The Bagpipes: A Cultural History with Richard McLauchlan

'Richly entertaining and perceptive. A revelation for pipers like me, and for anyone interested in how an instrument can transform culture.' ~ Alastair Campbell

Richard McLauchlan is a Scottish writer, educated at the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge, and a former pipe major, taught by the renowned instructor Colin MacLellan.

The author of Serious Minds, and John Campbell's collaborator on Haldane (both published by Hurst), Richard co-founded the educational charity Light Up Learning.

Richard joins us for The Bagpipes: a Cultural History, his diverse history of the pipes - from inspiring terror on battlefields to enriching cultures worldwide.

History's first named bagpiper is a man playing a pipe 'with a bag tucked under his armpit' in the first century CE. He was the Roman Emperor Nero. Since then, this improbable conflation of bag and sticks has become the world's most beloved and contested instrument. Another piping emperor, Tsar Peter the Great, decided that his departed pet bear would live on--as a bagpipe.

This vivid history tells the long story of an instrument boasting over 130 varieties, yet commonly associated with just one, from one country: Scotland's Great Highland Bagpipe. In fact, the pipes are played across the globe, illuminating societies in remarkable, unexpected ways. Richard charts the rise of women pipers; investigates class, privilege and capitalism in the piping world; and explores how a 'national instrument' can shift in meaning amidst the currents of identity.

The vibrancy and inventiveness of today's pipers showcase the allure of this fabled, fascinating instrument, to which Richard is our surefooted guide.

'With infectious enthusiasm for his subject, Richard McLauchlan's multi-storied and learned account reveals the bagpipes' history to be just as intricate and variegated as the most complex piobaireachd/pibroch tunes.'

-- Clare Jackson, author of Devil-Land: England under Siege 1588-1688