Scots We Ken

About the Book: 

Natives know them. Visitors soon get to know them. Some, like the Golf Club Captain, the Last Publican and the Nippy Sweetie, are endangered species; others, like the Whisky Bore and the Munrobagger, are enduring figures on the Scottish landscape.

Every generation produces its own variations on the Scottish character and it doesn't take long for the newcomers to become familiar social types like the MSP, the Yooni Yah, the Rural Commuter and the Celebrity Chieftain. Most Scots, if they're honest, will recognise a little bit of themselves in one or other of these mischievous and frighteningly accurate portraits.

Julie Davidson's wickedly observed profiles are complemented by Bob Dewar's witty drawings in this roguish gallery of 'Scots We Ken'.

Reviews:

The Scots Julie Davidson kens is a triumph of canny Scots-watching. Here for the first time is the famous Davidson wry take on the foibles and pretensions of the sub-species Scotus Domesticus won from years of anthropological field work and now distilled into sharp witty draughts complemented by Bob Dewar's incisively drawn portraits. MURRAY GRIGOR, Film-maker.

About the author:

JULIE DAVIDSON has had a long, varied and award-winning career in Scottish and UK journalism. She was a staff writer and columnist on The Scotsman, a columnist and critic on The Herald, for whom she won five Scottish Press Awards. She has also contributed to leading London-based newspapers and magazines including The Times, TheObserver, The Daily Telegraph, Cosmopolitan and House and Garden, and was a presenter of What the Papers Say during the golden years of Granada Television.In the past 10 years she has concentrated mainly on travel writing (for which she has also won Scottish and UK awards) and was a major contributor to the Insight guides on Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

BOB DEWAR was born in Edinburgh at an early age. 16 years later he was published nationally. He worked in D.C. Thomson’s studio where, among other things, he ghosted Dennis the Menace. After going freelance, he did political and social commentary for The Scotsman newspaper. He has illustrated books for the children’s and English Speaking Departments of Oxford University Press, Fife Educational Social Development, A&C Black and many Scottish publishers – Birlinn, Luath, Black & White and Itchy Coo. His work has also appeared in The Times, The Herald, Scottish Field and The Scotch Malt Whisky Society.