It was in Cromwell's brief period in power that we could see something like the shape of a modern English State and government coming into view. During the first two or three decades, if anything, it seemed to push them further apart. It did encourage Scots to migrate south. Not many English went in the opposite direction. What happened around the middle years of the 18th century, after the failure of the Jacobite rising, was quite different, for the opportunities opened in the armies of the empire and in the political and governing institutions of what was now a huge British state were open to the Scots, and they certainly took advantage of them.
Scottish names are all over the early history of British India too.
Even in sixteen hours we've had to omit all kinds of big stories for the sake of telling even bigger ones. And the rein of James I, fascinating in many respects, whistled past as a prelude to the long tragedy of the civil war. Simon Schama - Crazed optimism. The choice is dictated by our focus on the very biggest questions we want to deal with in a particular week. So, for example, since Scotland's relationship with England is at the heart of this week's programme, we couldn't allow ourselves to deal with some of the more minutely detailed issues dividing the Whigs and the Tories.