17 November 2006

Dundee student stars on the small screen

University of Dundee student Nicola Cowmeadow will be a star of the small screen when she appears on the TV programme, Scotland's History: The Top Ten.

Nicola, who is in her third year of History Honours contributed to the BBC2 show, which will be broadcast throughout November. Presented by Neil Oliver, of Two Men in a Trench and Coast, the programmes will examine a longlist of 30 events in Scottish history culminating in the top 10 being voted for by telephone vote on St Andrews Day. The event is being held in association with Caledonia TV, the programmes producers, BBC 2 Scotland, the Scottish Council on Archives and the Scottish Archive Network.

Nicola, who is the President of the Student History Society says, "The producers of the show got into touch and I had to decide which subject I thought was most important to the history of Scotland. I picked the Scottish Enlightenment because Scotland at that time was at the heart of a European-wide phenomenon and produced some of the greatest thinkers such as Hume, Robertson, Smith and Ferguson. Scotland was leading the way in Enlightened thinking, prompting Voltaire to comment that ' we look to Scotland for our ideas of civilisation' and, as someone who has become passionate about history through my studies at Dundee I am aware that greater understanding of the Scottish Enlightenment offers an exciting challenge to the historian."

The programme will also be the basis for a public debate at the University on December 2nd. It will take the form of five presentations by world-class speakers who will act as ‘advocates’, for each topic. The event will be chaired by Professor Tom Devine, author of The Scottish Nation. The ‘advocates’ include influential Scotsman arts critic, Joyce McMillan, who will argue for the importance of Mary; Christopher Whatley, author of The Scots and The Union, who will be encouraging us to consider the importance of the Treaty of the Union and Professor Charles McKean, renowned architectural historian speaking on how Scottish cities developed and influenced the development of cities across the world. Each advocate has a deep knowledge and a passion for their subject and will be intent on ensuring the audience understand the underlying issues surrounding each topic.

The audience will then be given the chance to vote on the issue they consider most significant in Scottish History.

Scotland's History: The Top 10 will be on BBC2 throughout November, with the final ten being revealed on St Andrews Day.

The University of Dundee debate will be held in the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Hall, Tower Building, Dundee. 7pm, 2nd December. The event is free and all are welcome, but you must have a ticket. To apply for tickets please call 01382 345 564 or email a.j.constable@dundee.ac.uk

For media enquiries contact:

Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk