Interesting TV: "Clans of Scotland" by Paul Murton

[elagache]

Dear WeatherCat fans curious about the roots of their favorite Weather software . . . . 

Since I started using first LWC and now WeatherCat, I've developed a certain interest in Scotland . . . . I don't really know why . . . 

So, that's one of the regions I look for when cruising for new TV shows to watch.  On Netflix I found the following BBC documentary: Clans of Scotland by Paul Murton.  It is a 12 part 1/2 hour series that covers a lot of Scottish highland history through the stories of twelve different highland clans.  For a California boy, these documentaries are at once familiar and yet bewildering.  In some sense the Scottish clans have truly become a global cultural phenomenon.  Yet, I immediately realized how little I actually understood about Scotland and the highlands especially.  So much so, that after seeing the whole series once, we are making a second pass now that we have the "names and players" a little better understood.

The series focuses a great deal on the violence associated with the various clads, which I fear is an unfortunate pandering to modern TV viewer tastes.  Still, there is much classical tragedy associated with Scotland and especially the clans.  Fortunately, Paul Murton is an advocate for Gaelic culture and so there is a lot of insights into that mostly lost ethnic minority of the British Isles.

There is a review of the series on Films Monthly for more information:

http://www.filmmonthly.com/film/video-and-dvd/clans-of-scotland-a-journey-into-the-highlights-and-low-points-of-scottish-history

If you don't mind watching on the "littlest screen of all," the series has been posted on You-Tube of all places.  There is a link to each episode on this Forum:

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f257/highland-clans-w-paul-murton-58257/.

For more information and to buy whole series if you are that enthusiastic, here is a link on Amazon-USA:

http://www.amazon.com/Clans-Scotland-Three-Disc-Widescreen-Edition/dp/B0033Q6J8K.

Those who have Netflix can simply request the series at this link:

http://movies.netflix.com/movie/Clans-of-Scotland-Disc-1/70132545

  Of course this gives me the excuse to ask . . . . .

So tell us Stu . . . any clan lineage in your family tree? 

Cheers, Edouard   

[WCDev]

Of course this gives me the excuse to ask . . . . .

So tell us Stu . . . any clan lineage in your family tree? 

Cheers, Edouard   

I'm not sure but I don't think so -  I'm Welsh   

[Steve]

I'm Welsh   

Nah, can't be. You don't have near enough Ys or Gs in your name. It would be Byyllg.

Morris, my surname, is supposedly Welsh, coming from having Moorish blood in the family lines.

[elagache]

Howdy Stu, Steve, and WeatherCat ancestor searchers . . . .

I'm not sure but I don't think so -  I'm Welsh   

  Awe shucks Stu, you mean I've been watching all those documentaries for nuthin'

Cheers, Edouard 

[WCDev]

I'm Welsh   

Nah, can't be. You don't have near enough Ys or Gs in your name. It would be Byyllg.

Lol.

Morris, my surname, is supposedly Welsh, coming from having Moorish blood in the family lines.

Certainly a common name in Wales.

Howdy Stu, Steve, and WeatherCat ancestor searchers . . . .

I'm not sure but I don't think so -  I'm Welsh   

  Awe shucks Stu, you mean I've been watching all those documentaries for nuthin'

Cheers, Edouard 

'Fraid so

[Doc]

How'd I miss this?  Will all the Scots in my family.  Surprisingly, the O'Nan family isn't Irish, it's French!  But the Bairds, Robbs, MacLures and Blacketters are all Scottish.  The Carneys are Irish.  The Reels were Dutch and the Reeps were Germain (they think) and the Seiberts too.  From what I've been told, it's more important to those Scots outside Scotland than it is to those in Scotland these days.

Doc

[embayweather]

Doc, that is interesting. My maternal family came from Ireland and were called Carney.

Best wishes

Mike

[Doc]

Doc, that is interesting. My maternal family came from Ireland and were called Carney.

Best wishes

Mike

Well howdy cousin 

My Carneys were on the maternal side as well, they arrived in the americas through Nova Scotia sometime in the early 1600s, the Seiberts showed up first sometime around 1560 I'm told.  The Robbs settled into Nova Scotia in the early 1800s, the rest around 1700.  I've had ancestors living in Indiana since before it was part of Virginia 

Doc

[embayweather]

My Carneys left ireland during the potato famine around 1860 or so. Got absorbed by the Brits and eventually the Scots so I ended up with a different last name, Brown. Apparently thats cos we are related to the Browns from John Brown's shipyard on the Clyde. Ain't this world so small? Cousins interested in the weather too, whatever next.

Best wishes

Mike

[Doc]

Interesting, the Robbs who moved to Nova Scotia were engineers and founded an engineering company in Nova Scotia where they became the primary design firm for most of the steam engines made in North America for ships and locomotives.  Interesting 

Doc