0:00:03 > 0:00:06It's 100 years since the Russian Revolution
0:00:06 > 0:00:09and it all started here.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13And it cut off Russia from the world for nearly 70 years.
0:00:15 > 0:00:21But new DNA evidence suggests that one in every 600 Russians
0:00:21 > 0:00:24has Scottish ancestry.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29I'm discovering Scots who made a massive impact on Russia's history.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Some made the former empire their home
0:00:33 > 0:00:36and others fought and died there.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43From those who helped to establish Russian football...
0:00:44 > 0:00:47..to those like me who came to Russia
0:00:47 > 0:00:49at a crucial time in their life,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54they found Russia beautiful, captivating
0:00:54 > 0:00:56and quite exasperating.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03This is from Scotland to Russia, with love.
0:01:03 > 0:01:04HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Last time, I was in Moscow,
0:01:17 > 0:01:21following Scots before me who had made the capital their own.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26I marched in the footsteps of the Scot who was
0:01:26 > 0:01:29the highest ranking general in the Russian army...
0:01:31 > 0:01:34..discovered the spy behind James Bond...
0:01:36 > 0:01:39..and the believer that never made it here.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42- He was regarded as the most dangerous man in Britain.- Right.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45He was the man who could cause a revolution.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48'I even managed to get into the heart of the Kremlin.'
0:01:48 > 0:01:51It's...
0:01:51 > 0:01:53gobsmackingly beautiful.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Now I'm in St Petersburg, one of the most beautiful cities in the world...
0:02:05 > 0:02:09..Venice of the North, and Russia's cultural capital.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14For many Scots, this imperial city would become their home.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19'I first came here to work in the 1990s.'
0:02:21 > 0:02:22Grushko.
0:02:25 > 0:02:26How do you know it's ours?
0:02:26 > 0:02:30'I was making a series about a melancholic Russian detective
0:02:30 > 0:02:33'struggling to cope with the pace of change.'
0:02:34 > 0:02:37'It perfectly matched my own state of mind.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39'My career had taken off,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42'yet I was divorced and in the middle of a midlife crisis.'
0:02:46 > 0:02:49I brought my daughter, Margaret, here, aged 12,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51probably scared I'd lose her.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56It was when he took custody, more or less, or tried to.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59You decided to kind of try and bring me,
0:02:59 > 0:03:04have time with me and bring me up on your own in your own way.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08It was a difficult time. I mean, I'd been in America,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11I'd made Manhunter, I'd been a big success,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15and her mum, I think, had had enough.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Her mum had just, you know, just given me the red card and said,
0:03:18 > 0:03:19"You're off the field."
0:03:19 > 0:03:21And, uh...
0:03:21 > 0:03:23I sort of went off with my tail in between my legs,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26- and it was difficult. - You said to her,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30"I'm a train, you can get on when you like and get off when you like."
0:03:31 > 0:03:34- Did I say that?!- Yeah.- Oh, God!
0:03:34 > 0:03:35"I'm a train, Caroline,
0:03:35 > 0:03:40"you can get on whenever you want and get off whenever you like."
0:03:40 > 0:03:42She got off the train.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Since then, St Petersburg has become Margaret's second home.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Tell me, what is it, what is it
0:03:51 > 0:03:54about this place that gets under your skin?
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Well, I studied here, and the summer is incredibly full of lovers.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02The city is full of young girls and young boys in love.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07Because it's all night long, too. It's 24-hour daylight.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I mean, I didn't want to say this cos you're my father,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12but I remember going, I mean,
0:04:12 > 0:04:15I would meet boys I knew on Palace Square at
0:04:15 > 0:04:17one or two in the morning
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and it would just be, like, them on bicycles
0:04:20 > 0:04:24and us riding on the handlebars all night long.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26A lot of the time, of course, we were drunk,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30but we didn't know what time of day it was or anything.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And it's magic, it's a magic hour and it is fairy tale.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Romance runs deep through the Russian soul.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49So it's rather fitting that our first story involves an empress
0:04:49 > 0:04:53who fell in love with her Scottish architect.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Tsarskoye Selo,
0:05:06 > 0:05:07Catherine the Great's Palace.
0:05:08 > 0:05:15Absolutely jaw-droppingly stunning, even on a grey day like this.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18It's like a...
0:05:18 > 0:05:20It's like a wedding cake.
0:05:20 > 0:05:21Amazing.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28Catherine the Great wanted to update her ancestral palace.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30Inspired by ancient Rome,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33she combed the world for someone who shared her passion.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37The man she found would go on to create a palace
0:05:37 > 0:05:40full of exquisite rooms like this,
0:05:40 > 0:05:42the Arabesque Hall.
0:05:47 > 0:05:53In 1779, Charles Cameron arrived in St Petersburg.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57When Catherine the Great introduced him, she said,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00"At present I am employing Mr Cameron,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04"Scottish of nationality, nobility, practising Jacobite,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07"a great draughtsman, nurtured by antiquities,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09"known by his book on the Roman baths."
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Now Cameron was neither noble nor a Jacobite.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Nevertheless, he would become more dear to her
0:06:16 > 0:06:18than she could possibly imagine.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22The iconography that they would intimately create together
0:06:22 > 0:06:26would become the iconography for the Russian Empire.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34Architect Charles Cameron had published a book on Roman bathhouses.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38In it, drawings showed classical motifs of the Greek
0:06:38 > 0:06:41and Roman emperors, and the empress loved it.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46It got him the job and brought him over to Russia.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Appointed the architect of her Imperial Majesty,
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Cameron immediately set to work
0:06:52 > 0:06:55reimagining a palace fit for the empress.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04Cameron needed skilled workers to build these massive structures.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Now, there was a serious problem.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11The Russian workers he found just didn't know enough about the materials.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14And not only that, he complained that they drank.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19So in 1784,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22Cameron took out an advert in an Edinburgh paper
0:07:22 > 0:07:25looking for specialist craftsmen.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28In May of the same year, 76 masons, smiths,
0:07:28 > 0:07:34bricklayers and plasterers travelled from Scotland to St Petersburg.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40From the Blue Drawing Room to the Green Dining Room, a snuff room.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44From the bedchamber to churches and temples.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51The work went on and on here and elsewhere for nearly 30 years.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Taking up the story is the palace's curator.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00So...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Our Cameron...
0:08:04 > 0:08:05He doesn't look very happy.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09TRANSLATED FROM RUSSIAN:
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Ah, a little bit in love with him.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46A wonderfully ceremonial staircase links the bathhouse to
0:08:46 > 0:08:49the empress's personal quarters.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54So this was originally white marble, was it?
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I've never seen such a staircase.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28It's beautiful. And I can see her coming down, you know,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30I can visualise Catherine descending.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Yeah.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Catherine the Great's private library was on the top floor
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and one of her favourite retreats,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47the wing known as the Agate Pavilion.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57- Can you give me a hand with these, somebody?- Ugly shoes.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58Ugly, ugly, ugly.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02OK, I'm in.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10Tell me, Irina, so tell me about this magnificent room,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13what was this? Was this a reception hall?
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Ah, so this is a Roman room? Of course it is.
0:10:22 > 0:10:23Yes.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'This is the Great Hall.'
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Cameron painted walls to look like marble
0:10:29 > 0:10:32and created a ceiling of frescoes.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38He introduced non-native wood to create intricate parquet flooring
0:10:38 > 0:10:44and had the room lit by sculptures bearing foliage, candelabras -
0:10:44 > 0:10:46a potpourri of styles.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50There is a kind of extraordinary aesthetic at work in this room,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53and you can see it, it's just magnificent.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55So it puts Cameron,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58for me it puts Cameron in a completely different light from before,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02not just an architect, but actually an interior designer,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04with such a magnificent eye.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06And it was that,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10it was precisely that talent that Catherine recognised
0:11:10 > 0:11:12and that Catherine wanted.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14She wanted it, that's why they were so close
0:11:14 > 0:11:17because his aesthetic matched her own.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Oh! These bloody shoes!
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Mind you, the one thing about these shoes,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28they're very handy for polishing the parquet.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31You can polish the parquet as you go.
0:11:33 > 0:11:34Definitely.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Two years later,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Cameron was asked to create a private esplanade
0:11:46 > 0:11:50complete with busts of the empress's favourite philosophers.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55And in the ultimate complement, it was named the Cameron Gallery.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00Cameron spent the rest of his life in Russia, but as tastes changed,
0:12:00 > 0:12:02he failed to adapt.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04The Scot who came to St Petersburg
0:12:04 > 0:12:08to build Catherine the Great's architectural dream
0:12:08 > 0:12:13died 33 years later designing a naval barracks.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19Yet Catherine the Great's Scottish relationships went far beyond architecture.
0:12:19 > 0:12:25It's enough to make any man want to relax.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34And Catherine had a special place in her heart for the Scots.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Her private banker, her doctor, her architect, wet-nurse, nannies,
0:12:38 > 0:12:43even the military, all were Scots.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48In fact, you could say the Scots were becoming quite trendy in her empire.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01But since I'm near naked,
0:13:01 > 0:13:07I'll tell you a fun story about a canny lad from Scotland
0:13:07 > 0:13:11who saw a completely different side of her.
0:13:11 > 0:13:17Catherine was what many people might call a sensuous person.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Others have been less kind,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24noting that her sexual voracity was notorious.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27In other words, she was a wee bit of a goer.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Fitting in nicely to this scene was a Scottish schoolmaster,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37William Porter.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Born in 1741,
0:13:40 > 0:13:45he was brought over by Catherine the Great to help reform the education system.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49What is less known is that he brought over the sex club known as
0:13:49 > 0:13:52The Beggar's Benison for local aristocrats.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Members chanted the words of the Highland march as the orgies began.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01"In the garb of old Gaul with the fire of old Rome...
0:14:02 > 0:14:05"..from the heath-covered mountains of Scotia we come.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10"Where the Romans endeavoured our country to gain,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14"but our ancestors fought,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16"and they fought not in vain."
