Original Review:

Show Rating:

The title About The Jacobites will bring a self-selecting audience, I imagine, of people who like their history. They'll either want their existing knowledge reinforced, or seize the opportunity to chip away at their own profound ignorance. I'm in the ignorant bracket here.

Bruce does an excellent job of opening up Scottish history, which for most of us from the English educational system is a hodge podge of Macbeth, Braveheart and vague bits of historical romance relating to Mary, Queen of Scots, if you're really pushing out the intellectual boat.

Fummey is a born communicator, you just want to listen when he talks, and he knows his stuff. He drops in personal comments about himself, an Afro-celt, has a 'We are the World' moment comparing today's terrorists and nationalists to the honest boys massacred at Culloden - trust me this does work - and asks us to examine where we might place ourselves in a similar predicament.

For about ten minutes after the show, I felt considerably smarter than when I went in, but the facts and the feeling got away from me. He won't thank me for saying so, but in this instance Bruce demonstrates he's a fabulous teacher, telling a great story and leavening it with smart humour, but essentially this a more educational than comedic experience.

f you fancy something different, compelling, absorbing and gently humorous, shift yourself down to the Beehive. Somebody should snap him up quicksmart as a presenter and a tour guide. He's a comic who's taken a digression into a serious area here, so respect is due.

Reviewed by: Julian Chambers