Cool Scots by Greg Moodie sampler
What do Kenny Dalglish and Robert Louis Stevenson have in common? Or Annie Lennox and Mary Barbour? Or Joseph Knight and Sean Connery? They are but a few examples of the Scots that have shaped the cool nation we see today. In this whacky toon-fest of character sketches, Greg Moodie presents 42 key figures in Scotland’s rich and varied history. Spanning the living and the dead, the portraits range from potentially paranoid politicians and health-and-safety-loving Formula One drivers to Jacobite heroines and promiscuous poets. Basically, you get the best of the best. Accompanying each brief biography – peppered with quirky anecdotes, hilarious quips and mostly accurate facts – is a psychedelic portrait that blends past and present. Ever seen Muriel Spark sport a studded choker or James Clerk Maxwell boast two sleeves of tattoos? You will now. For once including those cool Scottish women so often ignored in history books, Moodie presents his collection ‘in an order deliberately designed to jolt your little minds out of their preconceived ideas of time’. You’ll leap between modern day musicians and 18th century science writers at the turn of each delightfully glossy page. Lavishly illustrated throughout, Moodie celebrates Scotland’s achievements, revels in its victories and occasionally blends fact and fiction.
What do Kenny Dalglish and Robert Louis Stevenson have in common? Or Annie Lennox and Mary Barbour? Or Joseph Knight and Sean Connery? They are but a few examples of the Scots that have shaped the cool nation we see today.
In this whacky toon-fest of character sketches, Greg Moodie presents 42 key figures in Scotland’s rich and varied history. Spanning the living and the dead, the portraits range from potentially paranoid politicians and health-and-safety-loving Formula One drivers to Jacobite heroines and promiscuous poets. Basically, you get the best of the best.
Accompanying each brief biography – peppered with quirky anecdotes, hilarious quips and mostly accurate facts – is a psychedelic portrait that blends past and present. Ever seen Muriel Spark sport a studded choker or James Clerk Maxwell boast two sleeves of tattoos? You will now.
For once including those cool Scottish women so often ignored in history books, Moodie presents his collection ‘in an order deliberately designed to jolt your little minds out of their preconceived ideas of time’. You’ll leap between modern day musicians and 18th century science writers at the turn of each delightfully glossy page.
Lavishly illustrated throughout, Moodie celebrates Scotland’s achievements, revels in its victories and occasionally blends fact and fiction.
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INTRODUCTION<br />
There is an old Scottish saying: Some are born cool, some achieve<br />
coolness, and some have coolness thrust upon them. At least I think it’s<br />
Scottish. It doesn’t matter. The point is, there is no shortage of cool in<br />
Scotland, and narrowing it down to 42 exemplary individuals has taken a great<br />
deal of graft and some heated debate at the Torphichen Inn. Best buckle up.<br />
In 2016, I produced a series of murals at said hostelry (they didn’t ask me to,<br />
I did it when they weren’t looking), based on the Robert Burns poem, ‘Tam O’<br />
Shanter’. With six panels complete and no idea what to do with the seventh, longsuffering<br />
landlord Mr Kenny spotted my handiwork and suggested a portrait of<br />
the artist. I was flattered that he would welcome my permanent presence on the<br />
tavern wall as well as my permanent presence at the bar. He said he meant Burns,<br />
and declared loudly to the Torphy throng that I was a dullard of the highest<br />
standing. I was touched.<br />
I agreed to do his bidding, and believe he was expecting tartan, heather, and<br />
all the other things you only ever see on the Royal Mile. But the following week,<br />
when I revealed my psychedelic Beano-wielding Burns, I nevertheless sensed<br />
that he was pleased. At least after the initial fainting and hysteria.<br />
Several days passed and a recuperating Mr Kenny had received feedback from<br />
The Village People, the bleary-eyed residents of the Torphichen Free Republic.<br />
‘They say it’s ‘cool’,’ he offered hesitantly. ‘What does that mean?’<br />
‘It means it’s a work of unparalleled splendour,’ I replied. ‘You’re very<br />
lucky to have made the boozy acquaintance of the genius behind it.’ He seemed<br />
confused, but that’s a default state in this part of the world.<br />
It got me thinking. If a single <strong>Cool</strong> Scot could cause a stocky bald man to lose<br />
consciousness, imagine the impact of a series. I set about compiling a list, trying<br />
to limit the number of beards and old blokes who appear on teatowels. That’s<br />
when it struck me. <strong>Scots</strong> may have invented the entire world, even discovered<br />
parts of space, but according to the history books, they were all guys.
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