0:00:09 > 0:00:11# Katie Morag
0:00:11 > 0:00:13# Run away across the ocean
0:00:13 > 0:00:15# Katie Morag
0:00:15 > 0:00:17# Over the sea to Struay
0:00:17 > 0:00:19# Katie Morag
0:00:19 > 0:00:22# Run away across the ocean
0:00:22 > 0:00:24# Katie Morag
0:00:24 > 0:00:26# Over the sea to Struay. #
0:00:31 > 0:00:35'My name is Katie Morag McColl and I live on the island of Struay.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39'I suppose it's quite wee but it's ginormous to me
0:00:39 > 0:00:41'and everyone looks out for me
0:00:41 > 0:00:44'when I'm out and about having my adventures.'
0:00:44 > 0:00:46# Katie Morag. #
0:00:46 > 0:00:50I love reading stories and I love telling them too.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54When I grow up, I'm going to write books like the Lady Author
0:00:54 > 0:00:57or maybe I'll be a reporter flying all over the world
0:00:57 > 0:01:02and bringing stories back from exciting places.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Oh, I take it you've finished your homework, then?
0:01:05 > 0:01:09- What are we waiting for?- Homework.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13That's the one type of writing I'm not so keen on.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Angus, very good. Sasha, much improved.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Agnes, excellent as usual.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30Katie Morag, how do you spell tomato?
0:01:30 > 0:01:33T-O-M-A-T-O.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36I'm going to stop you right there, that's perfect.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39No more letters are required. Well done.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Right, now, next week's homework is a wee bit different.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Now, who here can tell me the name of the island's newspaper?
0:01:51 > 0:01:55- Sasha.- The Struay Star. - The Struay Star.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58A splendid publication indeed.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02Now, the editor, Mr Ferriman, has been in touch
0:02:02 > 0:02:04to ask each of you to send in a story.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09Now, it can be an interview, an investigation,
0:02:09 > 0:02:15anything you like, but he is going to print the best one
0:02:15 > 0:02:19on the front page with the writer's name and photograph
0:02:19 > 0:02:20right next to it.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25So, I want you all to put your thinking caps on,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30sharpen your pencils and go find a story that will knock his socks off.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32BELL RINGS
0:02:32 > 0:02:34What are you doing for next week's homework?
0:02:34 > 0:02:38- Well, first of all I'm going to do my hair.- Your hair?
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Well, I have to look my best for the photo, don't I?
0:02:41 > 0:02:42That's only if you win.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45Well, I don't know about you, Katie Morag,
0:02:45 > 0:02:48but I'll be very surprised if I don't win.
0:02:53 > 0:02:54A story for the paper, eh?
0:02:54 > 0:02:56It can't just be any story,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59it's got to make Mr Ferriman take his shoes off.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02- You mean knock his socks off? - HE LAUGHS
0:03:02 > 0:03:03Something like that.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Well, why don't you ask Mrs Baxter?
0:03:06 > 0:03:10- I'm sure she's got a tale worth telling.- Oh, please.- What?
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Mrs Baxter? Seriously?
0:03:13 > 0:03:15She'll tell you what colour of wallpaper
0:03:15 > 0:03:17the nurse is hanging in her bathroom
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and you'll get an update on Mr McMaster's ingrown toenail.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23But if it's anything other than gossip and tittle-tattle
0:03:23 > 0:03:26you're after, I'd steer well clear.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30- Well, I don't think that's very fair.- You don't?- No.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33She does her fair share of gossiping, I'll grant you,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37- but you should never judge a book by its cover.- What does that mean?
0:03:37 > 0:03:41It means there's usually more to people than meets the eye.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47Now, I reckon Grannie Island's the cleverest person
0:03:47 > 0:03:51in the whole entire universe but I didn't think she was right this time.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54I'd never heard Mrs Baxter say anything
0:03:54 > 0:03:58worth putting in a newspaper. Neilly Beag was a much better idea.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00He'd be sure to have something interesting.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04It's your lucky day, Katie Morag.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08I've got something which will not only knock the socks off
0:04:08 > 0:04:13Mr Ferriman, it will rocket them right into orbit.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Uh-huh, here we are.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19- Take a look at this.- A carrot?
