is judged on straightness. The pipe bands that sound like a domestic dispute until suddenly they don't. Highland dancing that is far more athletic than the word "dancing" suggests. The philosophical implications of the twelve o'clock. A brief but important note on kilts. And how Scotland's emigrants carried the caber toss to seventy countries worldwide. Our Scots Word of the Week: braw. Have you been to a Highland Games in Scotland or anywhere else in the world? Got a story, a memory, or a very strong opinion about the caber toss? Send it over to hello@everythingscotland.com [hello@everythingscotland.com]. We'd love to hear from you.

Islay & Fèis Ìle - The Island That Tastes Like the Sea, the Peat, and Everything Wonderful

Lesley has just visited Islay during Fèis Ìle, the Islay Festival of Music and Malt, the annual event that turns this island of 3,200 people into the whisky capital of the world for ten days every May. In this episode: the ferry crossing that looked like a film, Port Ellen on a warm May evening, an Ardnahoe guide who made everyone laugh while teaching them things, the Paps of Jura from across the water at Bunnahabhain, an accidental stop at Islay's first rum distillery (the Old Lemonade Factory), a parade through Port Ellen led by a pipe band with the festival committee in 1980s shell suits, and, most unexpectedly, afternoon tea with the festival committee in the Gaelic Centre while husband James performed close-up magic at the tables. The freshest, most personal episode of the series. Our Scots Word of the Week: dram. Want to be part of it? Send your Scotland Stories to hello@everythingscotland.com

Whisky - The Water of Life, the Soul of Scotland & 40 Bottles Per Second

Scotland produces roughly 40 bottles of Scotch whisky per second. There are 130+ active distilleries. The industry exports £5.6 billion worth of product every year. And every single cask gives 2% of itself to the air annually, the Angel's Share. Today, we cover how Scotch is made, a tour of all five whisky regions and their radically different characters, how to actually taste whisky without embarrassing yourself, and why the oldest bottle ever sold fetched £1.5 million. The spelling question is also answered, definitively, once and for all. Plus our Scots Word of the Week: wheesht. And if you love Scotland as much as we do, send us your stories of why to hello@everythingscotland.com.

The Jacobites - Scotland's Most Romantic Lost Cause

In 1745, a 24-year-old Italian-educated prince sailed to Scotland with seven men and nearly overthrew the British Crown. This is the full story of the Jacobites, Bonnie Prince Charlie's astonishing campaign from Glenfinnan to Derby and back, the catastrophe of Culloden in sixty brutal minutes, Flora MacDonald's remarkable escape operation, and the systematic destruction of Highland culture that followed. Plus the question historians still argue about: did the wrong side win? Hosted by Lesley Kennedy, born and raised in Scotland, former police officer, and tour guide who has stood on Culloden Moor more times than she can count. Our Scots Word of the Week: blether.

Welcome to Scotland - We've Been Expecting You

Welcome to Everything Scotland, the podcast hosted by Lesley Kennedy, born and raised in Scotland, a former police officer turned tour guide. In Episode 1, Lesley introduces herself, covers Scotland 101, dives into the 700-year-old letter that explains the Scottish character better than anything ever written, busts five massive myths, and teaches you your first Scots word: dreich. Pull up a chair. We've been expecting you. c26fe0c43a0fc4ed0667dba3003e0ae5907d20ba