More on Makars' Court - Edinburgh Museums

Robert Garioch (1909 - 1981)
Robert Garioch Sutherland was born in Edinburgh on 9 May 1909
and, like so many other writers, was educated at the Royal High
School and Edinburgh University. For most of his life, Garioch was a
reluctant schoolmaster. He translated a number of works into Scots
from Latin, French, Greek and Italian. A kindred spirit to Robert
Fergusson, Garioch was a shrewd and irreverent observer of the life
of Edinburgh, on which he commented in a "coorse and grittie"
Scots. His Embro to the Ploy is a comprehensive account of one of
the early Edinburgh Festivals:
They toddle hame doun lit-up streets
filled wi synthetic joy;
aweill the year brings few sic treats
and muckle to annoy.
There’s monie haelsom braw high-jinks
mixed up in this allay
in simmer, whan aa sorts foregether
in Embro to the ploy.
Nigel Tranter (1909 - 2000)
Novelist and historian, Nigel Tranter was born on 23 November
1909 in Glasgow and was educated in Edinburgh. After training as
an accountant he became a full-time writer in 1936, becoming one
of Scotland’s most prolific writers with over 140 books to his credit.
He was best-known for his historical novels but also wrote about
Scottish architecture and championed many public and political
causes. He was a past-President of the Scottish Centre of
International PEN. He died on 9 January 2000.
You intend to bide here?
To be sure. Can you think of anywhere better?
[from Columba (1987), chapter 6]
Sponsored by his daughter, Mrs Frances May Baker, 2005.