Scotland to pick historic top 10

Neil Oliver presents the forthcoming BBC series on Scots history

Hundreds of people have taken part in a quest to find the key moments in Scotland's history.

A new BBC television series Scotland's History: The Top 10 seeks to recreate the most important elements of the nation's history.

More than 1,000 nominations have been received from the website bbc.co.uk/scotlandshistory, which launched in August.

The first batch of 10 contenders was revealed on BBC Two Scotland on Friday.

They were:

• Declaration of Arbroath
• The Reformation
• Burns
• Tartanry
• Scientists
• The Scottish City
• Radicalism
• The Enlightenment
• Clearances
• Football

Neil Oliver has been finding out what ordinary Scottish people think are the pivotal moments in the country's history, from events to people and ideas.

He will reveal 30 culled from the nominations by the team at production company Caledonia TV and leading historian Professor Tom Devine.

Scotland is one of the oldest nations in the world and one that has a great sense of tradition and identity so we encountered a lot of passion about this question everywhere we went Neil Oliver

A panel of history professionals, chaired by Professor Devine, will debate which of these 30 deserve to be in the top 10.

These will be revealed, alongside the results of a public vote, in an hour-long special on St Andrew's night, Thursday 30 November.

Neil Oliver said: "Scotland is one of the oldest nations in the world and one that has a great sense of tradition and identity so we encountered a lot of passion about this question everywhere we went.

"Not everyone was too hot on their dates and some people admitted their knowledge was limited, but just about everyone had some suggestion and that is what makes it such an interesting challenge.

"Any such list can never be definitive, but to take a snapshot at this stage in time as to what people think are the defining need-to-know aspects of Scottish history is just a fascinating opportunity."