by Vivien Martin
IT’S WITH a crash, bang and a very-definite- wallop that Tintin, Hergé’s adventurous reporter, arrives in Scotland. No quiet entrance for our intrepid hero. Tailing dastardly villains in a light aircraft, Tintin, accompanied by a suitably moustachioed pilot, flies into dense fog and is forced to make an emergency landing. At first they seem to have landed safely, but suddenly plough into a dry-stone dyke causing the aircraft to somersault over the wall. Fortunately both Tintin and the pilot emerge from the wreckage unscathed, only for poor Tintin to fall into a tangle of brambles, which do far more damage than the plane crash did! Rescued by an elderly crofter, a change of clothes is offered, et viola, dressed in a kilt Tintin makes his dramatic entry into Scotland.