Kevin James on the BBC and Early Scottish Tourism

History professor Kevin James is returning to the small screen, this time in the United Kingdom. James took part in a television series on Scotland and tourism that is set to air on the BBC Oct. 6.

“I was interviewed in a horse-drawn carriage talking about Sir Walter Scott and tourism,” says James, a specialist in Scottish studies.

The six-part series, Grand Tours of Scotland, follows the footsteps of the first tourists to Scotland, travelling the country and tracing the changes that have taken places since the birth of Scottish tourism 200 years ago.  

James says he was asked to take part in the series due to his SSHRC-funded research on Scottish tourism history. He is also involved in the Canadian TV show Ancestors in the Attic, where he is the on-air genealogist. That show, which airs on History Television, helps Canadians unearth mysteries about their past.

James is also set to begin work on another U.K. television show that will explore Scottish history makers and Scotland’s legacy in Canada.

“Who would have thought this is what I’d be doing by becoming a professor,” James says.

- From at Guelph