Famous Scots

Though a small country, Scotland has produced many famous sons and (fewer) daughters.

All the men and women described in this book were born in Scotland but made their names outside their native country.

Many will probably be associated in most people's minds with the countries in which they achieved fame, such as the Adam brothers, Thomas Telford, Alexander Bell or Andrew Carnegie, for example.

In writing these 21 biographical sketches, the author has sought not only to entertain the reader with interesting and, often, amusing stories, but also to shed some light on the Scottish character.

Writing slightly tongue in cheek, he maintains that few Scots are as fervent admirers - or perhaps so understanding of the real character - of their fellow countrymen as those who have themselves been exiles.

Ian Fellowes Gordon's family has lived in the same remote corner of Aberdeenshire for six centuries, but he chanced to be born in New York and to spend most of his life away from Scotland as a broadcaster and writer.

Now living in his ancestral home, he is able to look back on the Scots he so admired - all with an affectionate but not uncritical appraisal. The 21 biographies, arranged chronologically, are: the Adam brothers, James Boswell, James Watt, John Loudon McAdam, Thomas Telford, Lord Byron, David Livingstone, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, Mary Slessor, Robert Louis Stevenson, Keir Hardie, James Barrie, Ramsay MacDonald, Harry Lauder, Mary Garden, John Buchan, Alexander Fleming, John Logie Baird, John Reith, Robert Watson-Watt.

At the end of the book is a list of places to visit and things to do connected with the famous Scots.