The Highland Games - Sport, Spect...
The Highland Games - Sport, Spectacle & the World's Heaviest Telephone Pole
Everything Scotland by Lesley Kennedy
S1 · E5
Jun 11, 2026
29:38
Episode notes

Lesley Kennedy is not a sporty person. She has not voluntarily participated in sport since a game of netball in primary school and has no intention of starting now. She is, however, completely in love with the Highland Games, which tells you everything you need to know about the Highland Games.

This week: a man the size of a wardrobe throws a hundred-and-seventy-five-pound pine tree, and is judged on straightness. The pipe bands that sound like a domestic dispute until suddenly they don't. Highland dancing that is far more athletic than the word "dancing" suggests. The philosophical implications of the twelve o'clock. A brief but important note on kilts. And how Scotland's emigrants carried the caber toss to seventy countries worldwide.

Our Scots Word of the Week: Braw.

Have you been to a Highlan ... 

Keywords
Scottish Highland Games
Braemar Gathering
Scottish Traditions
Scottish Festivals
Visit Scotland