WALTER SCOTT 250 LAUNCH

A spectacular light show will launch the international celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the life and works of Sir Walter Scott on Saturday 20th March, World Storytelling Day.

Smailholm Tower (pictured) is adjacent to Sandyknowe Farm where Scott lived as a boy, and his early experiences here were a great source of inspiration his whole life and fed into his novels, histories and folkloric works. From his boyhood at Smailholm to his maturity in Abbotsford, the entire story of Scott’s life and death is written on the Borders landscape, so Smailholm’s intimate link with Scott gives it a particular potency and magic as we begin the celebrations of his 250th year. Watch out too for contributions from well-known faces, including Kirsty Wark, Brian Taylor, Diana Gabaldon, Damian Barr, and Prof Sir Tom Devine, as well as the release of the first in a series of videos of the Borders tales that inspired Scott.

See the show by visiting the anniversary website, walterscott250.com, at 6pm on Saturday March 20th. Then head back to the Walter Scott 250 Facebook page for a Facebook Live of the projection on Smailholm tower from 6.30pm.