Hamish MacPherson

Journalist

Latest articles from Hamish MacPherson

BACK IN THE DAY Is it population or location that truly makes a village?

IN my recent series on the ancient history of Scottish towns, I named St Andrews as the most famous town in Scotland worldwide, more so even than Paisley or Ayr or Lanark, my logic being that because it is the Home of Golf, the name of St Andrews is known by more people across the globe than any other Scottish town.

back in the day The start of a long, illustrious career of a Scottish author and poet

IN this second of a three-part series on the life and career of Eric Linklater – the 50th anniversary of whose death took place on Thursday – this week I will be concentrating on his writing but next week I will be speculating as to what might have happened to him and the cause of Scottish nationalism if he had just been a tad more successful in standing as a candidate for the National Party of Scotland, forerunner of the SNP ...

back in the day Brush with death proves an inspiration

THIS week sees the 50th anniversary of the death of Eric Linklater, one of Scotland’s finest writers – a poet, historian, and briefly a politician who was a parliamentary candidate for the National Party of Scotland, forerunner of the SNP. He was also a soldier who had a brush with death as you will see below ...