Film Premiere (18:15 BST)

Film Premiere: James ‘Corsica’ Boswell

Corsican filmmaker Lionel Dumas-Perini introduces his fascinating new documentary on the intertwined lives and times of James Boswell and Corsica’s rebel leader, General Pascale Paoli. Filmed against backdrops in Corsica, London and Ayrshire, Dumas-Perini brings to life, through actors as well as interviews with international Boswell scholars and enthusiasts, the remarkable tale of the young James Boswell’s friendship with Paoli.

James Boswell’s Grand Tour of Europe in 1765 takes him to Corsica where he meets Paoli who becomes the hero in his 1768 book, An Account of Corsica, which chronicless Corsica’s struggle for independence from the Genoese. An instant best-seller, the book brought Paoli lasting fame, not least with fellow Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte. Corsica’s democratic constitution, drafted by Paoli, went on to inspire Benjamin Franklin and George Washington who used it for the blueprint for the American Constitution.

Paoli exiled himself in London in 1769 and was to remain a lifelong friend of Boswell.