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Andrew has loved James Boswell ever since his mother gave him a copy of his diaries as he grew up. He attempts to follow Boswell’s journey from his privileged childhood in Ayrshire, to the streets of London and the wilderness of the Western Isles.

Andrew examines poet and writer Sir Walter Scott, who is less well known for his time as a political fixer for Scotland then he is for his writing.

Andrew Marr looks at the career of Hugh MacDiarmid, one of Scotland's most bothersome poets who reinvented Scottish as a serious writing language.