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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That’s right slackers, the story of <strong>Cool</strong> <strong>Scots</strong> is the story of men doing great<br />
things and being applauded, and women doing great things and being ignored.<br />
Or women being written out of history. Or women having to fight for things we<br />
now take for granted, like the right to vote or attend university. As I discovered,<br />
cool Scottish women in history are plentiful – you just probably don’t know most<br />
of them yet.<br />
‘Men, women, living, dead, <strong>Scots</strong> spanning the best part of a millennium,’ said<br />
my publisher, who, whilst a deviant of note, is mercifully clean-shaven. ‘How do<br />
you plan to present this discovery?’<br />
‘<strong>Cool</strong> is timeless,’ I replied. ‘I shall pluck each of my subjects out of history<br />
and depict them in the hipster style of my choosing.’ He looked at me askance<br />
and threw back his Absinthe.<br />
The longlist became a shortlist. The shortlist became a shorter list, and that<br />
became the gem that you’re currently reading over someone’s shoulder. Not a<br />
definitive cool grouping <strong>by</strong> any means, but one that <strong>Scots</strong> can be proud of, and<br />
presented here in an order deliberately designed to jolt your feeble brains out of<br />
their preconceived ideas of time.<br />
Celebrate the achievement. Marvel at the bravery. Shed a tear at the heartbreak<br />
and tragedy.<br />
Try not to faint.<br />
<strong>Greg</strong> <strong>Moodie</strong>, December 2017
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