1 THE PEOPLE WHO SHAPED ROBERT BURNS

We all know the songs and poems written by one of Scotland’s most famous sons – but who were the people that most influenced his life and his writing? Host Jackie Bird is on a mission to find out. This week, she’s joined by Christoper Waddell, learning manager at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, and Professor Gerard Carruthers, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Francis Hutcheson Chair of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.

Together, they look at poets, family members, friends and educators who made their mark on the Bard.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information on the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, click here.

Explore the National Trust for Scotland’s Robert Burns Collection online here.

You might enjoy some of our past episodes on Robert Burns. Simply scroll back through the Love Scotland feed to hear instalments on Auld Lang Syne and Burns’ death.

Use of Green Grow The Rashes, O by Bill Adair, courtesy of University of Glasgow.

How do you restore a 200-year-old church on one of Scotland’s most remote islands? Jackie Bird sits down with Susan Bain, property manager of St Kilda, to find out.

A dual UNESCO World Heritage Site that sits on the edge of the Atlantic, St Kilda is vital to Scottish history but a big challenge for the Trust to care for properly. Once inhabited year-round by a civilian population, the island now hosts annual maintenance, archaeology, conservation and bird monitoring projects. This year, that included the restoration of a building that used to be at the very heart of the community.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

For more information on St Kilda, click here.

The work on St Kilda’s Kirk was made possible thanks to supporters of our Caring for St Kilda campaign. Thank you to all of them.

As a charity, we can only undertake work such as this with your support. Please, if you can, donate today and help us continue to carry out conservation work across St Kilda. Find out more about the second phase of the campaign, which will restore the kirk’s interiors, here.

Meet Hugh Miller: the man regarded as the David Attenborough of his day. Though often overlooked in the history books, this self-taught geologist helped to popularise natural history to his Victorian audience.

What did he help to discover about prehistoric Scotland? How were his scientific findings viewed by his peers? And why has he not remained better known?

Joining Jackie Bird this week is James Ryan, visitor services assistant at Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum in Cromarty.

To enjoy more episodes of Love Scotland, please follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

For more on Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum, click here.