Do you have an anecdote which highlights the 'human' aspect of your specialist subject? - Tony Pollard

Do you have an anecdote which highlights the 'human' aspect of your specialist subject? - Tony Pollard

ID: AB_SGI_01_TONY_POLLARD_Q_04 DESCRIPTION: As part of Homecoming Scotland 2009, a three-day international conference - Scotland's Global Impact - was held at Eden Court theatre, Inverness from 22-24 October. Prominent academics, historians and other experts came together to provoke healthy discussion on the history of migration and the influence of Scots abroad. Am Baile interviewed several of the speakers during the conference. In this audio extract, Dr Tony Pollard answers the question: 'Do you have an anecdote which highlights the 'human' aspect of your specialist subject?' 'I was on Crete recently and I discovered that a, a chap that- When the British Expeditionary Force there that had already been evacuated there from Greece in 1941, they fought a very, very, very difficult and violent battle with the Germans who invaded by parachute on May 20th, my birthday - I always remember the date of that battle - and after a week they basically evacuated off the south side of Crete, and they were taken to Alexandria and many, many, many hundreds of men were lost at sea because the Luftwaffe had air superiority and they were bombing and striking the ships, and several of them went down. And, but, there was one particular- There was a chap in the Black Watch who was on the prow of one of these ships as it sailed into Alexandria Harbour in Egypt, playing a lament on the pipes with the searchlight on the dock, shining on him, and I discovered from a Cretan who was very interested in that, that period of history that this chap is still alive, and he'd been in touch with him. So I've got his name and address, so I must get in touch with this, with this chap. He's sort of one of those personalities that gets drawn out of the history and never, never really expected him to still be alive and known. So that was - yes, you do. And that's, with the nature of what I do, which is looking at kind of, I suppose, the darker side of human, human history and human nature, it's full of poignant things like that. Makes you think really, how privileged we are today.' BIOGRAPHY Dr Tony Pollard is a leading battlefield archaeologist and Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at the University of Glasgow. He is a senior lecturer and convener of the MLitt course in Battlefield and Conflict Archaeology. He was co-presenter of the BBC television series 'Two Men in a Trench', which brought battlefield archaeology to a worldwide audience. He has carried out battlefield projects in the UK, Africa and South America and has directed several seasons of fieldwork at Culloden, the results of which did much to inform the recently opened Visitor Centre and revised battlefield interpretation. Tony has also carried out projects on the Jacobite battlefields at Killiecrankie and Prestonpans and the siege site at Fort William. Tony is co-editor of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology and has written widely on archaeology and history for both academic and popular audiences. His most recent publications include the forthcoming 'Culloden: The History and Archaeology of the Last Clan Battle' (Pen and Sword) and his first novel, 'The Minutes of the Lazarus Club' (Penguin 2008). PLACENAME: Inverness OLD COUNTY/PARISH: INVERNESS: Inverness and Bona CREATOR (AV): Tony Pollard DATE OF RECORDING: 2009 PERIOD: 2000s SOURCE: Am Baile COLLECTION: Scotland's Global Impact Asset ID: 41006 KEYWORDS: