Duncan Harley

Celebrated each year on January 25 th  Burns night is an annual Scottish fixture extraordinaire. The supermarket shelves are full of the traditional and, of course, essential accompaniments to the bard’s memory. Not perhaps for the faint hearted, the haggis features strongly on eye-level shelves and on the dinner tables of those who choose to recall the impact the bard had on the folklore of the Scottish Nation. In his short time on this earth, Burns commented on every subject known to man at that time - from winsome witches to wee timorous beasties. He even inspired an Inverbervie born ship-designer to name The Cutty Sark in his memory. Robert Burns was of course almost certainly a fan of a dram as this extract from John Barleycorn clearly illustrates: “John Barleycorn was a hero bold, Of noble enterprise; For if you do but taste his blood, 'Twill make your courage rise. 'Twill make a man forget his woe; 'Twill heighten all his joy; 'Twill make the widow...

Well that's the new book published and, to date, it's selling really well. In fact Amazon ran out of hard-copies over the Christmas period however I am pleased to report that this situation was quickly rectified by my ever-attentive publishers: The History Press plus Macmillan Distribution. Respect to the both of them! Of course everyone should write a book at least once in their lifetime and I count myself one of the lucky few who have actually made it into print. Friends and colleagues along the way have contributed ideas for stories and relationships past and present have enabled it to happen.  In particular I would like to thank Nigel Lucas who showed me the value of being inquisitive. He is no longer around but is well missed. Judy Mackie, editor of Leopard Magazine , and that stalwart of the Northern Scot , Mike Collins, have encouraged my writing and indeed have often funded it. Mike freely gave me a platform and when, on occasion, he was unable to use my stories w...