What do Thomas Telford, a shebeen, excisemen, opium, Duncraig Castle, landowning Scottish MPs, an evangelical Free Church minister, Sabbatarianism, riots, the Stone of Destiny, the Wicker Man, Hamish Macbeth, Pavarotti and the Brain of Britain got to do with a remote fishing village in Ross-shire?
Bernard OÕConnorÕs ÔPlockton in the NewsÕ includes over 200 years of articles from Scottish newspapers as far north as John oÕGroats, across to Inverness and Aberdeen, and down to Oban, Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as a number of English and Irish papers.
They tell a story of ScotlandÕs class or caste system, the strength and weakness of the church, nationalism, racism, local and national politics, propaganda, accidents, crime, punishment, war, peace, sexism, satire, education, fishing, forestry, agriculture, transport, sport, births, deaths, marriages, the impact of tourism and attitudes to ÔoutsidersÕ and Ôincomers.Õ All of Scottish life is here.