0:00:15 > 0:00:18The Highland Games.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22A tradition almost as old as the country that gave it life.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Born from Scotland's battling clans,
0:00:32 > 0:00:33from epic trials of strength
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and raised on a royal passion for the Highlands.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43The colours and emblems of a culture that almost disappeared
0:00:43 > 0:00:46but fought back to emerge stronger than ever.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55The Highland games have been reinvented for each new generation.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58As a meeting place of strength,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00of speed,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02of celebration.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Today, on sports grounds, farmers fields and city parks,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12across this country and others,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15The Highland Games are Scotland's Olympics.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40The village of Ceres,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43at the very centre of the ancient Kingdom of Fife.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Home to what might just be Scotland's oldest Highland Games.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58For centuries, the whole village has come together
0:01:58 > 0:02:01for this annual summer celebration.
0:02:03 > 0:02:04For the people of Ceres,
0:02:04 > 0:02:09it's said to be a day as important as Hogmanay or Christmas.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14A day described in the Victorian verse of a local poet, John W Wood.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20This is my own, my native place
0:02:20 > 0:02:23And these the kinsmen of my race
0:02:23 > 0:02:27With careless, free, yet noble mien
0:02:27 > 0:02:30All bounding now on Ceres Green.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33The spot where met the Ceres clan
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Spot dear to every Ceres man.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41And the importance of the games has changed little
0:02:41 > 0:02:45in the century and a half since Wood composed his poem.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48It definitely brought the community together,
0:02:48 > 0:02:50very much as it does here today.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52You can see all the folk, all the way around here,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54cheering away, shouting for their own people.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I don't think that's changed very much over time at all.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02The sports were the same, foot races, putting the shot,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04tossing the caber, tossing the wheatsheaf.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10And I'm sure that 600 years ago the guys came out with their shirts off
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and showed off, exactly the same way as they do now.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16They proved that they were going to be strong men.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Strong fathers, especially, you know? Good for breeding purposes.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Good warriors, good for defending the community.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25And then the parents and the relations and everybody else
0:03:25 > 0:03:28would all take pride in their achievement.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Most Highland Games have a chieftain,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36the honorary patron.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39In older times, the land-owner or clan chief.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43At Ceres it's the local MP, Sir Menzies Campbell -
0:03:43 > 0:03:47former leader of the Liberal Democrat Party.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Sir Menzies once competed at Highland Games.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54In the 1960s he was, for a time, Britain's fastest man.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Now, as chieftain, he's the custodian of an ancient tradition.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04The Ceres games are said to date back to 1314,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07the year that Scotland's great warrior King Robert the Bruce
0:04:07 > 0:04:10defeated the English army.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Having beaten the English at Bannockburn,
0:04:13 > 0:04:15the young men of the village came back here
0:04:15 > 0:04:20and they had trials of strength and foot races on the village green.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24And that's why where we hold these games is so important.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27It's right at the very heart of the village of Ceres.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33This is June's great gala day
0:04:33 > 0:04:37When men rin wud and youngsters play
0:04:37 > 0:04:41The day that marks the grand return
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Of Ceres men frae Bannockburn.
0:04:45 > 0:04:51It's an appealing story - a Highland Games established by royal command.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54And it might even be true!
0:04:54 > 0:04:57But there's not one word of written evidence.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04The modern games are a Highland blend of fact, folklore and fantasy.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10A unique and essentially Scottish concoction of sport and culture.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19There's Highland dancing,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21the pipes and drums,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23all judged in meticulous competition.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27And a succession of sports
0:05:27 > 0:05:30usually athletics, sometimes cycling, sometimes wrestling,
0:05:30 > 0:05:35but always, always, the heavies.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40The shot, the hammer, the caber.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46And, just like the history of the Ceres games,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50the origins of these individual events are hidden
0:05:50 > 0:05:55behind centuries of highest quality Scotch mist.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02One of the daftest theories I've ever heard
0:06:02 > 0:06:04is that this is how the Scots used to fight.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06They used to run around with a pole
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and it had to land at exactly 12 noon, on the enemy.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12And that's how we lost so many battles. We kept missing them!
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Another one is the pole vault was invented by the Scots.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23They used it as a way of vaulting into castles and vaulting out again.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26It's quite simple, really.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Sport had to be universal in these days.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Nobody had money for special kit,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33unless you were a knight at a tournament.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37It had to be cheap so as many people could participate as possible.
0:06:37 > 0:06:38That's the secret of them.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41That's why they were so important to the community.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53At most games the caber is top of the bill.
0:06:53 > 0:06:58The final event, the worldwide trademark of the Highland Games.
0:07:00 > 0:07:0518 feet long, more or less, and around 55 kilos.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09120 pounds of pure Scottish tree.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20The art of a good caber tosser
0:07:20 > 0:07:22is to hit the caber so quick.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23Plant your feet,
0:07:23 > 0:07:25jump through the air,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27plant your feet and just hit it as fast as you can.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56We normally have a judge that runs behind us.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59When we're running, we'll throw it, it'll land,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02flip over and land flat.
0:08:02 > 0:08:03And it's done on a clock face.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06If you get it on 12 o'clock, that's a perfect throw.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Anything between five-to and five-past, is a good throw.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14At Ceres, they take wicked pride
0:08:14 > 0:08:17in making things as difficult as possible.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19In the days leading up to the games,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22the heaviest caber is soaked in the burn
0:08:22 > 0:08:26to make it that bit heavier, that bit harder to throw.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35And, for a time, it looked like the caber would win the day.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08After a parade of illustrious failure,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Neil Elliot prepared for the final throw of the day.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21CHEERING
0:09:23 > 0:09:25You really feel the crowd on top of you.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28You know, I think the crowd come to see the caber.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It's the most exciting event to watch. It's dramatic.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35You're putting 110% behind this. You have to.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37This is the hardest event in the Highland games.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39It takes a lot of years to perfect.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45The games at Ceres, like the games all across Scotland,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48came to life in medieval farming communities.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Young men threw metal hammers and heavy stones.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Over time, these competitions were attached
0:09:56 > 0:09:58to local festivals and holy days.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01They became part of a wider community event.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06But why did these gatherings come to be known as Highland Games,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08even in this most lowland of villages?
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Why does rule 49E of the Scottish Highland Games Association
0:10:13 > 0:10:16insist all competitors in heavy events
0:10:16 > 0:10:19must compete in Highland Dress?
0:10:24 > 0:10:27The story of why and how that happened
0:10:27 > 0:10:30encompasses more than the history of the games.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34It's at the heart of the history of Scotland.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42How one version of Highland culture was put to the sword.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46And how a new version - of untamed glens and noble warriors -
0:10:46 > 0:10:48was embraced across Britain and the world.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Lochcarron, Wester Ross.
0:11:03 > 0:11:0660 or so miles west of Inverness,
0:11:06 > 0:11:07en route to the Isle of Skye.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14The Highland Games here
0:11:14 > 0:11:16are amongst the most remote on mainland Scotland.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20And certainly amongst the most picturesque.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Scotland hosts around 90 Highland Games every year.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30The numbers have been in decline since the 1940s.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35These small community events, run entirely by volunteers,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38have to work hard to stay in business.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41GUNSHOT
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Lochcarron prides itself on its Highland hospitality,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51it calls itself The Friendly Games.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57But in medieval times,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00these Highland glens were far from friendly.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04From the earliest written histories up to the 1700s
0:12:04 > 0:12:08the Scottish Highlands were home to ferocious warring clans.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The King was in Edinburgh,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14but ultimate power lay with the clan chiefs.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Ah!
0:12:20 > 0:12:24To some extent, law and order had broken down.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27People were competing with each other for resources,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29they were fighting, basically.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33- TANNOY:- 'Could we also have competitors for the 800 metres?
0:12:33 > 0:12:37'That's 800 metres. Four laps of the track, 800 metres.'
0:12:37 > 0:12:41There was mayhem in many parts of the Highlands,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45because of this, martial virtues, heroic prowess,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48became very important to the clan system.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52In a sense, this is what we're seeing - a very formal,
0:12:52 > 0:12:56and a very stylised remnant of this in the Highland Games today.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09From the 13th to the 16th centuries, mercenary Highlanders,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13the Galloglass, fought for Irish lords.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17In France, Gaels were recruited into the Garde Ecossaise,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21formed in the 15th century as elite bodyguards to the French King.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Over the years, the Highlanders built a formidable reputation -
0:13:29 > 0:13:31dangerous, untamed.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37In the early 1700s across much of Britain,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Gaels had the name for being barbarous people,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44for being rebels, disaffected to the crown.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47In many cases, at least as far as the disaffected bit goes,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49this was true.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Many Highlanders rose up with the exiled Stuart kings
0:13:53 > 0:13:57trying in an attempt for coup d'etats to put them back on the throne.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03The final rising of 1745
0:14:03 > 0:14:08saw Bonnie Prince Charlie raise a predominately Highland army
0:14:08 > 0:14:10and march on London.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12His subsequent defeat,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14his army massacred at the Battle Of Culloden,
0:14:14 > 0:14:19threatened every aspect of Highland society and identity.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28After the victory of the British army at Culloden
0:14:28 > 0:14:30the British government tried to make sure
0:14:30 > 0:14:33that these risings would never take place again.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37If you like, they were trying to forcibly incorporate the Highlands
0:14:37 > 0:14:39into the rest of the British state.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45The precious symbols of the Highlands
0:14:45 > 0:14:47were threatened by a new British law -
0:14:47 > 0:14:51the 1746 Act Of Proscription.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56A blow to the heart of Highland identity.
0:14:59 > 0:15:04No man or boy, within that part of Great Britain called Scotland,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06shall on any pretence whatsoever,
0:15:06 > 0:15:12wear or put on the clothes commonly called Highland clothes.
