63 Percent Scottish: A Scotland Appreciation Podcast

We asked Nicki Scott from Historic Environment Scotland five questions and challenged her to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is one p...

Want to discover some amazing, but not-quite-so-well-known, Scottish castles? We asked Nicki Scott, a Cultural Resources Advisor at Historic Environment Scotland, to tell us about four incredible castles that you may (or may not) have heard about. In this episode we discuss: Bishop's and Earl's Palaces Kildrummy Castle Huntingtower Castle Rothesay Castle Have thoughts? Connect with 63 Pe...

We asked Alan McDonnell from Trees for Life five questions and challenged him to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is one popular misco...

Did you know that Glen Coe used to be covered in trees? It's true. Scotland looked a lot different a few centuries ago. When this change happened - due to human influence, of course - it not only resulted in the loss of trees, but entire ecosystems. Thankfully, some people are trying to bring them back. We asked Alan McDonnell, the Head of Nature Restoration at Trees for Life, to tell us all...

We asked the Garry Stevenson from Being Scottish five questions and challenged him to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is one popular...

Scotland has its own name for mountains - they're called Munros. Well, anything over 3000 ft is a Munro, anyway. There are nearly 300 of them and there's a whole sub-culture in Scotland of people trying to climb them. It's called Munro-bagging. We asked noted Munro-bagger Garry Stevenson from Being Scottish to tell us all about his experience bagging Munros. In this episode we cover...

We asked the Scottish Sun's Lewis McKenzie five questions and challenged him to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is one popular m...

Has anything political happened in the year since we last spoke to political journalist Lewis McKenzie? Well, the UK has a new Prime Minister, Scotland has a new First Minister, the SNP looks like it's on the ropes and the discussion around independence is shifting. So, yes. The answer is yes. We asked Lewis to come back to explain what all of these political upheavals really mean. In this ep...

We asked the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 's Dr. Marsaili MacLeod five questions and challenged her to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is o...

Gaelic is the founding language of Scotland and, for a long time, its dominant language. After suffering a significant decline in usage over the last few centuries it's back on the upswing. What is this language? How is it being taught? What is the future of Gaelic? We talk to Dr. Marsaili MacLeod from Sabhal Mòr Ostaig – the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture - to learn more. In...

We asked the West Highland Way's Jane McGeary five questions and challenged her to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is one popula...

Scotland's highland landscape is iconic. Sparkling lochs, soaring peaks and deep glens that have seen centuries of fascinating history. If you want to really experience the highlands, one great approach is to walk the West Highland Way. About 100 miles long, the Way starts in Glasgow's suburbs and winds its way to Fort William, along the way crossing some of Scotland's most renowned...

We asked podcaster and professional tour guide Owen Innes five questions and challenged him to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is one place every visitor to Scotland should check out?  What is your favourite uniquely Scottish word or phrase?  Who is one person from Scotland’s past or present that you’d like to have a beer, whisky, Irn Bru or coffee with? What is one...

Go to Scotland and you're bound to see tour buses on even the narrowest of roads. What kind of person becomes a tour guide? What are the major challenges of the job? Which tours would an experienced guide recommend? We've asked Owen Innes from the Scottish History Podcast to give us a rundown of his day job. In this episode we cover: How he became a tour guide A day in the life of a tour...

If you're a listener of 63 Percent Scottish then I have to imagine you have *some* interest in Scotland, Scottish things or the like. If you don't live in Scotland - and most people with Scottish heritage don't! - and even if you don't have Scottish genetic heritage, you may be interested in joining a Scottish Community.  Scottish Societies and St. Andrew's Societies can b...

We asked educator, researcher and Instagrammer Océane Lopez five questions and challenged her to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: What is the greatest similarity between Scotland and France? What is the greatest difference between Scotland and France? If you had to have coffee, beer, whisky or wine with one person from Scottish history, who would it be? What is your absol...

The simple story of Mary, Queen of Scots, is that she was born royal, killed her husband, was driven from Scotland and died after spending half her life in prison. But, if that story was the whole story, we wouldn't be talking about her - or making glitzy Holywood movies about her - 400+ years later. Why has Mary's story endured? We decided to ask Océane Lopez. Océane is a teacher and a...

We asked Garry Stevenson, the creative mind behind Being Scottish , five questions and challenged him to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: Which portrayal of Scottish characters is most offensive - Groundskeeper Willie, Fat Bastard or Shrek? Which of Irn Bru, Haggis, Deep Fried Mars Bar and Bagpipes are actually enjoyed by Scottish people? What's the deal with Scottis...

How many words do the Scottish have for "drunk?" What exactly is a Kerbie Legend? What other cultural references or in-jokes should non-Scots know? We asked the man, the myth, the legend: Garry Stevenson.  Garry is the creator behind all of your favourite content on Being Scottish, the social media-based celebration of, well, being Scottish. We cover: The origin story for Being Scottish...

We asked Rosalind Erskine , the Food and Drink Editor at The Scotsman , five questions and challenged her to answer each in one minute or less. Here are the questions: How long ago did you last have a haggis? Do you have Robbie Burns' poem "Address to a Haggis" memorized? What drink is the perfect accompaniment to haggis? Whisky, Irn Bru, beer or something else? If haggis wasn'...

Do Scottish people actually like haggis? Or is it just another Deep Fried Mars Bar - a sort of tourism trick to get attention? We asked an expert, Rosalind Erskine. She's the Food and Drink Editor at the Scotsman, one of Scotland's national newspapers, and the host of Scran, a podcast all about Scottish food. We covered: The prevalence of haggis consumption in Scotland The various types...

We've already done a Five Fast Questions with Owen Innes so we had to get creative with our questions for round two. This time we cover:  What's one Scottish historical event or person that more people should know? We talked about highland culture on our episode our Culloden. Do you own a kilt? How often do you wear a kilt? What book about Scottish history would you recommend to our list...

With characters like Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald, key moments like Prestonpans and Culloden, and dire consequences for highland culture, it’s no mystery that people are still engrossed by the stories of the 1745 Jacobite Uprising.  We've asked Owen Innes from the Scottish History Podcast to give us a rundown of the battle itself, but also its ultimate consequences. In this episo...

We've asked author and journalist Jonathan Melville - a man who *literally* wrote the book on Local Hero - five fast questions about Scottish film. Here's what we cover: Local Hero is a great standard-bearer for Scottish film, but if you had to pick one other film to represent Scotland on the global stage, what would it be? The role of James Bond is currently vacant - which Scottish acto...

We've talked about everything from baking to whiskey to history, but 63 Percent Scottish explores a new frontier in our newest episode: film. We've chosen the film "Local Hero" which has been called the "definitive" Scottish film to discuss. Why is it a definitive representation of Scottish culture? To answer, we have journalist and author Jonathan Melville on the sho...