UKC

I'm embarrassed to admit that I hadn't heard of him until he was mentioned by biped on here a year or two ago. What an extraordinary life:
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/mar/11/guardianobituaries.booksobituar...

Here's one of his songs, performed by Karine Polwart in the Italian Chapel in Orkney earlier this year:
vimeo.com/73406037
Translation here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Come-All-Ye

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

I met him several times, though can't claim to have got to know, and only realised the variety and magnitude of the things he'd done in his life when I read that very obituary. Amazing man.

In reply to Removed User:

His biography shares some parallels with that of Fitroy Maclean, a character from a very different background and with a very different political outlook. Both saw the rise of totalitarianism first-hand in the '30s (one in Germany, one in the USSR), both saw active service with the partisans behind enemy lines in WWII (one in Italy, one in Yugoslavia). But mainly in the incredible amount of things they seem to have packed into their lifetimes.

Going to have to look up more of his work now.

In reply to Douglas Griffin: struggle to believe you've never of heard of him. One of the Scottish greats of recent times.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

I remember talking to my mother about him.

She told me she used to know him. He hung out in some pub in Edinburgh she used to frequent as well. "He gave me a book of his poems once, he signed it." I asked her where the book was now. "Oh I lent it to so and so and I never got it back..".

In reply to Doug:


I had, but only when biped mentioned him a couple of years ago.

In reply to Removed User:

Ooh! Sore one...

In reply to Removed User:

Ouch!

The pub would have been Sandy Bells. There was, until a few years ago, a paper mache bust of him above the bar. I think it is now in the Museum of Scotland.

In reply to Removed User:

I kind of got the impression it was somewhere around Rose Street. Maybe that basement one that all the poets used to meet in, can't remember it's name for the life of me.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
"The Freedom Come-All-Ye" really ought to be the Scottish national anthem, but never will be because it's sung in Scots.

In reply to Doug:

Bit of a silly comment that. I'm sure there's plenty of people important in their field that you've never heard of too.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
Met Hamish frequently at folk festivals like Kinross during the seventies and eighties and on many occasions in Sandy Bell's. "Freedom Come All Ye"
should be the anthem, and all the better for being in Scots.
2 of his other songs are in my opinion the best to come out of WW2 -"Banks o Sicily" and "The D-Day Dodgers". The latter is a classic.
A fine poet as well eg " Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica"
The greatest collector and recorder of the folk-tradition in Scotland post World War 2 .

In reply to DaveHK: but was based on the names he's mentioned in other posts over the years and the subjects he tends to write about

In reply to Doug:

Fair enough.

In reply to Removed User:


Milne's Bar?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/poets-pub-norman-maccaig-...

In reply to Douglas Griffin:

That's the one!

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
Good to see that biped has some uses other than pig consumption - and this is an excellent one. I also was ignorant of HH, thanks Douglas for sharing - he looks a fascinating character and I shall enjoy reading soon

I was interested to read in the obituary about HH's belief that "poetry becomes people" - that idea was at the heart of a book I've been reading.

warning: slight thread drift, but I hope folk on this thread may be interested.

I've been enjoying Fiona Mackenzie's book "Places of Possibility" about community estate buyouts (particularly North Harris), and the far-reaching implications of these. Mackenzie uses many examples of gaelic poetry and song culture; she is interested in their role in constructing understandings of the land, nature, and duthchas (gaelic concept of inherited and evolving right to the land) - which nourished and supported the movement to reclaim land from individual ownership. fascinating stuff - and the cultural references are such a welcome addition.

In reply to inboard:

Will look that up, thank you.

Just the other day I ordered Jim Hunter's 'From the Low Tide of the Sea to the Highest Mountain Top', which also deals with community buy-outs. Looking forward to reading it - his book 'The Making of the Crofting Community' is probably the best book on Scottish history that I've ever read.

In reply to Douglas Griffin:
I've dipped in and out of Tide/ Mountain, and greatly enjoyed it - look forward to hearing what you make of it. But I'd not encountered his crofting community book - will look that up, thanks