0:15:14 > 0:15:20Tartan was banned. Kilt was banned. Bearing arms was banned.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24All these things which differentiated the Highlands from the rest of Britain.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30Homes were burned to the ground. The land fell silent.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33And so did the games.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Highlanders looked for a new life overseas.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Some to farm, some to fight.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Prime Minister William Pitt pioneered the recruitment
0:15:43 > 0:15:46of Highland soldiers into the British army.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51I sought for merit wherever it could be found,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54and found it in the mountains of the north.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56A hardy and intrepid race of men,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00they served with fidelity as they fought with valour.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07Highlanders became the good guys.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10They were loyal now to the crown,
0:16:10 > 0:16:15they displayed their martial virtues across the planet.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21It's an amazing turnaround from being traitors
0:16:21 > 0:16:25to being patriots in the space of one generation.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30The colours of Highland identity
0:16:30 > 0:16:32were saved by the Highland regiments.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35The Act Of Proscription was repealed in 1782.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45Only 36 years after being branded as kilted outlaws,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49the Highland soldier was now the poster-child of the British Empire.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58But at the same time, their homeland fell into deeper danger.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02The Highland economy collapsed. Crofters starved.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05They were forced from their homes.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08And as their world changed,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Highland chiefs looked to preserve their feudal authority
0:17:12 > 0:17:14in the customs of the past.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17They looked back, back to the Games.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22Places where they could show
0:17:22 > 0:17:24that they were still the ones in charge,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26where they could, if you like, pretend
0:17:26 > 0:17:30that the awful, terrible changes taking place across the Highlands
0:17:30 > 0:17:32were not actually taking place at all,
0:17:32 > 0:17:38that Highlanders still remained in the clan society of old.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42In reality, we were living in the midst of the Industrial Revolution,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45as far as the clan chiefs were concerned,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49well, they wanted us to be back in the Middle Ages.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Now the ancient clan-society games
0:17:55 > 0:17:57were rebranded as The Highland Games.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02The most celebrated of these new tartan pageants began in 1819...
0:18:05 > 0:18:08..in the Perthshire village of St Fillans,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12organised by an eminent southern nobleman,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15a man more accustomed to the salons of Paris
0:18:15 > 0:18:17than the fields of Perthshire.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19His name was Lord Gwydyr.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Quite a dandy, an Anglo-Welsh aristocrat,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29clearly, he was someone who would quite like the idea
0:18:29 > 0:18:33of Highlanders arrayed in tartan being loyal their clan chief.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39An advertisement for the 1828 St Fillans Games
0:18:39 > 0:18:42betrays a romantic fascination for the Highlands of old.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47"Prizes offered for competition..."
0:18:58 > 0:19:03Genuine Highland culture was on the verge of extinction.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05But now a queue of Southern aristocrats
0:19:05 > 0:19:07fancied that they could preserve it
0:19:07 > 0:19:12in the glorious tartan Technicolor of the reborn Highland Games.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17At the head of the queue stood a most unlikely saviour,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19indeed a recent enemy...
0:19:22 > 0:19:24..the British Royal Family.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Every year, for as long as anyone can remember,
0:19:39 > 0:19:41the Royal Family comes here to Braemar.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46The Queen is chieftain of the Highland Gathering.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50The special relationship between British Royalty
0:19:50 > 0:19:53and the romantic reinvention of the Highlands
0:19:53 > 0:19:56began in the August of 1822
0:19:56 > 0:20:00when the Queen's Great-great-great-great uncle,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03George IV, arrived in Edinburgh.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12This was the first visit to Scotland by a British monarch since 1651.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16In charge of the spectacle, the tartan pageantry,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20was Britain's most celebrated novelist, Sir Walter Scott.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26The days were a series of events
0:20:26 > 0:20:29which were all based around Highland images,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32all based around tartan, all based around uniforms,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34it was a militaristic image of Scotland.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35What Scott had done was
0:20:35 > 0:20:38taken an essentially very rebellious image of Scotland,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41you know, the tartan of the Jacobites, of the clans
0:20:41 > 0:20:44that had been in rebellion, an image which had actually been banned,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48and he changed that into something which was loyal.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55The King was the great chief of the clan,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58and Scotland was of course the family, the clan, the nation.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Scotland's foremost artist, David Wilkie,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10presented a flattering portrait of Britain's King
0:21:10 > 0:21:14in the guise of a noble Highland chief.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20Contemporary satirists were less forgiving.
0:21:20 > 0:21:25James Stuart of Dunearn, a politician, wrote...
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Sir Walter had made us ridiculously appear
0:21:27 > 0:21:29as a nation of Highlanders
0:21:29 > 0:21:34and the bagpipe and tartan was the order of the day.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Scott crystallised the very idea of Scotland as Highland,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42as essentially an ancient Celtic nation.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46And he made that into a kind of sort of archetype
0:21:46 > 0:21:48which has run and run and run and run.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53And it was due to that fantasy that he created in 1822 at the visit.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Those summer celebrations in the Edinburgh of 1822
0:21:59 > 0:22:03marked the beginning of a royal love affair,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06a love affair consummated two decades later
0:22:06 > 0:22:10when the 23-year-old Queen Victoria first set foot in the Highlands.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18This was an adventure, it was a bold place to go in a certain way,
0:22:18 > 0:22:22to come this far north to the wilds of Scotland.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25And Queen Victoria came here and she loved it,
0:22:25 > 0:22:31she loved the wilderness, she loved the loyal nature of the people,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and she was really re-enacting a sort of Scott fantasy
0:22:34 > 0:22:36of what the Highlands were.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Such was Victoria's love for the Highlands
0:22:49 > 0:22:51that she and her husband Albert
0:22:51 > 0:22:55took the lease on Balmoral Castle in 1848,
0:22:55 > 0:22:58buying it outright three years later.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00In the summer of 1850
0:23:00 > 0:23:03she travelled the short distance from the castle
0:23:03 > 0:23:04to the village of Braemar.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13"We lunched early, and then went at 2.30pm to the Gathering."
0:23:17 > 0:23:21"Racing up the hill of Craig Cheunnich is a fearful exertion.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23"18 or 19 started,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26"and it looked very pretty to see them run off
0:23:26 > 0:23:28"and scramble up through the wood,
0:23:28 > 0:23:32"emerging gradually at the edge of it and climbing the hill."