0:14:18 > 0:14:22And it was all in the name of carnal pleasure.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Beat me, beat me, call me a Dundonian.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31Porter invented a complex set of phallic rituals and initiations
0:14:31 > 0:14:35with members from the British expat community.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Rubbing more than shoulders with merchants and aristocracy,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43all using their private sign for uprightedness.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Little else is known about the club or Porter.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Both seem to have disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58or perhaps they didn't and perhaps that The Beggar's Benison
0:14:58 > 0:15:01continued below the radar. Who knows?
0:15:01 > 0:15:04But what is known is that on his death,
0:15:04 > 0:15:09Porter's obituary belied the man who, above all else, championed
0:15:09 > 0:15:12the Scottish phallus in Russia.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Oh, boy, I could just sleep after all that, I tell you.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19In fact, I think I will.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46From sex to religion.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Back in Edinburgh,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53I'm meeting my friend, Scottish writer and broadcaster Billy Kay.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I'm about to find out about a small group of Scottish missionaries
0:15:59 > 0:16:03who set off to Russia armed with the word of God.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05So, Billy, what is it we have here?
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Well, this is a map of the vast Russian Empire
0:16:09 > 0:16:14and you've got Scottish influences right across it, from very early on,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17from St Petersburg and the merchant community there
0:16:17 > 0:16:22to the Shkot Peninsula near Vladivostok, a place called Shkotova.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Scottish influences right over the area,
0:16:25 > 0:16:29but the principal area associated with Scottish religion effort
0:16:29 > 0:16:32- is down here in the Caucasus.- Right.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37That borderland that's now Chechnya and places like that.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41The Tsar decided to give the Edinburgh Missionary Society
0:16:41 > 0:16:4418,000 acres in an area called Karas,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47near the spa town of Pyatigorsk,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49just north of the Caucasus Mountains,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52which was hostile to Russia then
0:16:52 > 0:16:54and a bit further south is hostile to Russia to this day.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58- So the idea of converting... - And that was Muslim-dominated?
0:16:58 > 0:17:01It was Muslim. This was historically a Muslim area.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03So the idea of trying to convert Muslims
0:17:03 > 0:17:05was quite an outrageous proposition.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07These Scots missionaries thought they were up to the task,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09they thought, "Here we go."
0:17:09 > 0:17:12They were, and they had a religious fervour and zeal
0:17:12 > 0:17:18that you could see goes back to the time when this kirk was built.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27At the beginning of the 19th century,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29the Caucasus were wild and untamed,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and it was here that Henry Brunton set up his Scottish colony.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38It lasted only about 30 years,
0:17:38 > 0:17:42they only converted approximately nine hardy souls.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47But they bought out of slavery a lot of children from
0:17:47 > 0:17:50the local Tatar Turkish tribes.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53How did they convert the Bible into Tatar?
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I mean, because they probably didn't have any knowledge of Tatar,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00but they obviously had somebody who was able to speak both languages.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05It was Henry Brunton there and the man Swan from Fife,
0:18:05 > 0:18:12and apparently Brunton's translation was a mixture of classic Turkish language,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15but taking in the local dialects of the Tatar language,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17- just creating it himself. - It's astonishing.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19I mean, it's an achievement, it's quite astonishing.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22To what end, you go, "What is the point?"
0:18:22 > 0:18:24But the actual scholarship is remarkable.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Exactly. That's the remarkable thing.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30Henry Brunton's mission failed.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33The locals remained resolutely Muslim.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36He died in the Caucasus in 1813.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41One remarkable thing was although the colony died,
0:18:41 > 0:18:4340 years after its failure,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46a journalist from The Times, Mackenzie Wallace,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48a Scot, went through the area.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51And he noticed written on the map, "Shotlandskaya koloniya",
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Scottish colony.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56- This was here?- This was here, down here, near Pyatigorsk.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59And he decided, "I've got to go and see what this is."
0:18:59 > 0:19:03And he went there and he says in Russian, "Are there any Scots here?"
0:19:03 > 0:19:05And Mackenzie Wallace says something like,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09"Imagine my astonishment when the man replied in broad Scots,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11" "Ach, man, I'm a Scot tae!" "
0:19:15 > 0:19:18I mean, these links are quite important, aren't they?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20They're a bit like Mormons in the '50s.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24I remember the Mormons in the '50s coming round the houses in Dundee,
0:19:24 > 0:19:26you know, doing big conversions, trying to convert.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Well, I think that zeal has always been at the heart of
0:19:30 > 0:19:33everything the Scots do, we do with a passion.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37- Yeah.- And we'll just breenge into things with a heart and soul.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40And I think that's, despite what was against them,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43that's what these missionaries had.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47It's a curious tale that speaks of a very different time.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55Like the Scots before me, it was work that brought me here.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57But looking back at my career,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00I hadn't realised just how many Russian parts I've played over
0:20:00 > 0:20:02the last 50 years.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09Today, I'm giving a masterclass to Russia's next generation of film-makers.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21I always had this strong connection with Russia, and my daughter,
0:20:21 > 0:20:27who is here today, blames me for her having to learn Russian.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28APPLAUSE
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Thank you.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43PROJECTOR: They've marched 1,000 miles, but are in excellent shape.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50'War and Peace was the BBC adaptation of Tolstoy's epic Russian novel.'
