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Scotland's History: The Top Ten
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The wars of independence with Wallace and Bruce have topped a public poll to find
the top ten of Scottish History.
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But Scotland's History: The Top Ten on 91Èȱ¬ Two Scotland last night produced a widely differing view between academics and the public of the key
elements of the nation's history.
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Urbanisation, the killing fields of the World War One, the unification of tribal
Scotland, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the Scottish Empire, the wars of
independence with Wallace and Bruce, the Treaty of the Union, the Covenanters and
Scotland's contribution to medicine are all defining factors of Scottish history... according to a panel of history professionals.
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The panel led by Professor Tom Devine concluded the above are the essential top ten
of Scottish history, chosen from a list of 30.
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The wars of independence with Wallace and Bruce topped the public vote for the
television series.
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But, in contrast with the panel, the public also gave more
support to Scottish achievement - agreeing with the panel on medicine but also
putting physicist James Clerk Maxwell, inventor James Watt and Robert Burns in the
top ten. Ìý
They also included the Declaration of Arbroath and the Clearances, both rejected by
the academics, but respectively placed second and tenth by the public online vote.
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Conversely the public did not register so much support for topics such the 1707
Treaty of the Union, the Scottish Empire, the unification of early Scotland, World War One and the Scottish City, which all made it into the panel's top ten.
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Presenter Neil Oliver says: "It is perhaps no surprise that the public and the
panel have differed but there is a marked gulf between the two.
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"Most notably
Scottish achievement ranks much higher with the public than with the historians."
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Scotland's History: The Top Ten - the public vote
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1 The Wars of Independence
2 The Declaration of Arbroath
3 Medicine
4 James Clerk Maxwell
5 Robert Burns
6 The Reformation
7 James Watt
8 The Enlightenment
9 Covenanters
10 The Clearances
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Scotland's History: The Top Ten - the history professionals' choice
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In no particular order...
The Scottish City
World War One
Unification
Reformation
The Scottish Empire
Enlightenment
The Wars of Independence
Medicine
Treaty of Union
Covenanters
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Topics the panel of history professionals rejected
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Drink
Artists: Henry Raeburn
Jacobites
91Èȱ¬ Rule
Labour Movements
Asians in Scotland
The Slave Trade
Engineers and Inventors: James Watt
Irish Immigration
Entertainers
Margaret Thatcher
Renaissance Court: James IV and V
Working Women
Declaration of Arbroath
Burns
Tartanry
Scientists: James Clerk Maxwell
Radicalism
Clearances
Football
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The 30 topics were whittled down from more than 1,000 nominations received from the
public.
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The panel
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Joining Professor Tom Devine on the panel:
Allan MacInnes, of Aberdeen University;
Alison Cathcart, of Strathclyde University;
David Caldwell, National Museums of Scotland;
Doreen Grove of Historic Scotland;
Duncan Toms, Principal Teacher of History at Bearsden Academy;
and Katie Barclay, a
Ph.D student at Glasgow University.
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More information about the vote and the panel's list is on bbc.co.uk/scotlandshistory. Ìý
HM
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