Rum

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About the Book: 

Where is the earliest human settlement site yet discovered in Scotland?
Which British Prime Minister inherited the island of Rum in 1866?
Why was Rum known as ‘the Forbidden Isle’ prior to 1957?
To which Scottish castle was John Betjeman referring when he wrote in 1959: 'in time to come the castle will be a place of pilgrimage for all those who want to see how people lived in good King Edward’s days'?
What has been the effect on the red deer population in the Kilmory area of stopping culling in 1972?
Where in Britain was the white-tailed (sea) eagle successfully reintroduced in the 1980s, some seventy years after the last native bird was shot?

Magnus Magnusson answers these and many other questions in this fascinating story of the Hebridean island of Rum. It moves from earliest times through to the Clearances and its period as the sporting playground of a Lancashire industrial magnate, and on to its rebirth as a National Nature Reserve, a model for the active ecological management of Scotland’s wild places.

Thoroughly researched and written in a lively and accessible style, this book includes comprehensive coverage of the island’s geology, wildlife, plants, and people, with a special chapter on the Edwardian extravaganza of Kinloch Castle. This 'temple to private indulgence', as Magnusson describes it, cost some £15m in today’s terms to create. There is practical information for visitors including details of bothy and other accommodation, walks and heritage trails. The book closes with a positive vision for the island’s future: biologically diverse, economically dynamic and ecologically sustainable.

About the Author:

MAGNUS MAGNUSSON KBE, broadcaster and writer, is chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage, the government’s advisory body on environmental issues, which owns and manages the island of Rum as a National Nature Reserve. A lover of the countryside all his life, he was President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (1985-89), and was chairman of the Nature Conservancy Council for Scotland (1991-92) before its merger with the Countryside Commission for Scotland to form SNH in 1992.

Known to millions as the television quizmaster of Mastermind throughout its highly acclaimed 25-year run, he also presented Tonight, Chronicle and Living Legends. He has written several books on archaeology and history (he was awarded the Medlicott Medal of the Historical Association in 1989), on his native Iceland (including Iceland Saga and Vikings!) and on his adopted country of Scotland (including Treasures of Scotland and The Nature of Scotland). He has also translated many of the classical Icelandic Sagas, and some modern novels by the Icelandic Nobel Prize-winner, Halldór Laxness. In recognition of his many services to Scotland he was awarded an honorary knighthood (KBE) in 1989. He is also a Knight Commander of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon (1986).