0:23:45 > 0:23:47"We were all much pleased to see our gillie Duncan,
0:23:47 > 0:23:52"who is an active, good-looking young man, win.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56"Mr Farquharson brought him up to me afterwards."
0:24:03 > 0:24:06The descendant of that same Mr Farquharson
0:24:06 > 0:24:09is the present-day Chief of Clan Farquharson.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13His family have welcomed British monarchs
0:24:13 > 0:24:15to Braemar for a century and a half.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18- NEWSREEL:- 'Neighbours of the King,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21'the Laird of Invercauld and his American wife.'
0:24:22 > 0:24:26And he understands Queen Victoria's initial attraction.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31She fell in love with the country, with its people.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Um, it was magnificent, uplifting scenery
0:24:35 > 0:24:39and, um, a very healthy climate here too.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44And I think, very understandably, she was allowed...
0:24:44 > 0:24:49she was very good with her paints and her pencil and sketching
0:24:49 > 0:24:53and I think she just took to it like a duck to water, so to speak.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01In addition to her own paintings,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Queen Victoria's patronage brought established international artists
0:25:05 > 0:25:07to the Highlands.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Time and again they fashioned a world
0:25:15 > 0:25:20of steadfast Highland loyalty to Britain and to her Royal Family.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29The Swedish artist Egron Lundgren
0:25:29 > 0:25:34spent three weeks at Balmoral in the September of 1859.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40His visit coincided with the Braemar Gathering,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43held that year in front of the top-hatted members
0:25:43 > 0:25:46of the British Association For The Promotion Of Science.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56This metropolitan fashion for the Highlands
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and the Royal patronage had changed the Games forever.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09It was not long after all the troubles,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12the Battle Of Waterloo and this kind of thing.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Times were hard and they needed a bit of finance
0:26:15 > 0:26:17and that sort of thing to help.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26I imagine that the actual athletics and competition
0:26:26 > 0:26:28was very limited in those days,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31And gradually it grew and then it received Royal patronage
0:26:31 > 0:26:33and it got bigger still.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38And because the Queen was doing it,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41other people felt that they had to join in,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and of course the locals were more than happy
0:26:43 > 0:26:46to actually join in this fantasy, this tartan fantasy for the Queen.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50Because, you know, there was employment in this,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52there's money in this.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55It became an industry.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00"Mama, Charles and Ernest joined us at Braemar.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02"Mama enjoys it all very much.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05"It is her first visit to Scotland."
0:27:07 > 0:27:10"There were the usual games of putting the stone,
0:27:10 > 0:27:15"throwing the hammer and caber. We also saw some dancing,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17"the prettiest was a reel
0:27:17 > 0:27:20"by Mr Farquharson's children and some other children,
0:27:20 > 0:27:26"and the Ghillie Callum beautifully danced by John Athole Farquharson."
0:27:27 > 0:27:31He would have been my great grandfather's...
0:27:31 > 0:27:34one of his many children, and he was a very good young dancer I believe.
0:27:40 > 0:27:46Highland dancing was once the most masculine of pursuits.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Recorded in the histories of the Highlands as, "A manly exercise,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55"fit for polishing and refining youth."
0:27:55 > 0:27:59It was a test of virility and bravery.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Indeed for the 16th-century Lord Lovat,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05dancing was part of his clan's military training.
0:28:10 > 0:28:11But that changed.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16In the early years of the 20th century the gender balance shifted.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Young men were lost to the carnage of the Great War,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30increasingly, women became dance teachers.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Highland dancing was resurrected as something a little less raw,
0:28:34 > 0:28:38a little more ordered, more suited to the female form.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45And every year at Braemar
0:28:45 > 0:28:49a young dancer is selected for a very special assignment.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01'I'm giving over the bouquet to the Queen.'
0:29:01 > 0:29:04I have to walk up slowly and then I have to curtsy
0:29:04 > 0:29:08and then I have to give over the bouquet.
0:29:08 > 0:29:09I have to wait,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11the Queen might speak to me
0:29:11 > 0:29:15and then I have to curtsy again when she's finished.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17And then that's it.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25What had begun as a Royal love affair
0:29:25 > 0:29:27had developed into a very public infatuation.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Queen Victoria's loyal subjects
0:29:33 > 0:29:36took these re-invented Highland Games to their hearts.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43The appeal of the Highland regiments,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45the Queen's passion for Highland romance,
0:29:45 > 0:29:50both had conspired to create something new and fashionable -
0:29:50 > 0:29:53a burlesque extravaganza in tartan
0:29:53 > 0:29:56that was set to spread all across Scotland.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03The Victorian Games were the height of fashion.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07They attracted huge crowds, and attractive prizes.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11A new generation of athletes rose to the challenge.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Most famously, the son of a stone mason,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18born in the village of Birse, just a few miles from Braemar.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22His name was Donald Dinnie.