0:04:20 > 0:04:22But if you look at it from this angle,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25it looks very much like a face.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30In fact, it's the spitting image of Bobby Campbell who runs
0:04:30 > 0:04:33the tropical fish shop up in Trotternish.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38Now, Neilly Beag was famous for his amusingly-shaped vegetables
0:04:38 > 0:04:40and some of them were really good
0:04:40 > 0:04:43but this one just looked like a carrot to me.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- Do you know Bobby?- No.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49That explains it all.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55It really does bear an uncanny resemblance.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'By now I was starting to get worried.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00'What if I didn't get a brilliant story?
0:05:00 > 0:05:05'What if Agnes won and got her picture in the newspaper after all?
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'She'd go on and on about it for ever.'
0:05:07 > 0:05:11- Katie Morag. - Oh, hello, Mrs Baxter.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13And what might you be up to?
0:05:13 > 0:05:16'I didn't want to tell her but there was no avoiding it.'
0:05:16 > 0:05:22- I'm trying to find a story for the Struay Star.- Oh, really?
0:05:22 > 0:05:24Oh, budge up.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32- Don't you have a notebook?- I do. - Well, you'd better open it up, then.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35I filled five pages with Mrs Baxter's stories.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39She told me about the "holiday" man who had an electric bell on his bike
0:05:39 > 0:05:43and the lady artist's new duvet cover which didn't quite match
0:05:43 > 0:05:47her curtains and Mr McMaster's ingrown toenail,
0:05:47 > 0:05:48which was a terrible burden
0:05:48 > 0:05:50but he refused to see the nurse about it.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Five whole pages!
0:05:54 > 0:05:59With hundreds of stories and not even one of them a little bit interesting.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04- Not one.- Och, it's a shame about Mr McMaster's toenail.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08- KATIE SIGHS - Bothered him for years.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15- Well, I can see that's not the kind of story you wanted.- Say that again.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20- Well, did you ask her?- Ask her what? - If she had another story.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23One that the newspapers might be interested in.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26- She'd have told me if she had. - Are you sure about that?
0:06:26 > 0:06:30- She tells everyone everything about everything.- A-ha!
0:06:30 > 0:06:33That's not quite true, you know.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37- Did you notice she never, ever talks about herself?- How do you mean?
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Well, she never talks about her toenails or her duvets
0:06:41 > 0:06:44and if she had an electric bell on her bike,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47I doubt she'd ever talk about that either.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Now, I don't know much about newspapers
0:06:49 > 0:06:54but if I was a reporter I would be wondering.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57I would be wondering what's lying under the surface.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Remember what I told you, Katie Morag.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Never judge a book by its cover.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06There's more to people than you think.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09I could see what Grannie Island was saying.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Mrs Baxter never did talk about herself.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17But I couldn't help thinking the reason her book had a boring cover
0:07:17 > 0:07:21was cos it really, really was a boring book.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24The next morning I set off bright and early,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28I only had a week to find a story which would blow Mr Ferriman's
0:07:28 > 0:07:31socks off and I was determined to get one.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36- What I'm doing today, that's a real story.- Painting a shed?
0:07:36 > 0:07:38This is the end of an era.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41See, this shed has been unpainted since I was a boy.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45And then, just the other day, I said to myself, "Mr McMaster,"
0:07:45 > 0:07:49I said, "the days of having an unpainted shed are over.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53"You can paint it any colour you like."
0:07:53 > 0:07:57They tried to stop me, they said it was crazy but I didn't care.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01I wanted a fresh start so I got three tins of periwinkle blue
0:08:01 > 0:08:04and here we are, right at the moment of truth.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08In fact, you should probably get a photograph for the newspaper.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Thanks, Mr McMaster. That was...
0:08:14 > 0:08:17really interesting.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24- Did I mention my ingrown toenail? - I've already got that story, thanks.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29- Picture the scene...- 'And then guess who I met?'- I'm in the zone.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31'Yup, Mr "holiday" man.'
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Flying round the corner and there's someone ahead of me,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36right in the middle of the road.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39All I have to do is press this little button here...
0:08:39 > 0:08:42BELL BLARES 'By then, I'd more or less given up.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44'Agnes was going to find the best story
0:08:44 > 0:08:48'and get her picture in the paper and that was that.'
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Hi, Mrs Baxter.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54- Oh, Katie Morag. - What are you reading?
0:08:54 > 0:08:58- It's just a letter from an old friend.- Anything exciting?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Not really. Nothing you'd be interested in.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07It was the weirdest thing.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11I mean, normally Mrs Baxter tells you everything about everything
0:09:11 > 0:09:16but it was almost like she didn't want to say anything at all.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19- Well, did you push her? - That wouldn't be very nice.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22No, I don't mean actually push her.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Did you tell her you would be interested?
0:09:26 > 0:09:31- Well, if she isn't going to tell you, then I will.- Tell me what?
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Let's take a wee walk.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37Well, it was back when Mrs Baxter was a girl.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41She was about 17 or 18 and there was a family here on holiday
0:09:41 > 0:09:45by the name of Cruickshank, and the oldest boy Malcolm was
0:09:45 > 0:09:51out on a boat one day when suddenly a wave came up and tipped it over.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54Now, Malcolm was a very good swimmer
0:09:54 > 0:09:56but they reckon he must have hit his head on something
0:09:56 > 0:10:02- because he went under and didn't come back up again.- Oh, my goodness.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Well, Mrs Baxter, or Jeannie, as she was known to us then,
0:10:06 > 0:10:10she heard the commotion and before anyone could stop her
0:10:10 > 0:10:14she kicked off her shoes, dived in and swam out.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Well, she must have dived a dozen times or more
0:10:17 > 0:10:20but never found anything.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24But she never gave up and on her final dive she grabbed hold
0:10:24 > 0:10:29of something, and that something she grabbed hold of was Malcolm.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33- Was he all right?- Mmm, eventually.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35So she saved his life?
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Oh, and that's not all.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39When Malcolm grew up he had five children of his own.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43So, if it hadn't been for Jeannie, none of them would be here either.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Whoa.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51- Whoa indeed.- So that letter she was reading...- That was from Malcolm.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Oh, he still sends her letters from time to time and in that one he
0:10:55 > 0:11:00was writing to tell her he'd had his first grandchild, a wee baby girl.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04So if it wasn't for Mrs Baxter, she wouldn't have been there either.
0:11:04 > 0:11:11- No.- She's sort of like a hero. - She's a genuine 100% hero.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15- Why didn't she tell me? - Because it was about herself.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17And she doesn't like speaking about herself.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22Doesn't think folk would be interested. What do you think?
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- Is it a good story? - A brilliant story.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27And I know a way to make it even better.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34'It took ages to organise and a lot of help but I reckon my plan was
0:11:34 > 0:11:38'absolute genius and, so far, it was going like clockwork.'
0:11:38 > 0:11:41She's coming!
0:11:41 > 0:11:43PHONE BEEPS
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Yup, Katie Morag says she's on her way up.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52- Good morning, Mrs Baxter. - Good morning.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56- What can I do for you today? - Could you just post that for me?
0:11:56 > 0:12:01- Thank you.- Oh, I hear Mrs Bayview's feeling poorly.- Oh, really?
0:12:01 > 0:12:05- I'll pop in later and see her. - You're not in a rush, are you?
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I'm afraid so, I have a million things to do today.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13- Interesting story in the paper. - Really? What's that?
0:12:13 > 0:12:17A peat thief near Ballantrushal they're warning people to be careful.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22- Good advice. - Kilmory did well in the shinty cup.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26That's great news! Isn't that great news, Mrs Baxter?
0:12:26 > 0:12:31- Well, for folk that live in Kilmory, anyway.- I suppose.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35- Well, best not hold you back. Have a lovely day.- Right.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45- Jeannie?- Malcolm.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47What on earth are you doing here?
0:12:48 > 0:12:50There's someone I want you to meet.
0:12:54 > 0:13:01- Oh, my word. Is this her?- Sure is. - Oh, she's beautiful.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07- Have you got a name yet?- Jeannie. - No. For the baby?
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Jeannie, we named her after you.
0:13:12 > 0:13:13Me?
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Oh, I...
0:13:16 > 0:13:18I don't know what to say.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Oh. Yes, you're beautiful.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31So I got my story in the front page of the paper after all
0:13:31 > 0:13:34but that didn't seem so important in the end.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39The really important thing was what I learned about Mrs Baxter.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44She was gossipy and a busybody, but she was shy and kind too.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48She was a 100% genuine hero.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Grannie Island was right after all.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55But then, she usually is.