0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:17 > 0:00:24Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see and where to stay.
0:00:24 > 0:00:31Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys across the length and breadth of the country
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01Using my Victorian Bradshaw's guide,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05I'm beginning a journey up the west coast of Scotland.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07The northern part of the West Highland Line
0:01:07 > 0:01:11was recently voted in one travel survey the world's most scenic railway.
0:01:11 > 0:01:18Trains brought tourists to places previously accessible only to deer and sheep.
0:01:18 > 0:01:2119th century novels romanticised highland culture,
0:01:21 > 0:01:26and Queen Victoria began the royal habit of holidaying north of the border.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31Bradshaw's helps in understanding those social changes.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35As the railways reached the Highlands, the guidebooks provided useful tips
0:01:35 > 0:01:38for those travelling north.
0:01:38 > 0:01:45On this stretch of the journey I'll be discovering why 19th century Paisley was a magnet for Italians...
0:01:45 > 0:01:48- Lei parla italiano?- Si. - Si? Da dove e?
0:01:48 > 0:01:52..seeing how the railways helped golf to flourish in Scotland...
0:01:52 > 0:01:59It was 1925, and there were something like 20,000 people came on the railway from Glasgow.
0:01:59 > 0:02:06..and celebrating haggis in the home town of poet Robert Burns.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
0:02:11 > 0:02:13Fantastic.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Starting on the Ayrshire coast,
0:02:18 > 0:02:23this journey takes me north to join the stunning West Highland Line.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29I'll be following its path through some of the Highlands' most dramatic scenery,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and I'll end up on the Hebridean island of Skye.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39My route today begins in Ayr, then up the track to Prestwick.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43My last stop will be one of the great Victorian textile towns, Paisley.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52I'm travelling through a county with a rich industrial past.
0:02:52 > 0:03:00This is Ayrshire, and my Bradshaw's guide says it has "abundant mines of coal, also freestone, limestone,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05"iron, lead and copper, and from the great abundance of seaweed which is cast ashore,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08"vast quantities of kelp is made."
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Well, like in many places the railways were built originally for coal,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15but it wasn't too long before the companies realised
0:03:15 > 0:03:18that they had to make provision for passengers, too.
0:03:21 > 0:03:29This line opened to passengers in 1839, and in the first year alone was used by 137,000 people.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34It developed into a busy commuter route, linking Glasgow with the pretty coastal town of Ayr.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39TRAIN ANNOUNCEMENT: 'This is Ayr, where this train will terminate.'
0:03:49 > 0:03:55My Bradshaw's refers to Ayr as "a port, at the mouth of the Ayr water, a picturesque stream,"
0:03:55 > 0:03:59and says that "about 5,000 tons of shipping are registered here".
0:03:59 > 0:04:05Before Glasgow rose to prominence, this was the stepping-off point for trade with the Western Isles.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07But even in Bradshaw's day tourists were coming here,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11for this is what my guidebook refers to as the land of Burns.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Celebrity fascinated Victorians.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Using trains they could visit places made famous by literature,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25or gawp at the birthplace of a popular writer like Robert Burns.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29It stands close to Ayr, and my guidebook says,
0:04:29 > 0:04:35"Innumerable pilgrims from all lands visit these scenes and the place of the poet's residence
0:04:35 > 0:04:41"to gaze on what has been charmed and sanctified by his genius."
0:04:42 > 0:04:48Bradshaw's listing for Ayr contains three columns of quotes from Burns.
0:04:48 > 0:04:54But no verse perhaps is more famous than that in which the great Scottish poet
0:04:54 > 0:04:58elevated a humble Scottish peasant dish
0:04:58 > 0:05:03to the status of international celebrity with his Address To A Haggis.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09The poem's recited each January at Burns night suppers.
0:05:09 > 0:05:14Although tongue in cheek, it's undoubtedly a proud celebration of Scottish cuisine.
0:05:16 > 0:05:22Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face Great chieftain o' the pudding-race!
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Those verses brought haggis to global renown,
0:05:25 > 0:05:30and the railways enabled many outside Scotland to have their first taste.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36'I'm meeting award-winning haggis maker Stuart Duguid to chart its rise to fame.'
0:05:36 > 0:05:40While I'm in Robbie Burns country I thought I'd find out a bit more about haggis.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Well, you've picked the right place to come to.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44What's the history? How did it start?