0:20:50 > 0:20:55And that's where we'll stop Napoleon in his tracks, God willing.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57'I played General Kutuzov,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01'the one-eyed defender of Moscow who defeated Napoleon.'
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Napoleon has left Russia, your Grace.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17We have our victory.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19Nothing left to do.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24Russia is saved.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Thank the Lord.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32'It was an honour to play this hero,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36'and it's great to hear the series was so well received here in Russia.'
0:21:38 > 0:21:41'Here I play a KGB general with Bruce Willis.'
0:21:42 > 0:21:46I have many times dreamed of killing you.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50But now...
0:21:50 > 0:21:52'Willis is a former CIA adversary
0:21:52 > 0:21:53'on the run.'
0:21:53 > 0:21:55You are...
0:21:56 > 0:21:58..pensioner.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01A couple of years now.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06'It gave me a chance to say one of my favourite villainous lines.'
0:22:06 > 0:22:10I haven't killed anyone in years.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13That's sad.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16To Igor,
0:22:16 > 0:22:17the butcher.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20He's not dead.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26'Whilst the world looked on with a mixture of happiness and disbelief
0:22:26 > 0:22:29'at the end of the Soviet Union...'
0:22:29 > 0:22:32HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:22:32 > 0:22:36'..I was playing a Russian colonel on an international space station.'
0:22:36 > 0:22:40We've had some good fortune at Cruise McKinney number three.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42A dead man - accident, whatever.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46'There's been a murder.'
0:22:46 > 0:22:49The Cold War was ending and here in space,
0:22:49 > 0:22:53the film showed the Americans and Russians beginning to work together.
0:22:55 > 0:22:56All right, where is he?
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Mr Huff is available for Colonel Voronov now.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06If you do not make your company records available immediately,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09then your lease to operate in Soviet territory
0:23:09 > 0:23:12- will be cancelled immediately.- What?
0:23:12 > 0:23:14You have two hours to comply.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25'Some 20 years ago, I played a dodgy Russian with Michael York.'
0:23:26 > 0:23:29I'd like you to meet Anatole.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33The film explored the sexual possibilities of
0:23:33 > 0:23:35the new business order.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40I have not had a chance to clean things very much since I... I mean,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42since we bought factory.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43Relax, nephew. Relax.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Anatole just come look, check investment.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50'I think I might have aged a wee bit better than this film has.'
0:23:50 > 0:23:51Looks OK.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52Da.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58The film that launched me was a Hollywood movie about
0:23:58 > 0:24:02the fall of the Romanovs, Nicholas and Alexandra.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06- I wish we didn't have to go. - It's Mama's birthday.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08'I'm still proud of this one.'
0:24:08 > 0:24:11My role was at the very heart of the tragedy.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14- PROJECTOR:- This must be some of your nonsense, Trotsky.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15Lenin's theory comes to this.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19'I played Leon Trotsky,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22'the man who helped ignite the Bolshevik revolution.'
0:24:22 > 0:24:24- You will print it.- I can't.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27The style's atrocious.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30So that was my start in movies.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34And so there was my initial Russian connection.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39'One of the most important scenes is when we, the Bolsheviks,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42'prepare to launch our attack.'
0:24:42 > 0:24:44State bank.
0:24:44 > 0:24:45Central telephone exchange.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00This is where the revolution started.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03The Winter Palace had long been the official residence of
0:25:03 > 0:25:05the imperial family.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10It also contains one of the world's most important art galleries.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12The Hermitage.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17And it was here at 2:10am
0:25:17 > 0:25:21on October the 25th, 1917,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23that Russia became a communist country.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37As the Bolsheviks stormed the palace, one eyewitness wrote,
0:25:37 > 0:25:39"Like a black river filling all the street,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43"without song or cheer, we poured through."
0:25:43 > 0:25:47The Bolsheviks came through that archway, they came through here,
0:25:47 > 0:25:52up through this area here and then up this staircase.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Seven months before,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02a revolt had resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05A provisional government occupied the palace,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08but there they were threatened by continual infighting,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11chronic food shortages and a collapsing army.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky led the Bolsheviks to overthrow them.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Incredibly, a Scottish artist,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Christina Robertson, is part of this story.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31To find out more, I am meeting curator Lisa Renne.
0:26:32 > 0:26:39All these revolutionary soldiers came, you know,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41- and they damaged the painting.- Oh.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45It was cut with a sword.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49It was.. They damaged it with rifles.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53Of course the revolution was against the Tsars, you know,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55and it was an item of one of the Tsars.
0:26:56 > 0:27:02So you could never guess it because it was restored with our wonderful restorers.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05There was a cut there, yeah.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08It's like they deliberately tried to decapitate her.
0:27:08 > 0:27:13Poor Alexandra Feodorovna got the full might of the Bolshevik.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18This was just one of the many paintings the Bolsheviks targeted
0:27:18 > 0:27:20as they stormed the palace.
0:27:22 > 0:27:28Christina Robertson was a successful society portrait painter in Paris.
0:27:28 > 0:27:34Tsar Nicholas I persuaded her to come to Russia and paint his family.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37She moved here aged 43.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40It's a very romantic story.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43For a woman, coming so far
0:27:43 > 0:27:47from Fife, from Edinburgh to St Petersburg.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49But she was married, she had children, didn't she?
0:27:49 > 0:27:55She married in 1822 and she had eight children,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59and just four survived to adulthood.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01So she lost four children.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07Christina Robertson would never return home, dying here in 1854.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Do we know if she was estranged from her family because her family
0:28:10 > 0:28:12- wasn't with her when she died? - It's a bit of a mystery.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15We don't know anything about her husband.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18I think she was not very lucky with the marriage.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20Dobryy vecher, dobryy vecher.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22Dobroye utro!
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Dobroye utro, dobroye utro. Sorry! Not dobryy vecher.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Dobryy vecher is goodnight. Sorry. Sorry, Lisa!
0:28:29 > 0:28:31My Russian is very rough.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33Dobroye utro.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38To return to Christina Robertson - I mean, this is astonishing to me -
0:28:38 > 0:28:43that the posing of these women,
0:28:43 > 0:28:44there's something...
0:28:47 > 0:28:48I don't know what it is,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52there's something kind of doll-like about them in a way.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55- What is it?- That's right, yes.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58I think it's a combination of
0:28:58 > 0:29:03the taste of the time and also of the lack of anatomy,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07which women artists possibly did not
0:29:07 > 0:29:09know about because they had no classes.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Or even encouraged to know about.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Yes. Well, absolutely.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18There is another of Christina's paintings I want to see.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Now this is beautiful.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24- It is.- That's exquisite.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27I think she developed, of course, a style.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32Incredibly. But see the same sort of wistful look on the girl's face,
0:29:32 > 0:29:34that same head to one side.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36This, I love this painting.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39- It's a lovely painting. - I absolutely love that painting.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43- And I love the parrot with the cherries in the mouth.- Yes.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47And it tells the story of a brother and sister,
0:29:47 > 0:29:50and we've no idea who these people are, have we?
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Well, regretfully we don't know the names, we don't know who they are.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56But, of course, the circle was not quite big.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58It's aristocracy children, of course.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00They came from some aristocracy family.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06Whether these children survived the revolution, we will never know.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13Determined to overthrow the bourgeoisie,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17the Bolshevik leaders orchestrated looting of all symbols of power.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Russia faced cultural upheaval, violence and turmoil,
0:30:23 > 0:30:25as a civil war erupted.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37In 1924, Josef Stalin became the new leader of the Soviet Union.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41He brought rapid industrialisation,
0:30:41 > 0:30:47created massive state farms and eventually a reign of terror.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54But in Stalin's Russia,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58a Scottish poet became a poster boy for the workers' struggle.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03And where better to pick up on that
0:31:03 > 0:31:08than St Petersburg's most famous book shop, Dom Knigi,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11where they make the finest latte this side of the Neva.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16During the 19th century,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Robert Burns was admired in Russian intellectual circles as
0:31:19 > 0:31:23the people's champion. Post-Revolutionary Russia,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26interest in our national bard rocketed,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29and it's all thanks to one man.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31In 1924,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35the Russian poet Samuil Marshak translated Burns
0:31:35 > 0:31:41and in over a year he sold 600,000 copies.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43It was a mammoth feat,
0:31:43 > 0:31:47but one that cemented Burns into the psyche of every Russian.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51But Marshak was a shrewd operator.
0:31:51 > 0:31:56Burns' writing was endorsed by successive Soviet regimes
0:31:56 > 0:31:59and only because something was missing.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02Sex.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08Now Stalin was known to be quite prudish
0:32:08 > 0:32:11and had an aversion to raunchy western writers.
0:32:11 > 0:32:17Marshak pushed Burns the people's poet as an idea,
0:32:17 > 0:32:21and one of peasant virtue, which Stalin...
0:32:22 > 0:32:24..seemed to buy into.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35Burns would never make it over to Russia, but his writing has,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38and it shows no signs of fading away.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47Even today in schools throughout Russia,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51children can recite the poems of Robert Burns.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Every year in June there is a Scottish delegation celebrates
0:32:54 > 0:32:57the birthday of Robert Burns in St Petersburg.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00We are getting ready for the performance called
0:33:00 > 0:33:02For The Immortal Memory Of Robert Burns.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08"Gin a body meet a body, Comin thro' the rye,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11"Gin a body kiss a body, Need a body cry?"
0:33:11 > 0:33:15"O, Jenny's a' weet, poor body, Jenny's seldom dry:
0:33:15 > 0:33:19"She draigl't a' her petticoatie, Comin thro' the rye!"
0:33:19 > 0:33:25THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN
0:33:30 > 0:33:36THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN
0:33:37 > 0:33:40SHE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:33:41 > 0:33:47"As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I:
0:33:47 > 0:33:51"And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry:
0:33:51 > 0:33:54"Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear."
0:33:56 > 0:33:58As for Marshak, as he was dying,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01he requested that his badge as honorary president of
0:34:01 > 0:34:04the Burns Federation be laid with him.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13Under Stalin, this beautiful city had its name changed to Leningrad
0:34:13 > 0:34:16in honour of the man who led the Bolshevik revolution.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22But during World War II, its very existence was under threat.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27Partly due to its historical significance
0:34:27 > 0:34:29and industrial importance,
0:34:29 > 0:34:34on the 8th of July, 1941, German troops began surrounding the city.
