38. Europe’s Oldest Living Thing, Perthshire
Neil Oliver: News, Comment, History
Fat Belly Films
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2021
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week Neil’s journey takes us to one of the most beautiful glens in Scotland where we discover, what is believed to be, the oldest living thing in Europe - the Fortingall Yew.
The legendary Fortingall Yew nestles at the eastern end of Glen Lyon – the glen which Sir Walter Scott called the ‘longest, loneliest and loveliest in Scotland’. Many experts put the age of the yew at 9000 years old, which means it was a thousand years old before the British Isles were even created. The tree has seen so much history. Folklore in this part of Scotland has it that Pontious Pilate was born here and as a young child would shelter under the Fortingall Yew before he was whisked off to Rome and into the history books. What’s certain is, the tree and the glen are somewhere that have always mattered to our ancestors, a place that invites deep contemplation as you stand there and mark the long passage of time
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| 0:00.0 | The 15 million pound Lotto Super Saturday jackpot must be won this Saturday. |
| 0:04.5 | Or thousands of you will win a share of the prize. |
| 0:06.7 | But who will it be? |
| 0:07.7 | Maybe Raj, watching the racewalk and thinking I could do that. |
| 0:10.6 | Well speed walk down the shop and get yourself a ticket. |
| 0:13.1 | Lotto will you be next play in store or on app the national lottery account terms |
| 0:17.6 | rules and procedures apply players must be 18 or over. |
| 0:20.0 | Before this week's podcast I've got some exciting news to share with everyone. |
| 0:27.0 | I've started a Patreon site. Now on there are brand new video podcasts so you can see me and lots more besides. |
| 0:36.9 | It's a general hub, I hope, for fans of history, fans of archaeology, travel enthusiasts. I suppose above all else it's for all |
| 0:47.3 | round admirers of an open-minded approach to life, to love and everything in between. It's about seeing how the lessons of history, the |
| 0:56.1 | glimpses we catch of the past can help us to find comfort and navigate our way through |
| 1:01.6 | the confusion of the modern world. To join and get access all |
| 1:05.4 | you have to do is sign up. You can find Neil Oliver on the Patreon website, follow the |
| 1:11.8 | links on this podcast or on the Neil Oliver Love Letter Instagram. |
| 1:17.0 | You'll help to support this podcast, as well as getting exclusive access to the new video podcasts. I must say and stress that the |
| 1:25.9 | love letter to the British Isles is and always will be free. In the meantime |
| 1:31.6 | here's this week's love letter to the British Isles. |
| 1:35.0 | Q the music. |
| 1:37.0 | You'll never again in your life of the opportunity to stand beside or in the shadow of anything |
| 1:46.0 | in the whole of Europe that's been alive for longer. |
| 2:00.0 | In this podcast, we're walking in a magical glen, the loveliest in Scotland according to Sir Walter Scott before being whisked off to |
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