0:05:44 > 0:05:49It goes back to the days when the gentry ate the lamb, and all the poor people, the peasants,
0:05:49 > 0:05:52were eating the offal, and they made the offal into a meal.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55So, traditionally, it was a pudding made for poor people?
0:05:55 > 0:05:59Oh, yes, without a doubt. It's immortalised now, though.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02- Well, immortalised by Rabbie Burns. - Oh, absolutely, yes.
0:06:02 > 0:06:08Now, did he write... That Address To The Haggis, did he write that as a joke, forgive me?
0:06:08 > 0:06:12No, he didn't, my, God no. Don't say that to a Scottish man, either!
0:06:12 > 0:06:13It was a completely serious thing?
0:06:13 > 0:06:16It was a serious poem, yes. He was very serious about it.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19But then it becomes, I suppose thanks to Rabbie Burns,
0:06:19 > 0:06:24a dish that is craved even in London?
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Oh, yes. Not just London, all over.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29We... Well, fortunately the railway station is just along the road there,
0:06:29 > 0:06:34and we send a tremendous amount of haggis down south by railway.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Do you think the railway itself helped the export of haggis to outside Scotland?
0:06:38 > 0:06:43Of course it did. It was the only way of transporting it in those days, the rail.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46It was a wee bit more difficult with refrigeration, but it still worked.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Cos once it's cooked, it's got a seven-day shelf life.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- I'm looking forward to... - I'm certainly hoping so!
0:06:52 > 0:06:53..to seeing how you make them.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56We've got the coat, we've got the hat, and we're ready for you.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58- I'm ready for it, too.- OK.
0:06:58 > 0:06:59HE CHUCKLES
0:07:02 > 0:07:07'Bradshaw's says of Haggis, "Its ingredients are oatmeal, suet, pepper,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10'"and it's usually boiled in a sheep's stomach."
0:07:10 > 0:07:15'But perhaps for fear of putting people off, it doesn't mention the most important ingredients.'
0:07:15 > 0:07:19This is what we call a sheep's pluck. This is the heart.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20Heart and lungs?
0:07:20 > 0:07:25- Lungs.- Liver.- Yeah. That's the raw material.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29We cook these. Probably cook about 200lb at a time for a batch size,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31- and that's the size it cooks down to. - OK.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36'Once everything's mixed up, it's time to make the haggis.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41'Sheep's stomachs are still used for the largest, and intestines for smaller ones.'
0:07:41 > 0:07:42Right. Here we go.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Hand over this end of it. That's it. And again. No. Hold it firm.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50- Oh, dear!- We'll try another one.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Firm. That's it. Keep it on there. Well done.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Well done. Same again. Keep it firm.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03- Let it slide now, slightly. Perfect. - Lovely!
0:08:03 > 0:08:08So what we're going to do, we're going to open the oven up and then bring out one just exactly like that.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- Ah, lovely. - You have actually made a haggis.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Whoa!
0:08:15 > 0:08:18- Aren't they beautiful?- Mmm.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Now's your chance, Michael. We'd like you to taste this.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23That's a great honour.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Before you do so, I'm afraid you have to recite the poem.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- We'll ask you to do the first verse, make it easy for you.- All right.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face Great chieftain o' the pudding race!
0:08:34 > 0:08:40Aboon them a' yet tak your place Painch, trip or thairm
0:08:40 > 0:08:44Weel are ye wordy o'a grace As lang's my arm.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46- Now what do I do? - You slice it open.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Slice it open.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Oh, look at that!
0:08:57 > 0:08:59It's not the way I normally do it.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02I just normally pick it up with my fingers.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04- Fantastic.- Ain't that lovely?
0:09:04 > 0:09:05Mm. Marvellous.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08- Really got a bit of an edge to it, hasn't it?- Mmm-hmm.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Ah, it's a lovely, lovely haggis.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15'Bradshaw's said haggis is "a heavy yet by no means disagreeable dish,"
0:09:15 > 0:09:16'and I don't argue with that.'
0:09:19 > 0:09:24It's now time to leave Ayr and catch the train just a few miles up the line to Prestwick.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34'The tracks running up this stretch of coast offer wonderful views across the Firth of Clyde.'
0:09:42 > 0:09:49In the 19th century the new railway allowed wealthy Glaswegians to move out to this beautiful scenery,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52'turning Prestwick into a haven for commuters.'