0:34:37 > 0:34:39Held at bay by fortifications,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41Hitler decided to strangle the city to death.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Aerial bombardment set fire to warehouses...
0:34:49 > 0:34:52..which held food supplies.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Around three million citizens were now trapped in
0:35:00 > 0:35:02the middle of a blockade.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04The Siege of Leningrad had begun.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Around the world the news of the siege spread.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16In the Scottish mining heartlands of Airdrie, a communist collective,
0:35:16 > 0:35:21the Russia Today Society, met in the front room of a council flat.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25One member, Harry Walker, recorded what happened.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29This is what he said. "All the women were deeply affected
0:35:29 > 0:35:32"by what they'd been hearing about Leningrad.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34"They were desperately anxious to do something,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38"to feel part of the vast struggle that was taking place."
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Within weeks of the siege beginning,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46they would send an extraordinary gift in comradely support.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53That gift is kept here, in the Peter and Paul Fortress,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56in the heart of Leningrad, now St Petersburg.
0:35:57 > 0:36:04So in the steel manufacturing towns of Airdrie and Coatbridge,
0:36:04 > 0:36:09the ordinary working men and women started raising funds,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13and on top of that they created this...
0:36:13 > 0:36:15magnificent book.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23"To the heroic women of Leningrad.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27"Our hearts go out to you in this,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30"your hour of supreme agony and trial.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34"Your fight is our fight and we shall fight with you."
0:36:36 > 0:36:37It says here,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40"Women from all sections of the community have signed this letter,
0:36:40 > 0:36:44"the Provost's wife, wives of the councillors,
0:36:44 > 0:36:46"business and professional men, housewives,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50"professional and businesswomen, industrial workers.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55"We realise humanity's debt of gratitude to the women of Russia."
0:36:56 > 0:37:01And then the book has all the names of the women who signed.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06"Jean Lockhart,
0:37:06 > 0:37:11"Agnes Graham, Margaret Drummond, AN Fleming,
0:37:11 > 0:37:13"A Kirkland.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16"Betty Wright, Agnes Clark,
0:37:18 > 0:37:19"Cecilia Beattie."
0:37:21 > 0:37:24This is really, really astonishing.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28And incredibly heartening that these women,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32you know, these were simple women from Airdrie, from Coatbridge, who
0:37:32 > 0:37:35didn't even know probably what St Petersburg looks like,
0:37:35 > 0:37:37then it was Leningrad.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43And they even put pictures of the town, the Royal Burgh.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48Oh, this is beautiful.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Something like this defies words.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02It's beyond language because it's so incredibly expressive in itself.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11They've even gone to the trouble to have something translated into Russian,
0:38:11 > 0:38:16and this is from the Albert Street Congregational Church in Coatbridge
0:38:16 > 0:38:18and it just says, you know,
0:38:18 > 0:38:20"We are with you in your epic struggle.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23"You have our total support."
0:38:28 > 0:38:31I wonder what the people of Leningrad made of this.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33From people that they didn't know,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37from a place they'd probably never even heard of,
0:38:37 > 0:38:39Airdrie and Coatbridge.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54The coldest winter in decades began.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Daily rations reduced to a thick slice of bread a day,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00and people began to starve.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Within the first year alone, 600,000 people died,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14and still there was no end in sight.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Today, my daughter, Margaret, and I are meeting three veterans
0:39:26 > 0:39:29who were young children during the siege.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31Ladies and gentlemen,
0:39:31 > 0:39:36I would just like to start by saying this is an incredible honour
0:39:36 > 0:39:39to be speaking to you,
0:39:39 > 0:39:44who have survived probably one of the most horrendous acts of
0:39:44 > 0:39:47the 20th century. And what I want to know is,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51what is it like for you to look at those memories?
0:39:51 > 0:39:54You know, because most people have memories of childhood.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59Nobody has such unique memories as you people here from Leningrad have,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01during that blockade.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16Valentina said that she remember everything.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20They go to the shop, to the bakery, to get bread.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24Only 125g per day.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37Sergei?
0:41:03 > 0:41:07- Four out of 15 people survived? - Yes.- In one winter.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36She was dead. She was dead for two weeks.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53- Throw it out the window?- Yes.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59So, Tamara.
0:42:21 > 0:42:22Valentina?
0:43:00 > 0:43:02But looking back on that time...
0:43:04 > 0:43:06..you must think, "How did I survive?"
0:43:24 > 0:43:26That's astonishing.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53Wow!
0:43:57 > 0:44:01So they took the table apart and took the glue off the table
0:44:01 > 0:44:04and melted the glue off the table,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07- boiled the glue and ate the glue. - Yes.
