30 YEARS OF THE LIST
WE’VE HAD IT COVERED The List’s publisher Robin Hodge looks back on the last 30 years
T he List was launched in October 1985 by a group of people who were committed to supporting and celebrating the cultural life of Scotland. We took the broadest possible view of culture including arts, entertainment and events of every conceivable sort. The hope was that, by publicising all that was happening and drawing attention to the very best, more would be encouraged to happen.
The i rst editors, Nigel Billen and Sarah Hemming, helped put together the initial team, each with a passionate interest in their own area of expertise. They had coni dence that the quality of work produced in Scotland and the range of events taking place were of sufi cient signii cance to merit attention. This coni dence has been amply justii ed. We have never been short of things to write about. Over the past 30 years, the range of writers who have established international reputations based on work produced in Scotland has been remarkable. One need only think of Alasdair Gray, Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith, Alexander McCall Smith or Ian Rankin.
The international respect for visual artists trained in Scotland and especially at Glasgow School of Art has been repeatedly acknowledged in the award of i ve Turner Prizes in recent years. Similar achievements are apparent in the world of rock music (Franz Ferdinand, Belle and Sebastian, Jesus and Mary Chain), classical music (James McMillan, Nicola Benedetti, Evelyn Glennie) and i lmmaking (Ken Loach, Peter Mullan, Andrea Arnold). In the high proi le area of acting, Scotland has produced many stars: David Tennant, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi and James McAvoy.
In terms of events, the growth of the Edinburgh Festival has been phenomenal (from less than 1000 shows on the Fringe in 1985 to over 3000 today), together with the impact of Celtic Connections and T in the Park and the numerous festivals which have sprung up across the country. Food and drink formed part of the brief we set ourselves at the start and has grown to become a major part of our annual activity. Through the Eating & Drinking Guide, we have tried to support those who run the best restaurants and, through our Larder series, we have highlighted the unique quality of produce from different parts of the country.
This would of course all have happened without The List, but we like to think that we have played a part by at least noticing what was going on around us. At the beginning we concentrated on Glasgow and Edinburgh, but in 2007 we began to expand our horizons. We now publish, in digital format, a guide to events across the whole of the UK. This is growing and expanding week by week and is now viewed by over 2 million people a month. The passion and commitment to supporting the arts and celebrating exceptional work, which was present 30 years ago, continues undiminished.
5 Nov 2015–4 Feb 2016 THE LIST 25