When the Pipers Play is a fascinating account of the bagpipe as ‘an instrument of war’, packed full of remarkable stories. Based on the author Patrick King’s award-winning films, the book combines historical research with exclusive interviews and traces the crucial role of the military piper from the Highlander at Culloden to the carnage of Waterloo and from the trenches of the Great War to the beaches of Normandy. The author reveals how the use of music in war, including drums, bugles and pipes, has for centuries controlled the battlefield. His analysis of the pipes ranges from regulating the soldiers day in camp to a role in wartime propaganda films and how the instrument remains the one primal element in the sophistication of modern warfare. The regimental piper is the real hero of this book. A must read for anyone who enjoys stories of courage and adventure.