0:44:21 > 0:44:22This is your mother.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25My mother after the war.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33This is Valentina. Very beautiful.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38This has been such an honour and such a privilege to listen to you,
0:44:38 > 0:44:42and very humbling, really.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46I'm incredibly moved
0:44:46 > 0:44:50and incredibly humbled by this extraordinary experience you've had.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52Thank you so much for sharing it with me,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55and sharing it with, hopefully, the people in Scotland.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58I mean, above all,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02talking to these three extraordinary human beings
0:45:02 > 0:45:05who do not see themselves in any way as extraordinary
0:45:05 > 0:45:08but, really, as rather ordinary.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11And the thing that comes out is, I don't know if you agree with this,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16Margaret, is a tremendous affirmation of the human spirit.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22As the war raged, one Russian journalist wrote,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26"The city is dead, no streetcars.
0:45:26 > 0:45:31"Almost the only transport is sleds carrying corpses covered with rags,
0:45:31 > 0:45:33"or half clothed."
0:45:37 > 0:45:40Daily, 6,000 to 8,000 die.
0:45:55 > 0:45:56Against all that,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00just seven months after the book from the ladies of Airdrie
0:46:00 > 0:46:04and Coatbridge arrived here, an album was smuggled to Scotland.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11The album contained watercolours by the Soviet artist
0:46:11 > 0:46:13Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19And despite the blockade circling the city...
0:46:20 > 0:46:23..over 6,000 women signed this...
0:46:25 > 0:46:27..still suffering from hunger and weakness.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32And the book now sits in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.
0:46:41 > 0:46:48This is the actual book that the women of Leningrad sent,
0:46:48 > 0:46:49and this is what they said.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55"To our dear friends, the women of Airdrie and Coatbridge...
0:46:57 > 0:47:00"..we have been moved to the depth of our soul by the words of love
0:47:00 > 0:47:04"and greeting from those of you in far off Scotland.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09"We thank you for the help you've given us in the struggle with Hitler's Germany.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12"Our husbands and brothers are cut off from us,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14"our homes are in danger,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18"our children doomed to destruction and bondage."
0:47:24 > 0:47:29And it is equally remarkable that 6,000 women sent this book.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35It's so beautifully put together, this book.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37And these...
0:47:39 > 0:47:40That's Leningrad,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44and this, with these wonderful, wonderful watercolours,
0:47:44 > 0:47:48if you can see here, beautiful.
0:47:48 > 0:47:49Absolutely beautiful.
0:47:52 > 0:47:58And this is Vera Milyutina, who put the whole thing together.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02It's very potent.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05And the care, I mean,
0:48:05 > 0:48:10these are an example of the signatures of the women.
0:48:10 > 0:48:11That's their signatures,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14and these are professions, secretaries, nurses.
0:48:16 > 0:48:17And that's them.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Incredible testament, it really is.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31So the women at work - nurses.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36And, of course, the one thing we don't know,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39with all these signatures,
0:48:39 > 0:48:43we don't know how many, if any,
0:48:43 > 0:48:46made it through to the end of the blockade.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59On the 20th of January, 1944...
0:49:00 > 0:49:03..the siege of Leningrad finally came to an end
0:49:03 > 0:49:05after nearly 900 days.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11It remains the deadliest blockade of a city in human history,
0:49:11 > 0:49:13causing the death of more than a million citizens.
0:49:15 > 0:49:21People in the streets wept for joy, life had become valuable once again.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31Our last story is a subject about which both Russians
0:49:31 > 0:49:36and Scots care passionately, and even sometimes obsessively.
0:49:36 > 0:49:37Football.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44Next year, Russia will host the World Cup.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47Thousands of fans will flock into 11 cities,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50hoping to see their country win.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53Behind me is the Zenit Arena,
0:49:53 > 0:49:59currently in the midst of a 1 billion construction programme.
0:49:59 > 0:50:00When it is finished,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04it will be one of the most expensive football stadiums ever.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10Football first came to Russia with Scottish and English workers.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14They were encouraged to play on their day off by their bosses
0:50:14 > 0:50:17as it stopped them drinking vodka.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20It took another Scot, Arthur MacPherson,
0:50:20 > 0:50:24hailed by many as the father of Russian football,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28to recognise its potential as a national sport.
0:50:28 > 0:50:30But who was Arthur?
0:50:30 > 0:50:35And how did he end up dying at the hands of the Bolsheviks in prison?
0:50:35 > 0:50:38Well, the answer lies not far from here,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42in a cemetery on Vasilyevsky Island,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45one of the most historic parts of the city.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52Today, Margaret and I are meeting Russian football historian
0:50:52 > 0:50:56and fanatic Yuri Lukosyak and his friend, Slava.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Yet our story doesn't start where you expect.
0:51:15 > 0:51:20This grave is of Yuri's footballing hero, Sergei Chirtsov,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23a prodigy of Arthur MacPherson.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:51:30 > 0:51:32So Chirtsov,
0:51:32 > 0:51:36he learnt from MacPherson and his fellow Scotsman
0:51:36 > 0:51:40how to play the game as a family game.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42And they began the tradition, doing it with Russian families.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45And they started the beautiful game here?
0:51:45 > 0:51:49MAN SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:51:52 > 0:51:56And he was one of the first Russians who played with
0:51:56 > 0:51:58the immigrant football players,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01and brought the Russians to the game.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Those immigrants were us.
0:52:05 > 0:52:13Teams of British expats who had come over to work in Vasilyevsky's many textile mills.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:52:19 > 0:52:22First of all we're very proud that we created the first football club in Russia.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:52:29 > 0:52:33And here we created the Russian Football Association,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37of whom the president was Arthur MacPherson.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42The first team under MacPherson was Victoria, formed in 1894.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46It was made up of Scottish, English and German expats,
0:52:46 > 0:52:48but the Russians weren't happy.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:52:51 > 0:52:54They wanted the expats to understand
0:52:54 > 0:52:56that... Rossiyskiy futbol?
0:52:56 > 0:53:00That Russian football was in the Russian territory.
0:53:02 > 0:53:03Yeah.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08And there was only one man with authority in Petersburg,
0:53:08 > 0:53:11Arthur MacPherson.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15MacPherson, he is a legendary figure.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20He is the first sportsman in Russia...
0:53:21 > 0:53:23..who Nicholas II...
0:53:24 > 0:53:26..in 1914...
0:53:28 > 0:53:31..gave the Order of Stanislaus.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38So this is the highest honour from Nicholas II.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41OK, so he may not have been the father of Russian football,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44but he may have been the godfather of Russian football.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52He's not having it. He's simply not having it!
0:53:52 > 0:53:56I think what we find is that this is very typical of football, really.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00The kind of difficulties that football...
0:54:00 > 0:54:03The difficulties that football get themselves into.
0:54:05 > 0:54:06So we have the vodka.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Because it's cold.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12Just as we Scots took our sport with us,
0:54:12 > 0:54:15we also brought our rivalry.
0:54:15 > 0:54:16In 1901,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19English industrialist Thomas Aston
0:54:19 > 0:54:24proposed Russia's first-ever Scotland versus England game.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27To Mark the occasion, he had a cup made.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29He hoped...
0:54:29 > 0:54:32that the first winning team would be the English team.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38He hoped that Nevsky would beat Nevka, the Scottish team.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42So Nevsky, let me just clarify this, Nevsky was the English team.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45And Nevka was the Scottish team wearing the red blouses.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Yes, yes, yes. In fact...
0:54:50 > 0:54:51..in the press...
0:54:53 > 0:54:56..it was written in the press it was the Scottish versus the English,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59- not Nevsky versus Nevka. - Oh, I see!
0:54:59 > 0:55:02And they separated them immediately in the Russian sports press.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04And then...
0:55:07 > 0:55:09The Scots won.
0:55:09 > 0:55:16But Aston didn't write on the cup that it was the Scottish that won.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20Typical! Typical!
0:55:20 > 0:55:24The Scots do not get their desserts. Typical!
0:55:24 > 0:55:26I think this is the vodka speaking.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29OK, I just want to say...
0:55:29 > 0:55:32HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:55:34 > 0:55:38SHE SPEAKS RUSSIAN
0:55:38 > 0:55:42- To world football, Dad. - To world football.
0:55:44 > 0:55:46- Denis Law.- Denis Law.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48- And Matt Busby.- And Matt Busby.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Wow! That's a genuine wow.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02It's a fitting end to my fascinating
0:56:02 > 0:56:05and sometimes bonkers Russian odyssey.
0:56:05 > 0:56:06Na Zdorovie!
0:56:09 > 0:56:11Oh, God.
0:56:11 > 0:56:12What a journey!
0:56:15 > 0:56:17Before I leave,
0:56:17 > 0:56:19I want to pay tribute to this great man
0:56:19 > 0:56:22whose honour from the Tsar would haunt him.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31Arthur MacPherson was accused of being a British spy.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34He was thrown into jail by the Bolsheviks.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38It is believed that he had fought on behalf of the Tsar.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44This gravestone was erected by Yuri, who we spoke to minutes earlier.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48He's not buried here
0:56:48 > 0:56:50because his body was riddled with typhus.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55When word of his death reached the UK in March, 1920,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58it was thought MacPherson had been murdered
0:56:58 > 0:57:00and his body had disappeared.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04Some weeks later,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07three British soldiers who'd got permission to look for his body,
0:57:07 > 0:57:10discovered it in one of the prison cells,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12buried beneath 40 others.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15They recognised it, as before his death,
0:57:15 > 0:57:20Mr MacPherson had pasted a piece of paper around his wrist
0:57:20 > 0:57:21with his name on it.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25It's a tragic end to the man who helped shape
0:57:25 > 0:57:29the world's most popular sport here in Russia.
0:57:32 > 0:57:37Most of us have heard about the Scots in America, Canada, Australia,
0:57:37 > 0:57:39but the story of our folk here in
0:57:39 > 0:57:43the world's largest country spans centuries.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46In making this film, I have seen an aspect of
0:57:46 > 0:57:51the Scottish diaspora that until now I never really knew about.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56It's only now I realise that I had unwittingly followed
0:57:56 > 0:57:58in their footsteps.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02Many came in search of a better life, and in doing so,
0:58:02 > 0:58:05left our Celtic footprint.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09But I also think we brought a willingness to work
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and a desire to get to the very,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16very essence of our being, and existence.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18And at times, to reinvent ourselves.
0:58:21 > 0:58:22And sometimes...
0:58:23 > 0:58:27..sometimes, our influence remains.