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George Mackay Brown
George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century.
George Mackay Brown was born on 17 October 1921, the youngest of six children. His parents were John Brown, a tailor and postman, and Mhairi Mackay, a descendant of Clan Mackay who had been brought up in Braal, a hamlet near Strathy, Sutherland, as a native speaker of the Reay Country dialect of Scottish Gaelic.
Except for periods as a mature student in mainland Scotland, Brown lived all his life in the town of Stromness on Mainland, Orkney. One of his Stromness neighbours was his friend the artist Sylvia Wishart. Because of illness, his father was restricted in his work and he received no pension. The family had a history of depression and Brown's uncle, Jimmy Brown, may have died by suicide: his body was found in Stromness harbour in 1935. George Mackay Brown's youth was spent in poverty. During that period he contracted tuberculosis.
Brown's illness kept him from entering the army at the start of the Second World War and affected him so badly he could not live a normal working life. However, this gave him time and space in which to write. He started work in 1944 with The Orkney Herald, writing on Stromness news, and soon became a prolific journalist. He was encouraged in writing poetry by Francis Scarfe, who was billeted in the Browns' house for over a year from April 1944. After that he was helped in developing as a writer by Ernest Marwick, whose criticism he valued, and by Robert Rendall.
Brown's weekly "Island Diary" appeared in the Herald between 1945 and 1956. He used the pen name "Islandman" for the column. He was sometimes portrayed by "Spike" (Bob Johnston), the paper's cartoonist, wearing a prominent scarf in the regular Spotlight comic strip. The loss of the scarf on a trip to Shetland was described in 1951. The "now almost legendary scarf" was returned and put on display in a Stromness shop window. Jo Grimond, the local MP, said "the scarf should be retained as permanent inter-county trophy," but Brown complained that "they hadn't even washed it". Spike described it as "the scarf that launched 1,000 quips".
In 1947, Stromness voted to allow pubs to open again, the town having been "dry" since the 1920s. When the first bar opened in 1948, Mackay Brown first tasted alcohol. He found alcoholic drinks "a revelation; they flushed my veins with happiness; they washed away all cares and shyness and worries. I remember thinking to myself 'If I could have two pints of beer every afternoon, life would be a great happiness'". Alcohol played a considerable part in his life, but he says, "I never became an alcoholic, mainly because my guts quickly stalled."
Brown was a mature student at Newbattle Abbey College in the 1951–1952 session, where the poet Edwin Muir, who had a great influence on his life as a writer, was warden. His return for the following session was interrupted by recurrent tuberculosis.
Having had poems published in several periodicals, his first volume of them, The Storm, appeared with the Orkney Press in 1954. Muir wrote in the foreword: "Grace is what I find in these poems.". Only three hundred copies were printed, and the imprint sold out within a fortnight. It was acclaimed in the local press.
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George Mackay Brown
George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century.
George Mackay Brown was born on 17 October 1921, the youngest of six children. His parents were John Brown, a tailor and postman, and Mhairi Mackay, a descendant of Clan Mackay who had been brought up in Braal, a hamlet near Strathy, Sutherland, as a native speaker of the Reay Country dialect of Scottish Gaelic.
Except for periods as a mature student in mainland Scotland, Brown lived all his life in the town of Stromness on Mainland, Orkney. One of his Stromness neighbours was his friend the artist Sylvia Wishart. Because of illness, his father was restricted in his work and he received no pension. The family had a history of depression and Brown's uncle, Jimmy Brown, may have died by suicide: his body was found in Stromness harbour in 1935. George Mackay Brown's youth was spent in poverty. During that period he contracted tuberculosis.
Brown's illness kept him from entering the army at the start of the Second World War and affected him so badly he could not live a normal working life. However, this gave him time and space in which to write. He started work in 1944 with The Orkney Herald, writing on Stromness news, and soon became a prolific journalist. He was encouraged in writing poetry by Francis Scarfe, who was billeted in the Browns' house for over a year from April 1944. After that he was helped in developing as a writer by Ernest Marwick, whose criticism he valued, and by Robert Rendall.
Brown's weekly "Island Diary" appeared in the Herald between 1945 and 1956. He used the pen name "Islandman" for the column. He was sometimes portrayed by "Spike" (Bob Johnston), the paper's cartoonist, wearing a prominent scarf in the regular Spotlight comic strip. The loss of the scarf on a trip to Shetland was described in 1951. The "now almost legendary scarf" was returned and put on display in a Stromness shop window. Jo Grimond, the local MP, said "the scarf should be retained as permanent inter-county trophy," but Brown complained that "they hadn't even washed it". Spike described it as "the scarf that launched 1,000 quips".
In 1947, Stromness voted to allow pubs to open again, the town having been "dry" since the 1920s. When the first bar opened in 1948, Mackay Brown first tasted alcohol. He found alcoholic drinks "a revelation; they flushed my veins with happiness; they washed away all cares and shyness and worries. I remember thinking to myself 'If I could have two pints of beer every afternoon, life would be a great happiness'". Alcohol played a considerable part in his life, but he says, "I never became an alcoholic, mainly because my guts quickly stalled."
Brown was a mature student at Newbattle Abbey College in the 1951–1952 session, where the poet Edwin Muir, who had a great influence on his life as a writer, was warden. His return for the following session was interrupted by recurrent tuberculosis.
Having had poems published in several periodicals, his first volume of them, The Storm, appeared with the Orkney Press in 1954. Muir wrote in the foreword: "Grace is what I find in these poems.". Only three hundred copies were printed, and the imprint sold out within a fortnight. It was acclaimed in the local press.