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Dunkeld and Birnam Film Club at Birnam Arts
Sun 14 Dec - Sun 12 Apr
Dunkeld and Birnam Film Club | Auditorium
19:30 - 21:00
Doors Open 19:00

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Don Roberto

Jamie Jauncey: Don Roberto and Me

17 November 2022

This event is presented by Birnam Book Festival as part of Scottish Book Week, and is sponsored by the Scottish Book Trust.

Birnam resident and writer Jamie Jauncey has recently completed a biography of his extraordinary great-great-uncle, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham (1852-1936), also known as Don Roberto.

Best known as co-founder with Keir Hardie, of the Scottish Labour Party, and later as the founding president of the Scottish National Party, Don Roberto was many other things besides.

As a young man in Argentina he became an expert horseman and rode with gauchos. The instinct for travel and adventure never left him—in middle age he was held to ransom in the Atlas Mountains by a local sheikh. At Westminster he declared himself the first ever Socialist Member of Parliament and was convicted of rioting. A radical laird, he advocated land reform and abolition of the House of Lords. He was a champion of underdogs, a crusader for social justice and freedom of speech. Fêted by his literary peers as the ‘Scottish Maupassant ’he was friends with Conrad, Wells, Wilde, Shaw and Chesterton. Painted by Lavery and sculpted by Epstein he was directly descended from King Robert II of Scotland. He was above all a great humanitarian. Almost everything he stood for has a burning relevance to our lives today.

Jamie’s book - and the illustrated talk proposed here - not only tells Don Roberto’s remarkable life story, but also explores what it has meant to grow up with such an iconic figure in the family background, and how he has shaped Jamie’s understanding of what it means to be a Scot in the 21st century.

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Other Events This Month

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Sat 13 Dec 2025

Drawing Techniques with Pencil Workshop

Arts Workshop     |   12:00 - 16:00
Drawing Techniques with Pencil Workshop - Caroline Foote at Birnam Arts
Sun 21 Dec 2025

Singing and Rainbows Christmas Workshop

Arts Workshop   |   Auditorium   |   13:00 - 14:15
Singing and Rainbows Christmas Workshop at Birnam Arts
Sun 25 Jan 2026

Fearless Painting Workshop

Arts Workshop   |   Studios   |   10:30 - 16:00
Fearless Painting Workshop by Alison Price at Birnam Arts
14 Dec - 12 Apr

Dunkeld and Birnam Film Club

Film   |   Auditorium   |   Various
Dunkeld and Birnam Film Club at Birnam Arts
Map showing Birnam Arts and conference centre in Scotland

Opening Times

Box Office
Open periodically throughout the week | Book online 24/7


Cafe
Daily | 10 - 4



Birnam Arts
Station Road
Birnam Dunkeld
PH8 0DS
admin@birnamarts.com
Tel: 01350 727 674

Entrance

Welcome to Birnam Arts, a boutique multi-purpose arts, conferencing and entertainment venue.

Highlights

Pop in to the Foyer Cafe for breakfast, grab a delicious coffee with a selection of our homemade baking or enjoy a light lunch whilst browsing on the free WiFi. Wander upstairs to view the latest of our monthly art exhibitions before visiting the world of Beatrix Potter, or the Gift Shop to purchase a special gift for your loved ones or yourself!

Star Star Star Star Star

Great exhibition and performance spaces. Lovely terrace and indoor seating with lots of light. Great food and drinks and even a garden next-door for a stroll afterwards. Like

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  • Entrance

  • Kinnaird

  • Cafe

  • Beatrix Potter

  • Shop

  • Gallery

  • Studio