Interview of James Russell

11 May 2004 Professor Jim (James) Russell (Glasgow, Scotland, 11 September, 1935). James went to Fulwell primary school in Roker, Sunderland, England, during the war. They were in England due to his father's job as a civil servant working for the Ministry of Labour. He talks of having a duel tongue: Geordie and Scots. On coming back to Scotland, he went to the Royal Edinburgh High School and gained an interest in Classics. Although he says his whole family have been and continue to be Conservative in their political views, he considers himself to be "strongly Scottish" and talks of being influenced by a Scottish Nationalist teacher at High School, who taught Scottish history and literature (neither of which were on the syllabus at Scottish schools at the time). James therefore developed a sense of "cultural nationalism." He left High School and went straight to Edinburgh University, where he took an Honours degree in Classics, which included Classical history and archaeology as well as Moral Philosophy. He talks about having a keen interest in "ruins and remains" from an early age. His great uncle, James Russell (b. 1820/30 d. 1890), a dyed-in-the-wool Liberal and one of the "self-improving member[s] [...] of the yeoman class of Scotland in the 19th century", had been one of the first excavators of the Antonine Wall in Scotland. He also talks about student life at Edinburgh University, such as the reaction over the Suez Canal fiasco in 1956, this would prefigure the student demonstrations he encountered while a professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. After leaving Edinburgh University, he taught Classics for a year at Trinity Academy in Edinburgh. He lived in Scotland until he was 24. He met his wife at Windsor Place, Church of Scotland, and married her on 19 August 1959, just before coming to Canada to teach and study for his Ph.D in Classics at Winnipeg. He then got a fellowship to study in Chicago for a year. He completed his Ph.D in 1965. He was invited to join the University of British Columbia as assistant professor and arrived in Vancouver on 19 August 1966. He got tenure in 1971. He talks about his experience of teaching during the "free thinking" movement that arrived at the end of the 1960s. Supposedly Deconstructionism was a nightmare for history teachers as students would start to question the veracity of dates, historical documents, catalogues, etc. He also talks about witnessing the students' demonstrations against the Vietnam war, Government (in general), and even the structures of the University. His time at UBC was mainly spent excavating and compiling samples and information for publication of a 3rd century Roman city at Anemurium, Turkey, from 1970-1985. He retired in 1998. He was also elected President of the Vancouver branch of the Archaeological Institute of America – a post he held for 2 years. He is a member of the Fellows of Antiquities of Scotland.\ Upon retiring he took up a position of lecturer of Classics at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome for a year. When asked about whether or not he feels a "sense of belonging" towards Scotland, he says that he does, but when he is in Scotland, he feels that both he and the place are "different", he has a whole other dimension to his perception from living in Canada. He does say that he "keeps up an interest" in Scottish politics through the UK papers and still has an interest in Scottish history. His father, William Russell (b. 17 December 1909, Longcroft, Stirlingshire), was a civil servant. He worked in both England and Scotland. He was heavily involved with the crofters in the Scottish Highlands. He was first destined to become a Minister. He was also very proficient in languages, especially Latin. He was also commissioned into the Army, destined to serve in India, although he somehow managed to escape this duty. He was the son of James Russell (b.1870), a foundry worker from Kilsythe – a short, wiry man, shrewd, athletic, friendly, quiet, and neat and tidy. His wife, the interviewer's grandmother, Margaret Penman, was fairly unknown to James, although he does say that she might have suffered from Alzheimer's disease. For example, she "behaved like a child" and "talked to the chickens". In short, she "wasn't normal". His mother was called Elizabeth Russell. Her father, James' grandfather, was a grocer in Borland. He blended and sold his own whiskey and advertised it at the local cinema. He also bought and sold horses from Glasgow. He has one brother. He was born in Newcastle. He went to the same High School as his brother in Edinburgh. Like his father, he became a civil servant and retired as second in command of British Customs. He lives in North Berwick, Scotland.