Talks, tours, music, drama and poetry are all among the line-up for this year’s Previously… history festival. Taking place in Edinburgh November 18-22, the event is now in its fifth year aims to get people excited about Scottish history. Here’s just four of the highlights you should make time for.
More Letters of Note
Shaun Usher, best known for sharing the correspondence of the famous on his website (and book) ‘Letters of Note’, will be sharing more from his treasure trove from famous figures (in support of a second physical edition). Richard Burton’s farewell note to Elizabeth Taylor, the final messages from a doomed Japanese Airlines flight in 1985 and David Bowie’s response to his first piece of fan mail from the US are among the highlights, as well as notes from Jane Austen, Alan Turing, John Lennon, Sylvia Plath, Mozart, Janis Joplin, Charlotte Bronte and Che Guevara.
Saturday November 21, 3pm. Tickets £4.
Beyond the wall - Scottish inspirations and parallels in the ‘Game of Thrones’ universe
Plunderers, bloody battles and a wall holding back the wilds beyond may all be sights and scenes from ‘Game of Thrones’, but there are many events in Scottish history that match up with those seen in Westeros. Discover Tywin Lannister's real-life role model, a bridge that must be crossed at any cost and much more at an event hosted by historian and GoT fan David Weinczok.
Sunday November 22, 4.30pm. Tickets £4.
MacBraveheart
Spoof play ‘MacBraveheart’ debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe back in 2014 and has now been updated with plenty of gags at Scotland’s expense. Set in the past of a dystopian pre-independence future, iconic Scottish figures William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Robert Burns star in this play with focuses on the price of freedom. In their own words, ‘history has never been this funny’.
Friday November 20, 6.30pm. Tickets £12, £10 concessions.
Unicorns: A Zoological Analysis
Scotland is one of the few countries in the world to have a mythical creature as a national animal, but although now the unicorn is dismissed as a figment of the imagination it was believed it be a real animal for more than 4,000 years. This talk will look at how real animals influenced the evolution of the myth.
Sunday November 22, 3pm. Tickets £4.
Previously... Scotland's History Festival, November 18-22, 28 York Place.
See more things to do in Edinburgh from Time Out.