In the last episode of This Life, the cult BBC drama about law students sharing a house, an answer was provided for those who wonder what a Scotsman wears under his kilt. It is when the kilted Lenny, as played by Scottish actor Tony Curran, is being graphically buggered by Ramon Tikaram, in the role of Ferdy, in the men's toilets at the climatic wedding reception. The kilt is one of the few items of male attire men can actually wear without being labelled a transvestite or latent homosexual, or both. What is the sporran but a large purse?

Witness David Beckham's treatment at the hands of the tabloid press when he strolled out with Victoria Adams, also known as Posh Spice, wearing a sarong, before the World Cup. He preserved modesty by wearing trousers underneath this sartorial faux pas. Fortunately, such a fashion crime was swiftly overlooked after he had been given the red card in England's game against Argentina, although some would consider it a close-run thing.

Jean-Paul Gaultier, the camp London-based French fashion designer, has been dogged in his persistence to popularise a modern version of the kilt; without much success it has to be said. Could it be that his designs were too obviously homoerotic?

No Englishman would ever be brave/stupid enough to go up to a big, hairy Scotsman and insinuate that his friend from north of the border was less than one hundred percent pure heterosexual? Unless, of course, he was inordinately fond of hospital food, that is.

There is a photography by Jack Fritscher's entitled 'Actual Prison Guard, American Kilt, 1990' from American Men, which captures perfectly the erotic charge of the kilt, as an athlete is engaged in throwing the hammer at a Highland Games. The shorts he wears beneath his kilt add a sensual frisson, rather than detracting from such a magnificent sight, as the referee, also kilted, watches on. As Edward Lucie-Smith explains in his introduction: 'It tells us nothing of the sexuality of the subject, but much about the image-maker's own reactions to the world which surrounds him - the things he is attuned to, and it likely to notice and record.' To cut a long theory short, beauty is in the eye of the viewfinder.

Whilst tartan remained an icon of style, during punk it was the material from which most bondage trousers appeared to be fashioned, the wearing of the kilt was in decline.

The rise in Scottish nationalism allied to a cultural resurgence north of the border has brought Scotsman the confidence to don their national dress. To be Scottish now is to be hip, cool and trendy. Everyone from Ewan McGregor to Mel Gibson have been sporting the kilt.

One of the few redeeming features of, the dire Americanised big screen version of The Avengers, the classic British 60's television series, was the glorious sight of Sean Connery, the first and best 007, clad in plaid. In my humble opinion, a magnificent sight that was worth the price of admission alone.

Yet the origin of the modern short kilt, or philibeg, is a subject of heated debate in some quarters. Thomas Rawlinson, the ironmaster at the Glengarry works in the eighteenth century, was an Englishman who had adopted Highland dress, is considered to be the prime originator of the kilt as now know it.

There is no available evidence to suggest that the kilt, in its present form, existed before the early 1700's. This has failed to stifle the long-running debate which, if truth be told, has all to do with the fact that the first man to wear it was far from being a favoured son of Caledonia but a damnable Sassenach!

(c) Howard Watson 2000