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Title: BIRD, THE TREE, THE BELL AND THE FISH OF GLASGOW, the

Reference number: 12499

Date: 2014

Director: d. Yushin Toda

Production company: Japan Desk Scotland

Sound: sound

Original format: unknown

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 32.16 mins

Description: Documentary in which a variety of interviewees explore the messages and meaning in the symbols of Glasgow's coat of arms.

Credits: p. Fumi Nakabachi and Yushin Toda, Japan Desk Scotland
comm. w. Yushin Toda
ph. Fumi Nakabachi
ed. adviser Hajime Kobayashi, (Colin Brierley)
ed. Yushin Toda

Shotlist: Filmmaker's synopsis:

Glasgow's coat of arms is associated with an enigmatic rhyme:

Here's the bird that never flew.
Here's the tree that never grew.
Here's the bell that never rang.
Here's the fish that never swam.

Behind the rhyme there are original Christian messages, but, as these messages are not explicit, leaving a gap between the messages and the rhyme. The gap allows a variety of interpretations and visual images of the rhyme, which are explored in this documentary by an Indian resident, a Taichi teacher, botanists, an artist, and bell ringers. The rhyme may be seen as the symbol of inclusive and diverse Glasgow.

Interviewees (In order of their first appearances):
Sandy Connelly, David Sinclair, Doyel Ghosh, James Currall, Fred Brown, Anne Muir, Sophie Brown, Roy Henderson, Louise Bustard, Sandy Grant, Jan Kauskas, Ewen Donaldson, Margret, Sue, Clyde, Christina, Jonathan, Tina, Stuart MacQuarrie, and Bronwyn Bell