0:30:22 > 0:30:26To some, he was the greatest sportsman of the 19th century.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Scotland has given many things to the world of sport
0:30:35 > 0:30:39it's given curling, it's given golf, it's given Highland Games,
0:30:39 > 0:30:41but it's also given Donald Dinnie,
0:30:41 > 0:30:45one of the very first professional athletes.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51He dominated the Highland Games scene in Scotland
0:30:51 > 0:30:55from the late 1850s through to the 1870s.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01In his lifetime he competed in something like 11,000 contests.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04He won something like 1,800 prizes.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Dinnie made his fortune not just in prize money,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13but also in endorsements.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16One very Scottish soft drinks company
0:31:16 > 0:31:19were keen to profit from Dinnie's image.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27His athletic physique, his iron strength,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31you know, you can see the marketing heaven in the 19th century.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36Dinnie's timing was perfect.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39He arrived just as the Victorian Highland Games
0:31:39 > 0:31:43were developing into a circuit with events all across Scotland,
0:31:43 > 0:31:46increasingly connected by the new railways.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52You've got the emergence of crowds,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55you've got the emergence of gate money,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58you've got heavy weight championships,
0:31:58 > 0:32:02you've got real competition between a wide range of athletes
0:32:02 > 0:32:04because of the emergence of a circuit.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09Across the world, the sporting landscape was changing.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12New leagues, standardised rules, big new events.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15And it's long been rumoured that the Highland Games had an influence
0:32:15 > 0:32:19on the biggest sporting event of all.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24The modern Olympics, the invention of Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35The story goes that de Coubertin was visiting the Paris Great Exhibition.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40So taken was he by a Highland Games demonstration that he conceived
0:32:40 > 0:32:43the world's biggest sporting event.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48Sadly, and maybe not that surprisingly, it's a story
0:32:48 > 0:32:51that's so far failed to convince the experts.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56We have no evidence of that. It would be nice story
0:32:56 > 0:33:00but it's pretty mythical at the moment.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06The Highland Games didn't quite revolutionise the world of sport.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10But in their own country, the Games became a valued proving ground
0:33:10 > 0:33:12for new generations of athletes.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21Most would compete as a hobby.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23Some would take home the occasional trophy.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27But there were a few truly remarkable men and women
0:33:27 > 0:33:30whose achievements would bear comparison
0:33:30 > 0:33:32with the best in the world.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48The Firth of Clyde, the last weekend of August.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52For well over a century, people have travelled from the towns
0:33:52 > 0:33:56and cities of central Scotland across the Clyde estuary
0:33:56 > 0:33:59to the Cowal Highland Gathering at Dunoon.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05It's perhaps Scotland's most traditional family day out.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09The sea air and the scurl of the pipes.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Yet for those at the centre of the Games,
0:34:14 > 0:34:16for competitors and enthusiasts,
0:34:16 > 0:34:21what happens at Cowal is more than a mere tourist attraction.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25For them, the Highland Games are the centre of excellence.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32For the pipe bands, the Cowal gathering is now said
0:34:32 > 0:34:35to be as important as the World Championships.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39The best Highland dancers come from all over the world.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47And in sport, the Highland Games have produced genuine
0:34:47 > 0:34:49world-class athletes.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00Men like Bill Anderson, the farmer's son from Bucksburn near Aberdeen.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08There was always a hammer at the home, as I would say.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12As a 12, 13, 14-year-old, we used to go out and throw it.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17And by the time I was 18, my brother and his pals said,
0:35:17 > 0:35:22"You have to go and throw it at the show."
0:35:22 > 0:35:28And when I went there, I came home, I think,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30with £10 from the afternoon,
0:35:30 > 0:35:34and I thought, "There's something in this."
0:35:38 > 0:35:40There certainly was something in it.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Bill Anderson would go on to dominate the Highland Games
0:35:43 > 0:35:47of the late 20th century just as Donald Dinnie had done
0:35:47 > 0:35:49100 years before.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53In fact, the young Bill Anderson had been brought up
0:35:53 > 0:35:56on stories of the man from nearby Aboyne.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05All the aunts I had at that time used to tell me about this man,
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Donald Dinnie.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12"Donald Dinnie from Aboyne, throws the hammer far and fine."
0:36:12 > 0:36:15That was something they said.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Statistics aren't so reliable for Dinnie's time,
0:36:20 > 0:36:25but Dinnie was outstanding for his period.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29I still think Bill was a better all-round heavy than Dinnie.
0:36:31 > 0:36:36NEWSREEL: 'The highlight of the athletic events was Anderson's double success.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39'A record with the 16 pound stone at 45.5 feet
0:36:39 > 0:36:44'and a record with a 22 pound hammer - 102 feet, seven-and-a-half inches.'
0:36:45 > 0:36:48From the days of the newsreels,
0:36:48 > 0:36:52to the time of colour TV, Bill Anderson was king of the heavies.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Bill Anderson's achievements are outstanding, in my opinion,
0:37:03 > 0:37:07in the history of heavy events in the Scottish Highland Games
0:37:07 > 0:37:09and world Highland games.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11He was the most outstanding heavy of his generation
0:37:11 > 0:37:13and in my opinion, of all time.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23Bill was at his peak.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27His greatest rival, I guess, was an Englishman, ironically enough,
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Arthur Rowe, who was an outstanding heavy event specialist as well.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34But over the piece, Bill certainly got the better of him.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37It was a real battle.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42He came up and I was doing very well from '59 to '62,
0:37:42 > 0:37:44and I think he appeared.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48And he started to beat me and there was only one thing I had to do,
0:37:48 > 0:37:49and I had to train harder.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59It was nip and tuck all the way for a few years
0:37:59 > 0:38:03until I finally got the better of him.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06I won more competitions than he did.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12In 1969 Bill Anderson threw the 16 pound hammer
0:38:12 > 0:38:15over 151 feet.
0:38:16 > 0:38:22That's 30 feet further than the 2011 winning throw at Cowal.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27Also in 1969, he threw the 22 pound hammer over 123 feet
0:38:27 > 0:38:31a Scottish record that still stands today.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36He needs to...
0:38:36 > 0:38:39No, he's not running fast enough. Quick, quick!
0:38:39 > 0:38:43No, no, he's not going to make it.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47Bill, and his fellow competitors from the '60s achieved performances
0:38:47 > 0:38:50that have proved remarkably resilient.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53I was judging at Crieff,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57and taking over all the distances that were thrown,
0:38:57 > 0:39:00and they were the same distances that were thrown way back then,
0:39:00 > 0:39:02so they haven't improved.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09Bill was an exceptionally gifted athlete.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14Bill Anderson would have been a notable Olympian.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19But Bill Anderson could never have been an Olympian.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Beginning his career in the Highland Games meant that
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Bill was a professional.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26There's long been an uneasy relationship between
0:39:26 > 0:39:31the Highland Games and conventional athletics.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36In Bill's day, the division
0:39:36 > 0:39:41between amateur and professional was guarded obsessively.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48There was a kid up the east coast of Scotland, aged ten,
0:39:48 > 0:39:53who was branded a professional and banned from amateur athletics
0:39:53 > 0:39:55for winning a 10p packet of sweeties,
0:39:55 > 0:39:57a packet of Chewits, I think it was.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02You have to remember that until around 1960, 65% or more
0:40:02 > 0:40:05of Great Britain's Olympic teams were made up of graduates
0:40:05 > 0:40:09and postgraduates and a very high percentage of them from Oxbridge.
0:40:09 > 0:40:14So this was very definitely an uppercrust sort of sport.
0:40:17 > 0:40:18NEWSEEL: 'Now for the mile.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22'Robinson, Cambridge, number two lead for part of the way.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24'Oxford's Chattaway, number one,
0:40:24 > 0:40:27'obviously had the race well in hand all the time.'
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Amateur athletics, it was said,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32were for people who maybe didn't need the money.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36The Highland Games were for those who could maybe find a use for it.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43The ordinary laddies went out and completed at the local games
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and they got a few bob for winning.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48That was absolutely fine.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52And Bill Anderson wasn't the only professional athlete
0:40:52 > 0:40:55who might have won Olympic medals for his country.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58George McNeill was a professional sprinter,
0:40:58 > 0:41:00and a Highland Games veteran.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07I was running at Edinburgh and made the other runners
0:41:07 > 0:41:10look as though they were running backwards, you know.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13He would have won gold, no bother at all.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18George McNeill's best times were faster than Valeriy Borzov
0:41:18 > 0:41:21who won the 100 and 200m at the 1972 Olympics.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26Now, George signed professional forms as a footballer with Hibs
0:41:26 > 0:41:28and that put him beyond the pale.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30I mean, that was like being sent to Siberia -
0:41:30 > 0:41:34if you signed and took money from another sport.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37And conspicuously as well, there was a guy called Norman Gregor.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39And Norman Gregor was a pole-vaulter.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41He set a British record
0:41:41 > 0:41:46and a Scottish record here about 50 years ago
0:41:46 > 0:41:49and beat the man who twice won the pole vault
0:41:49 > 0:41:53at the then Empire Games, now the Commonwealth Games.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56So that's another outstanding athlete that we lost.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58There are many, many more.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03These days, the best Highland Games athletes are almost as likely
0:42:03 > 0:42:08to come from Berlin or Bucharest as from Banchory or Brechin.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Of the eight athletes at Cowal, two were from Germany.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17The heavy events have become part of a prestigious international circuit,
0:42:17 > 0:42:24a departure from the days when Bill Anderson could win £10 at the Alford Show.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29It is no longer farmers laddies just going out and trying it
0:42:29 > 0:42:33because there's quite big money to be made
0:42:33 > 0:42:36and people travel internationally to complete in these.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40The strongman events like World's Strongest Man
0:42:40 > 0:42:42has been a kind of spin-off from that if you like
0:42:42 > 0:42:45and that has broadened it out and made it more international.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50The Highland Games have become a focal point
0:42:50 > 0:42:52for the world's best heavy athletes.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54And not just in Scotland.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58Across Australia, New Zealand, Canada and especially the USA,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02the Highland Games are genuinely world class.
0:43:14 > 0:43:19The Blue Ridge Mountains, the border between North Carolina
0:43:19 > 0:43:21and Eastern Tennessee.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Misty and isolated,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32a place that became home to thousands of Scottish immigrants.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39And climbing high through these Appalachian hills,
0:43:39 > 0:43:43the Grandfather Mountain Marathon is one of the toughest races
0:43:43 > 0:43:46in the United States.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50Part of a truly Highland Games.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52One of the biggest in the world.
0:43:57 > 0:44:04Staged over four days, Grandfather Mountain brings 22,000 visitors to this isolated mountain community.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08And it was built from the most tartan of blueprints.
0:44:13 > 0:44:18I wanted to go to the place where our ancestors had sailed from
0:44:18 > 0:44:21so I went to Scotland and the first thing I did
0:44:21 > 0:44:25was to go to the Braemar Highland Gathering at Braemar.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29I was so impressed by that until I decided, "Golly,
0:44:29 > 0:44:32"North Carolina is a state where it was settled by so many people
0:44:32 > 0:44:37"from Scotland that we should have something like a Highland Games",
0:44:37 > 0:44:41and this went down very well with the local population.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45We began working on it in 1955
0:44:45 > 0:44:48and then the very first games were held in 1956.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55The Grandfather Mountain Games borrowed every last detail
0:44:55 > 0:44:58of Scotland's most Victorian Highland Gathering.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02This cover of a programme from the Braemar Gathering
0:45:02 > 0:45:07is the very programme that I saw when I went over in 1954,
0:45:07 > 0:45:12and from it, we used all the rules, and we were guided by these rules
0:45:12 > 0:45:17to have the same events here - tossing the caber, dancing, piping.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21One of their rules proved rather difficult to follow.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24One of the rules said you must have more competitors
0:45:24 > 0:45:26then you have prizes.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Well, we had three different clan societies who each presented
0:45:30 > 0:45:34a prize for Highland dancing, so that meant three prizes.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38Well, we only had three little girls who had agreed
0:45:38 > 0:45:41to compete in the Highland Fling.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44So, old Donald comes down from the Pulpit Rock,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47which is what we call the local rock where we have the worship service,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51and I danced the Highland Fling, and I must say,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54it was like a drunken hippo trying to danced the Highland Fling.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56I lost. I expected to lose
0:45:56 > 0:46:01but it made it legal with the programme from Braemar.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05We call ourselves, and have called it ever since, America's Braemar.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09Braemar in Scotland is very nice - they've never try to sue us!
0:46:14 > 0:46:18For more than half a century, the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games
0:46:18 > 0:46:22has grown in scale and significance.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26The symbol of an all-American fascination with ancestry
0:46:26 > 0:46:28and origins.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32NEWSREEL: 'The scene could well be beside a loch in the Highlands
0:46:32 > 0:46:36'of Scotland, but it's not.'
0:46:36 > 0:46:38The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games were founded here.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41It's served as a real beachhead, if you will,
0:46:41 > 0:46:46for Scottish culture and celebration of it here in the American South.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51It's become a very popular thing in the past few decades
0:46:51 > 0:46:53to be a hyphenated American,
0:46:53 > 0:46:59to identify yourself with some other ethnic tradition
0:46:59 > 0:47:02in just the same way that other ethnicities, Hispanic-Americans
0:47:02 > 0:47:08would celebrate their culture or African-Americans would celebrate theirs with traditional dress
0:47:08 > 0:47:12and dance and things like that. So, why not?!
0:47:12 > 0:47:19NEWSREEL: 'Everyone who has been enjoyed America's Scottish Highland Games at Grandfather.'
0:47:28 > 0:47:32The majority here are very much of lowland stock.
0:47:34 > 0:47:39Descendants of the Scottish Presbyterians who colonised Ulster.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44For we come in the name of the one who is the Lord for ever,
0:47:44 > 0:47:48your son, our saviour, Jesus Christ.
0:47:48 > 0:47:49Amen.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55Their 17th century ancestors would never have worn tartan,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59would hardly have travelled north of Edinburgh.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03But the powerful imagery of the Highlands has become synonymous
0:48:03 > 0:48:10with an all-purpose Scottish identity. Thanks, perhaps, to Sir Walter Scott.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15Here, everyone's a Highlander, and some a wee bit more than others.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Some people think it's a fancy dress party
0:48:20 > 0:48:23A fancy dress ball or something like that!
0:48:23 > 0:48:26OK, they're keen on it and that's the way they like it, good for them.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30I, myself, wouldn't run around with a goat's head as a sporran,
0:48:30 > 0:48:34or a roadkill sporran as we do see sometimes!
0:48:34 > 0:48:35But that's their thing.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41How long does it take you to get the make-up on?
0:48:41 > 0:48:44It doesn't take too long. Five or six minutes.
0:48:46 > 0:48:52All that the Bruce did is very important to us as well as
0:48:52 > 0:48:56all the other people here at the Games and to the people in Scotland.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00This is definitely what we have taken in as our creed
0:49:00 > 0:49:03to be proud of who we are.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08That's your real hair, it's not Dolly Parton wig, is it?
0:49:08 > 0:49:10No, I'm afraid it's not.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16In Scotland people laugh at us for the American way,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19but that's the American Way - we overdo things sometimes.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23Sometimes, it's at least interesting what we do. We hope it is, anyway!
0:49:27 > 0:49:31To Scottish, or even British eyes, it's easy to dismiss
0:49:31 > 0:49:34this Confederate vision of Highland culture.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36An Appalachian Brigadoon.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39But the American Games can claim a history
0:49:39 > 0:49:41and a relevance all of their own.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47Probably the oldest recording of gatherings that might be
0:49:47 > 0:49:50somewhat similar to this are the old Scotch Fairs which were found in
0:49:50 > 0:49:54the old Highland settlement in North Carolina, dating from the 1790s.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57That was a tradition that went on for about 100 years
0:49:57 > 0:50:00until it was outlawed by the state legislator
0:50:00 > 0:50:03because it became a free for all,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06and the place for drunkenness and gambling.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Hard to believe.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13But Carolina's Scotch Fairs began long before many
0:50:13 > 0:50:15of Scotland's great Highland Games.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20In American cities, Scottish societies date back to the 1720s.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31And these societies brought the Victorian Highland Games
0:50:31 > 0:50:33to a huge audience.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46In places like New York and Boston and Detroit maybe,
0:50:46 > 0:50:50a lot of these events would have been organised by Caledonian societies, clubs
0:50:50 > 0:50:54St Andrews' societies and being open to not only Scots
0:50:54 > 0:50:58but people of all races and ethnicities as well.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01We know that in the early days of some of these events,
0:51:01 > 0:51:04there were non-Scots who were winners of athletics events
0:51:04 > 0:51:08so it was really one of America's first traditions
0:51:08 > 0:51:10of spectator sports if you will.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16The success of the Caledonian Society's Highland Games
0:51:16 > 0:51:19paved the way for a new chapter in the extraordinary career
0:51:19 > 0:51:22of Scotland's most famous athlete.
0:51:22 > 0:51:27In July 1870, the 32-year-old Donald Dinnie arrived in America.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34The major sports in America were things like boxing
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and horseracing, but they didn't draw the kind of crowds
0:51:38 > 0:51:40that the Caledonian clubs drew.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43And what they did was they advertised heavily that
0:51:43 > 0:51:47Donald Dinnie would appear and as soon as you put Donald Dinnie's name
0:51:47 > 0:51:52on the banner, the crowds came and he drew as many as 25,000 people.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00A journalist from The New York Times was captivated
0:52:00 > 0:52:04by Dinnie's performance at an 1870 Highland Games held in Manhattan.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12"The great attraction consisted of a display of many
0:52:12 > 0:52:15"of the old national pastimes of Scotland.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18"Chiefly feats of strength in which the people of that land excel.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21"Donald Dinnie, presented a magnificent specimen
0:52:21 > 0:52:23"of muscular development.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35Broad-chested, well-built body, long, hard and finely moulded limbs,
0:52:35 > 0:52:40with arms possessed of a terrible amount of quick, sinuous power.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47One of those physical specimens that comes along maybe once in a century.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50You know, no fat, his muscles had muscles.
0:52:50 > 0:52:55He was 6ft 1, 220lb and it was said that
0:52:55 > 0:52:59when he entered the circle to complete and took off his robe
0:52:59 > 0:53:03and displayed his physique, men's hearts and women's knees got weak.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09There was prize money attached to this
0:53:09 > 0:53:12and you have to understand that Dinnie was a mercenary.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15He was in it for the money and this was his livelihood
0:53:15 > 0:53:18and he was one of the first touring pros in virtually any sport.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23Dinnie made a fortune.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27And his popularity eclipsed even the most American of sports.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35In 1869, a group of investors got together in Cincinnati
0:53:35 > 0:53:38and paid the nine best baseball players they could find
0:53:38 > 0:53:41to compete for the same team, the Cincinnati Reds.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45They were an instant sensation and won every game they played.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50They drew in the neighbourhood of 3,500 people per game.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54This was an extraordinary number of people for an athletic events.
0:53:54 > 0:53:55When Dinnie came a year later,
0:53:55 > 0:53:59he averaged about 11,000 people per contest.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03He was the sporting sensation of the era.
0:54:06 > 0:54:08Dinnie's fame didn't last.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15In the 20th century world of amateur athletics, the records
0:54:15 > 0:54:19and achievements of this 19th century Scottish professional
0:54:19 > 0:54:21were soon forgotten.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24The man who had been the best paid athlete in the world,
0:54:24 > 0:54:26died in obscurity.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37He deserves a biography and a documentary and a movie
0:54:37 > 0:54:41because this is a good story about a mercenary who was sometimes
0:54:41 > 0:54:46testy and a tough guy to deal with but who was ungodly successful
0:54:46 > 0:54:49as an athlete that everybody had to respect him.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52He was the world's greatest athlete.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01Today's generation of Donald Dinnies are still top of the bill.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04They're still competing in front of thousands of spectators.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Here in the USA, and elsewhere around the world,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20the Highland Games have become the most visible display
0:55:20 > 0:55:22of Scottish identity.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25But more than that.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29Just like Scotland these Games are about community,
0:55:29 > 0:55:32and making time for old friends.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35The Duchess is over here. Were all in this together.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40Everybody hugs each other and it's almost like a family reunion.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43It's a clan reunion, that's exactly what it is.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47In this case the clan is the Hamiltons,
0:55:47 > 0:55:50and the reunion is with The Duchess.
0:55:50 > 0:55:56# I've been a wanderer all my life and many the sight I've seen
0:55:56 > 0:56:03# Speed the day when I'm on my way to my home in Aberdeen. #
0:56:05 > 0:56:08- Wonderful! - They can't stop us, you know.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11They try to say, "Zip it, Donald", but Donald won't zip it!
0:56:14 > 0:56:17I sometimes say that I've helped to create a monster.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20It's like Frankenstein. It's growing every year, fantastic!
0:56:20 > 0:56:23But a good Frankenstein! We're not going to knock him, are we?
0:56:27 > 0:56:29After four days of competition,
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Grandfather Mountain's Highland Games
0:56:31 > 0:56:34comes to its conclusion on Sunday afternoon.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41The Carolina clans begin their long march home.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47All across the United States, in Canada, Australia
0:56:47 > 0:56:52and the Far East, the Games have become more popular than ever.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59There are now more games outwith Scotland, than there are within.
0:57:02 > 0:57:04And everywhere they travel,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07these Games tell great stories from Scotland's history.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Stories that have been embroidered and romanticised
0:57:13 > 0:57:15but stories that never lack colour.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23Universally popular yet essentially Scottish.
0:57:23 > 0:57:27Our very own Olympic Games.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd