The Man Who Gave Away His Island

Who Can Tell His Place of Dying?

Ray — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 16:06:12 +0000

S coma uair no a`it’ ar n-eug dhuinn ’S greadhnachas gun fheum ar to`rraidh* Few of us like to contemplate our own deaths and the first thing anyone noticed about Donald MacInnes was how full of life he was. It was impossible to be down in his company. But if he had been able […]

The post Who Can Tell His Place of Dying? first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

In memory of Magda Sagarzazu

Ray — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 12:36:20 +0000

Without Magda Sagarzazu, who has died after a long fight against cancer, I would not have become an author. At Christmas 2006, ten years after the death of John Lorne Campbell, I scrawled a note on a card to Charles Fraser, who had been John’s lawyer, executor and friend: ‘who is writing John’s biography?’ My […]

The post In memory of Magda Sagarzazu first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

Join the Sea League

Ray — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 15:44:59 +0000

Change can be painfully slow. A new conservation campaign, the Our Seas Coalition, is calling for trawlers to be banned from fishing within three miles of Scotland’s shoreline. Almost 90 years ago John Lorne Campbell was campaigning for sustainable fishery in Scottish waters. Decades ahead of his time, John – the man who gave his island […]

The post Join the Sea League first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

A Rum do: the butterfly that never was

Ray — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 20:54:45 +0000

Previously extinct, the Large Blue butterfly has enjoyed its best summer for many years. A report in The Guardian stirs a memory of a much earlier sighting of the rare Maculinea arion in the unlikely setting of the Hebrides, which John Lorne Campbell diligently exposed as a fraud. As told in The Man Who Gave Away His Island, John Lorne Campbell’s […]

The post A Rum do: the butterfly that never was first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

John Lorne Campbell’s last journey home

Ray — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 10:35:01 +0000

Another stormy summer solstice stirs memories. Nine years ago John Lorne Campbell’s body was returned to the Island of Canna for burial in the woodland he had planted near Canna House. That much was planned well in advance but like many island stories it had taken unexpected twists and turns on a long journey home from Italy. […]

The post John Lorne Campbell’s last journey home first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

Muck: an island community enterprise

Ray — Mon, 04 May 2015 20:58:34 +0000

I have been passing Muck on the ferry for more than 30 years, but never managed to set foot on it until recently. It is such a lovely island and such a vibrant community, I wish I had landed years ago. Muck is half the size of Canna, but has managed to maintain its population […]

The post Muck: an island community enterprise first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

A matter of trust: the enduring history of Canna

Ray — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 22:54:20 +0000

How delighted John Lorne Campbell would have been to find – nearly 20 years after his death and more than 30 after first publication – that his book Canna, The Story of a Hebridean Island, is still in print. The volume is now in its fifth edition, thanks to the tireless work of his editor, […]

The post A matter of trust: the enduring history of Canna first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

Margaret Fay Shaw: a life and life’s work worth celebrating

Ray — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:21:15 +0000

This year brings the tenth anniversary of the death of Margaret Fay Shaw, surely one of the most remarkable women of the 20th century, and a life – and a life’s work – worth celebrating. Born in Pittsburgh in 1903, Margaret came from a rich family, but her childhood was marred by the death of […]

The post Margaret Fay Shaw: a life and life’s work worth celebrating first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

A country built aslant: exploring Scotland’s fault line

Ray — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 13:35:32 +0000

I was born in Islington – a very different place in 1947 than it is now – but I had never been particularly proud of the fact until I heard Alistair Moffat at the Lennoxlove Book Festival, talking about his new book Britain’s Last Frontier, A Journey Along the Highland Line. The London borough, he […]

The post A country built aslant: exploring Scotland’s fault line first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.

Little Bird comes home

Ray — Sun, 15 Sep 2013 21:46:28 +0000

It was very fitting that A Little Bird Blown Off Course, the musical tribute to Margaret Fay Shaw devised and performed by Fiona Mackenzie, should have premiered on South Uist, the island where she started her work and her lifelong love of the Hebrides, and finished its first run on Canna, the island which was […]

The post Little Bird comes home first appeared on The Man Who Gave Away His Island.