- 4 hours ago
Landward - Season 21 Episode 1 -
50th Anniversary Special
50th Anniversary Special
Category
š¹
FunTranscript
00:00Hello and a very warm welcome to LAMWORD.
00:13It was a Sunday morning, 4th of April, 1976, when a brand new programme appeared on BBC
00:19Scotland.
00:20And 50 years later, LAMWORD is still going strong.
00:24So, in this very special programme, I'll be taking a long walk through half a century
00:30on air.
00:37I'll be looking back at how the programme has evolved to document the enormous changes
00:41in the Scottish countryside, and I'll be meeting a few of the people that helped make that happen
00:47along the way.
00:49While the programme is now a bit more anorak and boots than shirt and tie, it's still
00:55rooted in rural Scotland.
00:58In the beginning, LAMWORD was branded as Scotland's farming programme.
01:02In its face was agricultural journalist Ross Muir.
01:07Good afternoon and welcome to LAMWORD, which today comes from the Royal Smithfield Show
01:10in London.
01:12This week at Earl's Courtā¦
01:12There you are!
01:13Just a young laddie!
01:16You haven't chased a bit, actually.
01:18So, LAMWORD, what's your memories of the programme as it was then?
01:22Well, the programme then, it was quite a serious farming programme.
01:26Ten seconds, nine, eight, sevenā¦
01:30When the programme started, it came out of a programme called Farm Forum, which was a monthly
01:36programme which opted out of the BBC's main Birmingham programme called Farming.
01:42Edward, we hear a lot about the Butter Mountain in Europe.
01:45Pat Chalmers, who was head of Agriculture and BBC Scotland at the time and head of Aberdeen
01:52Station, decided to develop LAMWORD and that's how it all came about.
02:02There was quite a lot of studio-based interviews, bringing guests, we had a ram in the studio
02:10one day and I remember once we had a guinea fowl in the studio for some reason which evacuated
02:17its bowels over my suit, but that was the dangers of live television.
02:25Yeah.
02:26To the price of our hay.
02:27Studio-based, but we did a lot of locations up there, all over Scotland.
02:32Attitudes to health and safety were clearly a wee bit different back then, but the issues
02:37affecting farmers haven't changed that much over the years.
02:42Well, rough hills like this may be a delight to the tourists, but for farmers they present
02:46a major barrier to profitability.
02:48In some areas of the highlands it takes about 10 acres of land like this to support one sheep.
02:54So what was going on in farming back 50 years ago in Scotland and what was being covered
02:59by the programme?
03:00Well, the big thing, and it still goes on to this day, farmers moaning about prices was
03:06always the big issue.
03:07And of course in those days there was what they called the annual price review, which
03:12was the government announcing what the level of support was to be for the industry.
03:16That was a very important part of how the industry operated in those days was the level of support
03:22and so on.
03:23And of course the other big thing were marketing boards for the main commodities like milk, wool
03:29and so on.
03:30So there was a lot of politics involved.
03:35It was very male dominated, wasn't it?
03:37Back in those days, conferences you wouldn't have seen a woman, would you?
03:40It was all men.
03:42It was all men.
03:43When I studied agriculture and I did my practical on a farm, there was no women on the farm,
03:49apart from the farmer's wife, who was just there to shout, come in for your dinner.
03:55You know?
03:56It was a common view at the time.
03:59A good farmer's wife?
04:00Well, somebody that tends to put the dinner on the table somewhere between half past 11
04:03and half past one and still have it just warm and edible.
04:06But Lambert was there to document the change in social attitudes.
04:11Your serious farmer, your serious woman farmer has got to make a living out of it.
04:15And drawing in a wider audience as well.
04:18There were 20,000 farmers in Scotland at the time.
04:21I think we used to get audiences of 200,000 or 300,000.
04:25So there was a big urban audience watching it.
04:28And not just urban, but other people who were maybe connected with the countryside.
04:33So it had a big audience that way.
04:36And landward started to broaden the edges a bit and started to look at other issues,
04:42rural issues, countryside issues and so on.
04:45But today the red deer roam the island of Rum,
04:48their welfare in the careful hands of the Nature Conservancy Council, who now own it.