0:10:02 > 0:10:06This is Prestwick Town, which scarcely gets a mention in Bradshaw's
0:10:06 > 0:10:09because it was just a tiny village on the edge of Troon.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14But when the rail link arrived here, that was the moment when the middle classes from Glasgow
0:10:14 > 0:10:17could build their magnificent villas here
0:10:17 > 0:10:22to take advantage of the sea views and the vista over towards the Isle of Arran.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28And with the railway coming here in 1840, it was just 11 years later that they put in the golf course.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31And the best view of the golf course is from the station.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37'When my guidebook was published, Prestwick was poised to become
0:10:37 > 0:10:40'one of Scotland's most important golf courses,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43'as club secretary Ian Bunch explains.'
0:10:43 > 0:10:46- What a fantastic golf course. - Welcome to Prestwick.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51Where we're standing now, Prestwick, this is actually the home of Open golf in Scotland. Is that right?
0:10:51 > 0:10:55The home of... The first Open Championship was held here in 1860.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00Only eight people took part in that Open, and it was Tom Morris,
0:11:00 > 0:11:04it was his concept with the Earl of Eglinton and JL Fairlie,
0:11:04 > 0:11:11and they sent invitations out to the leading clubs for them to put forward players to play in this Open event.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16And I suppose, then, the railways did then make it possible for it to become a big spectator event?
0:11:16 > 0:11:22Oh, yes. I mean, the last Open that we held here was 1925,
0:11:22 > 0:11:28and there were something like 20,000 people came on the railway from Glasgow.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32How fantastic, but forgive me, it must have been quite difficult to control 20,000 people
0:11:32 > 0:11:33on this size of course?
0:11:33 > 0:11:38That's why we no longer have the Open Championship, because the crowd control, there was none.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Everybody was on the fairways. They just followed the matches,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44and you have all these people bottlenecking.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48That was the last Open in 1925 that we actually had.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Golf originated in 15th century Scotland,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57but in the railway age it spread rapidly.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01By the 1900s there were more than 1,300 courses in Britain.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Have the railways played quite an important part
0:12:04 > 0:12:05in the history of golf?
0:12:05 > 0:12:11Oh, very important. If you think of a links course, it's beside a railway station.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15It was more holidays, industrial revolution, people had...
0:12:15 > 0:12:18The working week came down to 55 hours, so they had more time,
0:12:18 > 0:12:20and they were actually able to play golf.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25Of course in those days you didn't have a car, you wanted to take your clubs on the train.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Absolutely. Well, it was horse and cart or a train.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Railway companies offered cheap tickets and deals for golfers.
0:12:33 > 0:12:39And here, railway staff made special arrangements so players didn't miss their train.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44In days gone by the station master used to have a bell which he would ring
0:12:44 > 0:12:51which would ring in the bar to advise that the train was going to arrive within five minutes.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56So we had a wonderful relationship with the railways in days gone by.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58- Just time to drink up and go? - Absolutely.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03In Prestwick the memory of the railway's heyday is cherished.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Oh, I've got a good story about railways and golf.
0:13:06 > 0:13:11Well, a lady's playing at Prestwick long ago in the '20s of steam trains,
0:13:11 > 0:13:18and the train came into the station as she drove, and she sliced it over the wall out of bounds,
0:13:18 > 0:13:25hit the train, came back on the course and as she walks up the driver leaned out and said,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29"That was lucky. Are you playing tomorrow?" And she said,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33"Yes. I've got a tee time at 1pm." He said, "I'll try and be here."
0:13:33 > 0:13:35HE LAUGHS
0:13:35 > 0:13:36Have the same luck twice.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Golf is something I'm leaving for later life,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44so I'd best just head off in search of tonight's hotel.
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Prestwick's good rail links to Glasgow led to a building boom in the 19th century,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and rows of elegant terraces sprang up.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59'And one of them is rather special.'
0:13:59 > 0:14:01I'm now just a stone's throw from the golf course,
0:14:01 > 0:14:05and my bed tonight will be in one of those mid-19th century villas.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09And this one was built for John Keppie, who was an architect,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and he was a friend of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17So I'm hoping that when I embark on my journeys tomorrow, my head will be full of grand designs.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25'Mackintosh, Scotland's most famous architect, often spent time in this house.'
0:14:25 > 0:14:28It's easy to see why he loved Prestwick.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34This quiet coastal town provided him with the necessary peace for creativity.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Thank you, that looks lovely. Thank you very much indeed.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47'After a hearty Ayrshire breakfast it's time to continue my journey,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'starting back at Prestwick station to catch my next train.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16'I'm on my way to Paisley, travelling through Renfrewshire.'
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Bradshaw's says that, "This county contains many manufacturing towns and villages.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24"It's bounded by the Firth of Clyde and the Clyde River".
0:15:24 > 0:15:29Then he talks about the industry and enterprise of the inhabitants
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and about "extensive machinery in immense buildings,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36"where hundreds of human beings are actively engaged in manufactures."
0:15:36 > 0:15:42It's a very telling description of an industrious and industrialised county
0:15:42 > 0:15:45at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50'In Bradshaw's day, these parts were being transformed
0:15:50 > 0:15:55'from tranquil villages into substantial industrial towns.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57'My next stop is a good example.'
0:16:08 > 0:16:13Well, I've now arrived at the very Victorian-feeling station of Paisley Gilmour Street.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15My Bradshaw's says of Paisley,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18"Paisley is a thriving seat of the cotton trade,
0:16:18 > 0:16:23"with a population of about 47,952."
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Don't you love that combination of approximation and precision?
0:16:33 > 0:16:38In the 19th century, Paisley was one of Britain's most productive textile towns.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41It gave its name to the Indian-inspired shawls,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44patterned with the iconic teardrop.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52But Victorian Paisley also produced a fabric with origins closer to home.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56In the mid-19th century Paisley was a town of weavers,
0:16:56 > 0:17:01and the cottage industry had pretty much given way to big, new mills.
0:17:01 > 0:17:07With tourists pouring into Scotland on the trains, and with the royal interest in all matters Scottish,
0:17:07 > 0:17:13there was a tartan craze, and the mills were churning out mile after mile of the stuff.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17It was being exported everywhere, beginning its journey, of course, by rail.
0:17:18 > 0:17:25Sad to remember, just a century before Victoria's reign, tartan was almost lost forever.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29The Highlanders, who'd supported Bonnie Prince Charlie's rebellion,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33had been defeated by government troops at the Battle of Culloden.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38'The director of the Scottish Tartans Authority, Brian Wilton, knows the story.'
0:17:38 > 0:17:42After Culloden, what happens to the Highlanders?
0:17:42 > 0:17:48I think the first blow was that tartan was banned
0:17:48 > 0:17:51from 1747 until, in fact, 1782.
0:17:52 > 0:17:59That resulted in many of the old looms being lost, many of the old patterns being lost.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03That very proud and unique identity of the Highlanders was taken away from them.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07They were made to wear trousers, and trousers, as far as they were concerned,
0:18:07 > 0:18:12the majority of them were terrible things. Impractical, not Scottish.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15So that was a great slap in face for them.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20'The authorities tried to suppress the rebellious Highlanders by destroying their culture,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23'but they didn't quite succeed in killing off tartan.'
0:18:23 > 0:18:26Tartan goes from being banned in the Highlands
0:18:26 > 0:18:30to being a fashion accessory for the English upper classes. How on earth did that happen?
0:18:30 > 0:18:34That was due to a remarkable, lucky coincidence of events.
0:18:34 > 0:18:40The first one was probably George IV, who was invited to Edinburgh in 1822,
0:18:40 > 0:18:43a trip that was orchestrated by Sir Walter Scott.
0:18:43 > 0:18:49When George IV arrived in Edinburgh, he was kitted out from top to toe in tartan,
0:18:49 > 0:18:55and even, it's said, wore some pink tights, which didn't go down too well.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59In the invitation to the clan chiefs to come to meet the king,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Walter Scott said, "Dress in your clan tartans."
0:19:02 > 0:19:07Many of them didn't know what their tartans were because of the previous ban,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and they were scrabbling around, going to the weavers,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13talking to old people in the clans saying, "Can you remember our tartan?"
0:19:13 > 0:19:17At this point, two young men appeared.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21The Sobieski brothers professed to be grandsons of Bonnie Prince Charlie,
0:19:21 > 0:19:27and claimed to have discovered an ancient document that could solve the Highlanders' problem.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30They also let it be known that they had a very rare manuscript
0:19:30 > 0:19:37which detailed in minute detail the Scottish clan tartans,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40not just for the Highlanders, but also for the Lowlanders,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43and people in the borders, families in the borders,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45who'd never had tartans before.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47Walter Scott was very suspicious of this,
0:19:47 > 0:19:53but the rest of Scottish society welcomed these with open arms because of this Romantic wave.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58'The brothers produced a dictionary of tartans,
0:19:58 > 0:20:03'allowing many clans and families to lay claim to an ancestral pattern.'
0:20:03 > 0:20:06'Tartan sales began to take off.'
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Do you think the railways helped to spread the tartan mania in the Victorian period?
0:20:12 > 0:20:17We're positive that they had a very great effect.
0:20:17 > 0:20:23Not only did they provide a marvellously improved means of transport
0:20:23 > 0:20:27to get tartans from the Highlands down to the market in the south,
0:20:27 > 0:20:31but they also, on the return journey, brought the tourists with them,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34who would come into the Highlands and would buy tartan.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39So I think it was a marvellously symbiotic relationship.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45The public was so infatuated with tartan that the book's authenticity went largely unchallenged.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Very many of today's tartans turned out, at the end of the day, to be forgeries.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54- What, the book was a fraud? - Yes, gifted forgeries, because they were very imaginative.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57But the clans accepted them,
0:20:57 > 0:21:03and that makes up many of today's clan tartan books.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07- I've been meaning to ask you, what tartan are you wearing now? - That's the Fraser tartan.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Your family tartan?
0:21:09 > 0:21:12- Yes, my grandmother was a Fraser. - And you're sure it's genuine?
0:21:12 > 0:21:15It better be, she'll be in trouble if it isn't!
0:21:16 > 0:21:21It seems that many supposedly ancient tartans were in fact invented in Bradshaw's day.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Now anyone can design and register a new one.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30But for traditionalists, the idea of clan weaves has stuck.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35We're an off-shoot of the Mackay tartan, but I don't know a great deal about it.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Would you have any idea what the Mackay tartans look like?
0:21:37 > 0:21:41Oh, it's a green background, I know that, but other colours, no.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44- Do you lay claim to any tartan yourself?- No, I don't.
0:21:44 > 0:21:45I'm Italian and English.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Would you ever wear a tartan, even so?
0:21:48 > 0:21:52I know that I can't. I've been told that I can only wear Black Watch because I'm not Scottish.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58- Did you know there was a connection between Paisley and an Italian town called Barga?- No, I didn't.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01- It's all to do with fish and chips and ice cream.- Is it really?!
0:22:01 > 0:22:03See, Italians know their food.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06The Italians know their food, they do indeed.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Paisley has an Italian community that dates back to Victorian times,
0:22:10 > 0:22:16when the railways brought thousands of immigrants to southwest Scotland.
0:22:16 > 0:22:22I'm meeting Scots-Italian Ronnie Convery in one of Paisley's oldest fish and chip shops.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23- Hello, Ronnie.- Hi, Michael.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26- I'm Michael, it's lovely to see you. - Nice to see you.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31What's the connection, then, between Paisley and la bella Italia?
0:22:31 > 0:22:32Well, it goes back a long way.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35I suppose the main thing to say is that Italy,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39which we now regard as a kind of cultural and stylistic capital,
0:22:39 > 0:22:44in the 19th century had some of the characteristics of a developing country.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48There was incredible poverty, failures of harvests and so on,
0:22:48 > 0:22:54so basically Italian immigrants left Tuscany, which we would now regard as the ultimate holiday destination,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56to come to places like this.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59And this was regarded as a place to make a new life.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03They came basically through London, and then spread out from London,
0:23:03 > 0:23:07following the railway lines to centres like Glasgow and Paisley.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09So that here, in this part of Scotland,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13the majority of the Italian community come from one tiny little village
0:23:13 > 0:23:18high in the Apuane Alps in Tuscany called Barga.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21In the 19th century, the people of Barga were hit by famine.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24As the railways spread through Europe, some were able to escape,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and many ended up in Paisley hoping to make their fortunes.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Why have we met in a fish and chip shop?
0:23:32 > 0:23:37That's another story. When those first immigrants came, they were essentially hawkers.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Ice cream became their trade, on barrows, and an interesting thing there is,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44in our health and safety obsessed world,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47in those days they used to sell ice cream in little glass cups.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52People would literally lick the ice cream out the cup and hand it back to the salesman.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57It was only in 1905 that an Italian from Manchester invented the cone,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59and thus made our current ice cream cone.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03That's got us to ice cream, it hasn't go us to fish and chips yet.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Well, OK. Ice cream's not a great seller in the winter.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10So Italians being here, not wishing to take the jobs of the local community,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12had to find something new and original.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Now, fish and chips isn't actually original to Italians.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18It had been sold in London by Greeks, actually, in the 19th century.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24But, seeing the market, they took it outside London, and it's a very easy thing to set up.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29There's an endless supply potatoes in Britain and a reasonably endless supply of fish.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31How big did this trend grow?
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Were there lots of Italian fish and chip shops and ice cream shops?
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Between 1890 and 1910, the Italian population of Scotland quadrupled,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43but the number of ice cream and fish and chips shops increased tenfold.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44- Tenfold?- Yeah.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51'Out of the large number of Italian fish and chip shops that once graced Paisley,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54'only a handful have survived.'
0:24:56 > 0:24:58I've just come into this fish and chip shop,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02- an Italian fish and chip shop, but it has a Scottish name. - Exactly, Allans.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06That's actually quite typical, there are a few like that called Savoy Cafe and things.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11It's because of the wartime experience of the Italian community, which was pretty awful.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15When Mussolini entered the war in 1940, Churchill famously said, "Collar the lot,"
0:25:15 > 0:25:18meaning collar the whole community.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23So men from about 14 to 60 or 70 were arrested and interned.
0:25:23 > 0:25:29So the impact of that wartime experience was extreme on the Italian community,
0:25:29 > 0:25:30it was a real scar on their psyche.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35So much so that after the war there was an incredible desire to integrate,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37to not stand out from the crowd.
0:25:37 > 0:25:43'Scots-Italians now feel so at home here that they invent their own tartans.'
0:25:43 > 0:25:47Recently, a member of this community, another chap who owns a fish and chip shop,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51decided it would be a good idea to create a Scottish-Italian tartan.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55And used all the colours - the blue of the Italian national football strip,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58the green, white and red of the flag,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01applied to the Scottish Tartans Authority,
0:26:01 > 0:26:05and obtained their permission to have the first approved ethnic tartan.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09Given your shirt and tie, you may actually get away with that today.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11That's an example of integration, isn't it?
0:26:11 > 0:26:14That is super. Do you know...
0:26:14 > 0:26:19I mean, that is fantastic, but I wouldn't have known that wasn't just a pure Scottish tartan.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21It could be Macbeth or MacDonald, couldn't it?
0:26:21 > 0:26:23But here I see the blue of the Italian football team,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26and, of course, the green, white and red of the flag.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28- That's the giveaway if you know where to look.- Yeah.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33- Lei parla italiano?- Si. - Si? Da dove e?
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Where are you from?
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Sono scozzeze, ma io parlo anche un po' d'italiano.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41"I'm Scottish but I speak a bit of Italian."
0:26:41 > 0:26:44- So you know about your Italian roots, do you?- Oh, yes.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47- This is my grandfather's shop. - Your grandfather's shop.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49- This is my grandfather's shop. - How lovely.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52And, by the way, do you do ice cream as well as fish and chips?
0:26:52 > 0:26:55- Yes. But our speciality's haddock and chips.- Haddock and chips.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59I've got a nice haddock coming out of the pan if you want to see it?
0:26:59 > 0:27:01I just had a spaghetti, I'm so sorry.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05You come to talk about fish and chips and you eat pasta!
0:27:05 > 0:27:08I had a pasta, I'm so sorry.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Look what you could have had!
0:27:11 > 0:27:12Oh! Isn't that beautiful?
0:27:12 > 0:27:15As Italian as they come.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18My Bradshaw's guide has helped me
0:27:18 > 0:27:23to understand the traditions and the myths that make the Scots special.
0:27:23 > 0:27:29It's struck me on my journey today how very influential Scotland has been in the world.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33Golf is a game that's played everywhere,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37and Scotch whisky is enjoyed universally.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42Wherever you go in the world, people know that haggis and tartan are Scottish.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46And for such a small country to have such an impact strikes me as remarkable.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51And since my mother is a Scot, I feel entitled to feel a little proud.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05'On my next journey, I'll be discovering how Queen Victoria
0:28:05 > 0:28:10'attracted trainloads of tourists to Loch Lomond...'
0:28:10 > 0:28:14This is very valuable, I can see it's signed by Victoria.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16That's a real treasure that you've got that.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20'..finding out how Scottish timber fuelled the railway boom...'
0:28:20 > 0:28:23We have fast-growing trees for things like railway sleepers.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26That was one of the big demands in the 19th century.
0:28:26 > 0:28:32'..and learning how a great sailing ship took her name from a witch in a poem.'
0:28:32 > 0:28:35It comes from a Burns poem. Tam O'Shanter, he can't help himself,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and he jumps up and he shouts, "Weel done, Cutty Sark!"
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:49 > 0:28:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk