TV chatshow favourite Miriam Margolyes delves into her Scots family background this weekend.
She joins The Big Scottish Book Club to recount the story of how her family moved to Scotland in the late 19th century, and settled in Glasgow.
National treasure Miriam looks back on her extraordinary life and working with everyone from Scorsese to Streisand in This Much is True, and although she is legendary for telling outrageous anecdotes, she telling the moving story of how her father was accepted to study at Glasgow University, then was called up to serve in World War I – and how her grandfather was able to help him avoid a call-up.
This week’s episode is themed around memoir, as host Damian Barr looks at the stories we tell about ourselves with this week’s guests.
Poet, novelist and former Scots Makar, Jackie Kay discusses Red Dust Road which traces her adoption by white working-class Scots and her journey to Nigeria to find her birth parents. Her story is especially moving when she reveals her birth mother’s sister scathing comment at her funeral.
The Big Scottish Book Club (from left) Jackie Kay, host Damian Barr, Pete Paphides, Miriam Margolyes, and John Gerard Fagan (Photo: IWC / Banijay/ Daisy Honeybunn)
Pete Paphides talks about his experience of growing up in a Greek-Cypriot family based in the Midlands in Broken Greek.
Filmed with a live audience at Troon Concert Hall, there’s also spoken word performance from John Gerard Fagan – who speaks about his experienced when writing his book Fish Town in episode 30 of the Scottish Field podcast, which you can listen to HERE – and the Sing in the City Book Group give their verdict on one of this week’s reads.
The Big Scottish Book Club will be shown on Sunday, December 5, on BBC Scotland, from 10-11pm.
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