Great Scot ! 58 : Duncan Macrae
Cornerstone No . 182 , page 19
Was he an actor or a comedian or a sailor or a friend of Dr . Finlay ( see below )? I ’ m sure you ’ ve seen him on the ‘ telly ’ – above all , he was a Great Scot ! Not to be confused with his namesake , the Scottish Rugby Union player , nor the celebrated supplier of Macrae Kipper Fillets ( ™ ) not even the subject of the previous Great Scot ( John Duncan Fergusson ), this John Duncan ( Macrae ) was born in Maryhill , Glasgow on August 20th 1905 , the fourth of six bairns , to Sergeant James Macrae of the ‘ Glasgie ’ police force . He studied at Allan Glen ’ s school and had aspirations to be an engineer , pursuing this discipline at Glasgow University , in 1923-1924 , where his studies came to nothing . So , what of Dr . Finlay in his wee TV practice in Tannochbrae and later Duncan ’ s frolics on the waters around Scotland in the series ? In – the original version shot in Callander – and in which one of his fellow thespians , for five episodes , was a certain Donald McKillop ( no relation ) – Duncan Macrae played the ‘ occasional ’ part of Albert Cogger ; not without notice for Cogger led to bogger – sorry , I mean bigger , things and to the career of this talented Scottish portrayer of characters . It was in TV ’ s popular that we see Mr . Macrae in a ‘ serious ’ role , that of the ‘ Miser ’ in Molière ’ s no insinuation intended – and at the Mermaid Theatre ( London ), still with Molière , in
. As for – och , a ken ye know where am ’ a goin – aboard a Clyde ‘ Puffer ’ – it ’ s a boat ( and also a brand of bottled stout brewed on Arran ). This comedy series , aboard one of those modest steamships that plied Scotland ’ s greatest river , ran from 1959 ( with Macrae in the title role for that first series ) to 1995 . In 1961 , Duncan Mac . played in another title role – that of
( a ‘ gauger ’ being an excise man responsible for overseeing strengths and tariffs in the whisky trade ). He was also Ebenezer Balfour in the TV series of in 1963 and 1964 .
‘ Hogmanay ’ ( New Year ’ s Eve ) is held dear to the hearts of many a Scot and in the 1950s and 1960s Duncan Macrae took centre stage in those hearts with his polished performance , in song ( and in Scots dialect ), of