Thursday, 14 February 2013

'God's Frontiersmen - The Scots-Irish Epic'



In 1988 Channel 4 (UK) in co-operation with Ulster Television produced a four episode mini-series and accompanying book entitled 'God's Frontiersmen - The Scots-Irish Epic' by Rory Fitzpatrick.  The TV production was part drama, part documentary exploring the Ulster-Scot journey from Scotland to Ulster and then for many, onto America. The series containing around 3.5 hours of video was released on VHS in 1989 and possibly on DVD a little later. Both the book and the video are worth trying to track down for anyone interested in Scots-Irish / Ulster-Scot history.

the hardback book



Presented below are a series of clips from TV series plotting part of that journey.... Thanks to YouTube user BickyBox for uploading these clips!


Clip 1
The introduction to 'God's Frontiersmen'. This opening clip looks at an infamous section of the Anglo-Scots border communities who comprised part of the plantation settlers in Ulster; The riding families or Border Reivers.



Tuesday, 5 February 2013

The Ulster roots of Sir Ian McKellen




McKellen as Gandalf


Film and theatre legend Sir Ian McKellen has compared his great-great grandfather to Ian Paisley.

The multi award-winning star of the stage aswell as movies such as Lord Of The Rings, Richard III,  X-Men & the Hobbit revealed his family tree can be traced back to the Ulster town of Ballymena, Co Antrim.