04:53Each year the Conservancy allow 12 young men to spend a week here,
04:57learning every aspect of deer stalking.
04:59We got a lot of criticism from the dyed-in-the-wool farmers,
05:03oh, what the hell's all this about?
05:04But that was part of the appeal of the programme.
05:08When you started it 50 years ago,
05:10would you have thought that 50 years later it was still going strong
05:13and we'd be celebrating?
05:15You know, I would never have imagined that
05:19because, you know, things evolve in broadcasting, you know,
05:24and I don't know how many programmes there will be within the BBC structure
05:28that have lasted 50 years.
05:30It can't be very many.
05:31Not many, no.
05:32Of course it's started from a very strong bedrock.
05:37Exactly.
05:38I would have to claim that.
05:52I would have to claim that.
05:52Lanward has always had rural Scotland at its core,
05:56for and about the people who live here.
05:59And although the team may have not known about it at the time,
06:02they were documenting a way of life that was fast disappearing
06:06as change accelerated through the 70s and 80s.
06:11We looked at the devastating impact of forestry
06:14on one border's community in 1976.
06:18Sheep didn't pay, trees apparently would.
06:21And so in the last 15 years,
06:24over half of these sprawling hill acres
06:26have come under the forester's plough.
06:29And at that time, a lot of farmless
06:32who had been established in the valley
06:33for years and years, generations, some of them,
06:36had to go out of the farms
06:39or the shepherds had to leave the hills.
06:43And it broke up the community.
06:46It is very difficult to make a livelihood from a craft alone.
06:50Legislation and new ideas brought change to the islands.
06:53And so finally in June this year,
06:56an act of parliament made it possible for crofters
06:59to buy their own crofts.
07:00Jonathan MacDonald cashed in in a big way
07:03on the ever-growing tourist trade.
07:05Bus parties flock in to see just what life was like
07:09in those old black houses.
07:12But as ever, new approaches brought controversy.
07:16These are the plans the Loch Lomond planning group's proposals
07:19for tourism, recreation and conservation.
07:22Proposals that include the establishment of a park authority
07:25virtually turning the whole of the Loch Lomond area
07:28into a national park.
07:30The plan itself is quite unnecessary.
07:33The whole area has been conserved
07:36by farming and forestry since ever anybody knew it.
07:39And it's quite ridiculous for these city planners
07:42to start taking areas of Scottish countryside
07:45and saying, no development.
07:47The land has got to be allowed to develop
07:49and the people's jobs in them have got to be kept.
07:53The more things change, the more they stay the same.
08:00Every second Sunday at lunchtime,
08:03work on Scotland's farms and crofts halted
08:06as televisions tuned into landward.
08:08But one producer recognised the programme's need
08:11to expand its audience and appeal.
08:15Arthur Anderson started out as a reporter
08:18before producing the programme for 23 years.
08:22But he set his sights far beyond the hills,
08:25glens and islands of Scotland.
08:28It was a general kind of joke
08:31that you could find a Scottish farmer
08:32anywhere in the world.
08:34You could put you anywhere in the world
08:35and you would find a story with a kilt on.
08:37Is that a fair reflection?
08:39Yeah, well, we're trying to get the budget
08:40to bear the cost of maybe one trip
08:44of, if you like, greater geographical ambition
08:48once a year.
08:49The New Zealand sheep industry has come a long way
08:52since Captain James Cook landed two Marinos
08:54in the Marlborough Sounds in 1773.
08:57And today, New Zealand is the world's biggest sheep producer,
09:00with a national flock of 70 million head,
09:03outnumbering the human population
09:04by a ratio of more than 20 to one.
09:07The first time we went abroad was 1983 to New Zealand.
09:12And, of course, New Zealand farming industry,
09:15they're full of people from Scotland.
09:17Whatever options may exist for the future,
09:20New Zealand agriculture has a keen sense of tradition,
09:22as retired farmers like Peggy Lyon readily acknowledge.
09:26And like hundreds of country folk,
09:28she's a second generation Scot,
09:29whose father left the cast of Stirling
09:31to seek a new life on the other side of the world
09:33a hundred years ago.
09:35Did he talk to you about Scotland a lot?
09:36Oh, yes.
09:38And when the mail would come,
09:39it was always a big day when the Scottish mail came.
09:43Under Arthur's watch,
09:45Landward stories had a global flavour.
09:48In 1983, the Greens were managing the farm at Sanker in Dumfreeshire,
09:53but now their lifestyle is distinctly French.
09:57Is this a large flock for Normandy?
10:00Oh, aye.
10:01We've 220 and we'll increase.
10:05And where the average flock size for Normandy is,
10:07is actually eight.
10:09And historically, why is that?
10:10Just because the farms are smaller or...?
10:12They don't like sheep.
10:14This is it. This is big time excitement.
10:15This is real tourism.
10:16The Scots invade Red Square.
10:19And Arthur's geographical ambition
10:21took Ewan McIlwraith to Moscow's first Highland Games.
10:26It certainly attracted a lot of attention,
10:29including both uniformed police
10:30and their plainclothes KGB counterparts.
10:33But the perspiring pipers of the Murray Firth,
10:35like the rest of us,
10:36were unaware that the police were closing in.
10:40Talk about a major impact.
10:42That's the first time a pipe band's ever appeared
10:44live in Red Square.
10:45Unfortunately, the KGB didn't see it that way
10:47and we've just been asked to move on.
10:51But despite the foreign locations,
10:54Arthur was more interested in the human story
10:57waiting to be told.
11:00For farmer Sandy Donald and his son Sandy,
11:03dairying has no place in their future plans.
11:05They are getting out of milk and out of Scotland
11:07to seek a new farming life in Canada.
11:11Maybe you're making me feel more guilty than I've felt before.
11:14But yes, I do feel, you know, for leaving.
11:17There's no doubt about it.
11:19Both farming-wise and my friends,
11:21I'll miss my friends.
11:23At last, the day of departure,
11:25and as Sandy Donald checks in for his flight to Canada,
11:28it's too late for last-minute regrets.
11:30The commitment to a new farming life has been made.
11:38For all his international jet setting,
11:41the story that stands out for Arthur
11:43takes place in the fields of Buchan.
11:46The film that strikes a chord with most people
11:50is a programme we made called Webster's Rope.
11:54Now, Jack Webster was a very well-known Scottish journalist,
11:58but his father had been the auctioneer
12:00at Maud in Aberdeenshire.
12:02And when the father died, he decided to sell the farm.
12:09The heart of the film was the rope,
12:12the actual on-farm sale of the little bits and bobs
12:16that his father had collected over the years.
12:21The character of the Buchan people
12:23is clearly reflected in the faces of those who came to the rope.
12:27They are the faces my father knew,
12:29faces from my own childhood,
12:30weather-beaten, shrewd, kindly,
12:33sometimes critical and cantankerous,
12:36and eye-ready with a humorous observation
12:38that springs from a deep insight into the human condition.
12:43And that film, it stood the test of time,
12:46and even now, all these years later,
12:48people will tell you
12:49that's the one they maybe remember the most.
12:54And you can watch Jack Webster's story,
12:56A Grain of Truth, in full, on the BBC iPlayer.
13:03It's Lambert's job to bring unheard rural voices to a wider audience,
13:08and our teams are on the ground
13:10when the biggest stories hit the Scottish countryside.
13:14We've witnessed the impacts of some of our most extreme weather events.
13:19The big freeze of winter 2010.
13:23The high volumes of snow have led to the inevitable physical restrictions
13:27on movement and access.
13:29But as the levels have built up,
13:31there have been other, more unexpected problems.
13:34The huge amounts of snow that had built up
13:37caused the entire roof to collapse and come crashing down.
13:46We've seen more and more intensive storms bringing gales and floods.
13:52Nowhere shows the destructive power of the flood more clearly
13:56than the scene at Ballature's community-run Caravan Park,
13:59which was one of the busiest tourist sites in the village.
14:03And last week, this whole area was under six feet of water.
14:09I mean, the power, you can just get a sense.
14:12I mean, it's just desperate.
14:14This is what you work towards
14:16and then one natural disaster and it's all gone.
14:21Let's go and see some of the damage.
14:23And we witnessed the aftermath of drought and wildfire.
14:28I've helped in a lot of wildfires in the past,
14:30but I've never seen anything on this scale.
14:31It was quite scary, really,
14:32the power and ferocity of a fire of this size.
14:35This is the biggest wildfire in living memory in Scotland.
14:40Landward was on the ground
14:42during one of Scottish farming's darkest periods,
14:45the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001.
14:49This is all that's left.
14:51Four and a half thousand animals, including the unborn,
14:54less than 48 hours from testing for the virus
14:57till the power was lit.
14:59It's now 12 days since the colours came a-calling
15:03and the Davidsons have just been told
15:05they can leave the farm for the first time.
15:07We have had a tremendous support
15:09from people that we know very well
15:12and also friends and neighbours.
15:14And the support that we have been given
15:16has brought us through this crisis
15:17and has given us tremendous comfort.
15:22We have got to make it happen.
15:24And it starts right with us.
15:26But there were moments to celebrate, too.
15:29The Ascent Crofters taking control of their land
15:32in an historic community buyout.
15:35Last December, the Crofters won their campaign.
15:38In February this year, they celebrated their ownership
15:41of the 21,000-acre North Lockenbury State.
15:44It's a big step.
15:46Very big step.
15:49But the Highlands is changing.
15:51Nothing stays still forever.
15:59Along the way, there have been a vast array
16:02of talented presenters sent to far-flung locations
16:05to guide us through stories
16:07with poise, professionalism and flair.
16:10In no particular order, here's just a few of them.
16:15More than 70% of British beef
16:17actually comes from the dairy herd,
16:19either in the shape of beef crosses
16:21or purebred dairy bulls.
16:23This week, the pig farmers took the long journey south,
16:27taking to the streets
16:27and bringing their campaign direct to government.
16:30This year, for these men who farm the hills and glens,
16:33it has been a bitter harvest,
16:34whose only rewards have been falling prices,
16:37rising costs and soaring bank overdrafts.
16:40The landscape of Ascent has been described
16:43as desolate and empty with its own rugged beauty.
16:46It's hoped that the restoration of native woodland
16:49will greatly enhance this amazing place.
16:52And the Highlands show has a special part to play
16:55as far as we Scottish farmers are concerned.
16:57And this is a very special one.
17:00It's the 25th anniversary of the show
17:02being held here at Ingleson.
17:04When I saw cheap Brazilian beef
17:07undercutting British meat on the supermarket shelves
17:10and heard the Brazilians described as a steak superpower,
17:14it was time to get on a plane and find out
17:16what the competition looked like.
17:18If you wonder what a butter mountain looks like,
17:21free coconut store 3,000 tonnes in this building here.
17:25Now imagine that 70 times over,
17:27and that's how much butter you've got
17:28in intervention stores in Europe at the moment.
17:31If a week is a long time in politics,
17:33the past fortnight must have seemed like an eternity
17:36for those at the sharp end of the meat industry.
17:37It may be just a modest mile and three quarters long,
17:41but the fact that it's here at all
17:43is testimony to the heroic efforts of just one man,
17:48armed with just a shovel, a pick and a wheelbarrow.
17:55And that's all for today.
17:57But don't forget to join us again next Sunday at 11.30,
18:00when we look at the human face behind the farming crisis
18:03with visits to pig, dairy and hill farmers throughout Scotland.
18:07Join us then if you can.
18:08In the meantime, from us all in Landward, bye-bye.
18:13My own Landward journey began way back in 2009,
18:18taking the reins from the previous presenter
18:21whose passion was cooking up fantastic Scottish produce.
18:26And he's the only one ever to get his name in the titles.
18:32Good evening and welcome to Landward.
18:35It was a really good time to do it
18:36because 20 years ago,
18:39farmers were starting to realise that in order to thrive
18:42they needed to diversify.
18:45Suddenly, farmers were talking about what they grew,
18:48you know, what they raised.
18:51Good morning and welcome to Landward from here in Perth,
18:55where local producers have gathered together
18:57to stage what's believed to be Scotland's first farmer's market.
19:01People started to be aware of different breeds,
19:04of, you know, what grass-fed meant,
19:07and all those things I've been really passionate about
19:09as a chef.
19:10So let's go and find some veg.
19:12Meringues!
19:13This can't be the first of the Scottish strawberries.
19:14We may come back for some lamb.
19:16What would you like?
19:16How much would you like?
19:17And you would like to think perhaps
19:19that Landward was kind of part of the change,
19:22that it gave people a view into farming lives
19:26that they hadn't really seen before.
19:27If I can't make something out of that in 20 minutes,
19:29then I shouldn't be doing this job.
19:33Tell me about your favourite moments from the programme.
19:37I think the food van would probably be my highlight.
19:41Shetland.
19:42The setting is stunning.
19:44The wind...
19:45Pardon?
19:47..is a little bit of a...
19:48Are you?
19:48Yes.
19:49It was very windy in Shetland.
19:50Well, it wasn't windy when we set up.
19:52No.
19:54And then it was like,
19:55a 30-knot gale.
19:57Brandad.
19:59Brand...
20:00OK.
20:08Help me, Bob.
20:10Oh!
20:11Oh!
20:12My goodness gracious!
20:13Help!
20:14Help!
20:14That's all our scripts!
20:17This is proving trickier than we imagined.
20:20OK.
20:21So what about you?
20:22What's your highlight?
20:23You've done it for a lot longer, haven't you?
20:25Yeah.
20:25I went to rum quite early on in my kind of landmark career
20:28and we were following the story about Manx shearwaters.
20:32They nest in burrows deep in the side of high mountains
20:35and they only come ashore at night.
20:38We went up into this hillside in the dark,
20:40with some night-vision cameras,
20:42and suddenly we heard this noise.
20:44And I was terrified.
20:46I was thinking,
20:47what's name is this?
20:48Things are really starting to hot up now.
20:50They're coming in.
20:51Making a real racket as well.
20:54You don't know where they're coming from or where they're going to.
20:57Just start flying past.
20:59It's wild.
21:04If you came up here for a night, pitched your tent,
21:07and didn't know what sheer water sounded like,
21:10this would freak you out.
21:13What a wild sound.
21:15What a wild sound.
21:15Experiencing that,
21:16you think,
21:17well, where have they been all winter?
21:19And they come back to the same hillside in the middle of rum.
21:22It was breathtaking for me.
21:25Absolutely fascinating and beautiful.
21:27And I couldn't see any of it.
21:28That was the thing for me about Landward.
21:31It took you into the most unexpected places.
21:33It gave you a perspective that you would never have seen before.
21:37And because your crews are so small,
21:40it's not like a big production.
21:41Yeah.
21:42You had to go and walk up hills.
21:44You needed a pair of hiking boots.
21:47I love that.
21:48I love working on Landward.
21:49Yeah.
21:50I really do get your passion for it.
21:52And it comes through your presenting as well.
21:54You have actually got very good at it,
21:56which is quite annoying for me, you know.
22:06Of course, the story of Landward's 50 years
22:09is the story of the Scottish landscape,
22:12how we live and work in it,
22:14and how it continues to shift, change and evolve.
22:24Doogie's taking his time.
22:26For a long walk, I think.
22:27Yeah, he's been decades.
22:29Yeah, he'll be on it.
22:31I've said,
22:31I'm called a Brem Orohan.
22:32I've said,
22:33doogie, doogie.
22:35Oh, doogie, doogie.
22:37Bye, bye, bye.
22:39Hey, there he is.
22:40How are we all?
22:41Hello.
22:42You been waiting long?
22:43Yes.
22:4350 years.
22:4550 years, exactly.
22:47Can you believe it?
22:47Between all of us, of course,
22:48we've been in the programme for a long time.
22:50So, Arlene, what would you say is your standout story?
22:53In nine years doing the show,
22:55the one standout one was on the beach at St Cyrus,
22:58and there was a pony, a trap and a lovely lady.
23:02And for the first time in well over a decade,
23:05Kathleen is able to enjoy the sensation of sea air on her face.
23:12Oh, wow.
23:13Look at this.
23:16Wow.
23:18Beautiful.
23:19I just can't get the words to say how I feel.
23:23You ready to go into the paddle?
23:25Oh, yes.
23:27Yeah.
23:30And she's off.
23:32It was just a magical moment, and the lady in question just loved every second.
23:37And it was just such a special thing.
23:40So, Shabazz, what would you reckon is your standout story?
23:44Visiting Torridan to see the Mars rover in action.
23:46That was really exciting.
23:48And, of course, getting to dress up in a flight suit.
23:49Must have looked a right idiot in the middle of Torridan wearing that.
23:52Ground control to Major Tom.
23:55Yeah, but we'll love you for it.
23:56I'm up for anything.
23:58Ground control to Major Tom.
24:01One that really stands out for me is the story about the posties' path in Renegadell.
24:07And Kenny Mackay was the last postman bringing supplies, medicine and post into the village.
24:15It's testament to his tenacity that Renegadell now has a road.
24:20My God, if I could be like that again, eh?
24:23You're fit there.
24:25It was just really one man against the authorities to get this road built.
24:30A real David and Goliath situation.
24:33It took another nine years of campaigning, but finally, in 1984, work started.
24:40And the road was completed in 1990.
24:44It was like pushing a wheelbarrow up in Ebbers.
24:49And you, Rosie, standout story.
24:51There's something about being a water for me,
24:53and so the standout moment is the RNLI,
24:56spending the day with them in North Berwick
24:58and getting to go out on a paddleboard.
25:00Come and get to the coastline, please.
25:03Come and get to the coastline, please.
25:04Okay.
25:05They're just the best, most determined human beings that just want to do something good.
25:11Watch it in case you topple in.
25:16Lots of great stuff covered, but for me, a personal favourite was when my good pal, Rosie Keenan,
25:21won the World Championships for the Wool Handling at the Raw Highland Show.
25:36So rare, I think, when you follow someone for a story, and then they actually go in and win it.
25:40It was just an incredible moment.
25:41It was actually quite emotional.
25:43Like, she nearly got me when she was welling up.
25:44It was just so special.
25:46Well done.
25:46Come here.
25:51It's been going for 50 years.
25:52That's why we're celebrating it here.
25:54So is it an important programme, do you reckon?
25:56A special programme?
25:57Oh, absolutely.
25:58It's special.
25:59I mean, special to me.
26:00Farming background.
26:02Grew up in farming.
26:03Fond memories of sitting around the TV, the coal fire,
26:06enjoying Landward and seeing what other farmers were up to around the country.
26:09I'll tell you what's so special about it.
26:11I used to sit and watch Landward with my granda, who's a farmer.
26:15And to be doing this show 50 years on,
26:18and I just, I hope my granda's watching down.
26:21And I hope he's proud.
26:22I think the stories we bring, people can relate to them.
26:25And I think being able to share that with people, it's very humbling.
26:28Yeah, the stories and the people are what make it.
26:30And I think it's a privilege to be able to bring that to the screen.
26:34I remember watching Ewan McElwraith on the telly
26:36and watching him and thinking what an amazing job he did.
26:39And now we're here and doing the same thing.
26:42And I hope that that continues.
26:44You and McElwraith, of all the presenters you could mention,
26:47I don't know about you guys, but quite often when I turn up on shoots,
26:51they're quite disappointed that it's not Doogie Viper.
26:54Every time.
26:55Yes.
26:56This happens a lot.
26:57I'm not even joking.
26:58True.
26:59It is true.
26:59There's nobody bigger than the show, Anne.
27:02And over this series, we will continue to celebrate our golden anniversary,
27:07pulling some gems from the Lambert archive and bringing them up to date.
27:12Come on!
27:13Anne will be showing you everything that's happening
27:15in the Scottish countryside right now,
27:17as we continue Lambert into the next 50 years.
27:21From this marvellous team, thank you so much for your company.
27:24Bye for now.
27:25Bye.
27:26And good nightly.
27:28Have a look at the radio time.
27:29Bye.
27:30Bye.
27:59Bye.
28:00Bye.
Comments