Alexander BAIN (1810-1877) was born near Watten, Caithness and became a prolific electrical inventor. In his native county he was long claimed as the major pioneer of electric horology but in recent years more attention has been paid to his pioneering facsimile machine, invented in 1843. Click on thumbnail of memorial for detail of inscription - his facsimile machine was called 'Electric Printing-Telegraph'

James BOSWELL (1740-95). Scotch advocate, bon vivant, lecher, and author of the world's most famous biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. In 1773 he made a journey to the Western Isles of Scotland in the company of Samuel Johnson - see below. (Advocate is roughly the equivalent in Scots law to a barrister in English Law.) Skye and Monarch tours.

Andrew CARNEGIE (1835-1919) was a Scottish-born American plutocrat. It is popular nowadays to dismiss all Victorian industrialists as 'robber-barons' but Carnegie had many good qualities even if he didn't smell like a rose all the time. From libraries in little towns in Scotland to Carnegie Hall in Manhattan many people benefitted from his largesse. On his retirement he bought Skibo Esate in east Sutherland, which we pass on our John o'Groats and Castle of Mey tours - the linked website is of Skibo Castle - invitation only! - where a number of celebrities, including Guy Ritchie and Madonna, have got married in the last few years.

John Rodes COBB (1899-1952). Broke the world land speed record in 1947 in the Railton Mobil Special (nearly 400mph) and died on Loch Ness in September 1952 having become the fastest man on water in his boat, Crusader (> 200mph). His memorial cairn by Loch Ness (right, with the loch behind) salutes this 'gallant gentleman'. Another site on Cobb has a lengthy article which is rather wild in places - it has Loch Ness as >1,000' deep. Click on thumbnail for a page including a close-up of the plaque

Aleister CROWLEY (1875-1947), originally Edward Alexander Crowley. English writer, mountaineer, and practiser of ‘magick' [sic]. Liked to be known as ‘The Beast' and ‘The Wickedest Man Alive'. Lived at Boleskine House on the east side of Loch Ness early in the 20th century, where he dabbled in the occult. Some contemporary pop musicians claim they owe him a debt; his face is one of the many on the iconic sleeve of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album, and Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin) owned Boleskine in the 1970s. Monarch

William Augustus Hanover, Duke of CUMBERLAND (1721-65), younger brother of George III, was a soldier involved in three major military campaigns. Culloden and his subsequent pacification of the Highlands were his only successes, his battles on the Continent before and after Culloden ending in failure, and, indeed, dismissal. So it's a bit sad for D of C that his only 'success' is now remembered with opprobrium. Cawdor/Clava/Culloden

Jefferson DAVIS (1808-89), president of the Confederate States during the US Civil War (1861-65), was imprisoned for two years after his defeat. After his release on bail he came to Torlundy Castle, which we pass close to on our Skye & the Great Glen trip.

John George DIEFENBAKER (1895-1979) was prime minister of Canada 1957-63. One of his great-grandfathers - George Bannerman - left east Sutherland in the 1810s and we pass some miles from this spot on our John o'Groats and Castle of Mey tours. On a visit to Scotland in 1968 Diefenbaker unveiled a plaque to Bannerman and his fellow-emigrants - some of the Selkirk Settlers - on the same day as he unveiled a memorial to Sir John A Macdonald. The picture shows Kildonan Kirk which bears the commemorative plaque - click on this image for a close-up of the plaque, which is on the far end of the church

Peter FRASER (1884-1950) was prime minister of New Zealand in the 1940s and a staunch but independent-minded supporter of Britain in WWII. He was also an influential member of the 1945 San Francisco conference which founded the UN. Fraser was born in the cottage to the left in Fearn, Easter Ross - we pass near this village on our John o'Groats and Castle of Mey trips. His memorial plaque is just above the gable window - click on thumbnail for a close-up of the plaque.

Neil (Miller) GUNN (1891-1973); novelist and - like another Scottish writer, Robert Burns - exciseman. Gunn's home village of Dunbeath - his birth-house is to the right - featured in two of his most popular novels, Highland River and The Silver Darlings, and we pass through Dunbeath on our John o'Groats, Castle of Mey and Orkney tours. Later in his life Gunn was influenced by Zen, and this is supposed to account for the opaqueness of The Green Isle of the Great Deep and The Well at the World's End.

Professor Sir Fred HOYLE (1915-2001). Astronomer, science-fiction writer, and holder of controversial theories about the origin of life, Fred Hoyle coined a phrase known by almost every literate person - "The Big Bang". There is a certain irony in this, since he was against this theory, and allegedly used the expression sarcastically.
In 1973 he co-authored The Inferno with his son Geoffery (b. 1942). This sci-fi novel has quite a lot of its action set in the Highlands and on our Skye & the Great Glen trip we pass many of the mountains where the hero goes hill-walking - apparently the Hoyles had, for long, a holiday home at Ratagan. While The Inferno is little talked about now, Hoyle père achieved fame in 1957 with the publication of The Black Cloud which has never been out of print. Recognised as one of the classics of sci-fi writing - The Guardian, a London newspaper, listed it in 2004 in its "Top 10" sci-fi novels of "...all time..." - TBC can be enjoyed even by those who normally shun this genre.

Dr Samuel JOHNSON (1709-84). English man of letters. Produced the first comprehensive English dictionary (1755) and famed for his many pithy sayings, eg:
"A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other".
Johnson travelled with Boswell (above) to the Western Isles in 1773. Both men wrote accounts of their journey. These accounts are important social-history documents of the Highlands in the period following Culloden. Skye and Monarch tours.

James Robertson JUSTICE (1905-75) was a larger-than-life character who was best-known as an actor in light movies but pursued many other professions. He is known to almost everyone in Britain but not famous elsewhere, though one of his films was popular in North America where it was known as Tight Little Island - Justice played the doctor in this Ealing Comedy, also known as Whisky Galore. The suggested website says he was Lord Rector of Edinburgh University in 1957, he was also Rector for a 2nd term in 1968. We get good views of Justice's favourite house on our Assynt and on some of our John o'Groats tours.

Flora MacDONALD (1722-90) is, rightly, the most celebrated of Highland heroines. Disguising Prince Charles Edward Stuart as her lady's maid, they escaped (in 1746) under the noses of the Hanoverian troops from South Uist in the Outer Hebrides to Skye. Click on the thumbnail for a close-up of the statue of Flora in front of Inverness Castle.

Sir John Alexander MACDONALD (1815-91) was the first Prime Minister of the Federal Dominion of Canada (1867). Macdonald was born in Glasgow, and left there as a boy; but all his grandparents came from East Sutherland and that county claims him as their own. Our John o'Groats and Castle of Mey tours pass some miles from his memorial cairn (right), near Rogart. The photo gives a general view of the memorial cairn and plaques to Sir John unveiled on 13 July 1968 by another Canadian Prime Minister with Sutherland connections, John G Diefenbaker - click on this thumbnail for a close-up of a (not very informative) plaque.

Rob Roy MacGREGOR of Craigrostan (1671-1734): Jacobite, swordsman, cattle-drover, and rustler. He is known to the world as Rob Roy - the latter word referring to his red hair - and is the best-known of (male) Highland folk-heroes, or rogues, depending on your point of view. Sir Walter Scott's novel, Rob Roy, was based very loosely on Rob's life. Depending on your interpretation of history, Rob Roy was an incorrigible cattle-thief; or was pushed to outlawry by the actions of the Marquis of Montrose. W H Murray's biography states that Rob fought three times for the Jacobite cause: at Killiecrankie in 1689 - when he would have been just 18 - at Sheriffmuir in 1715; and at the Battle of Glen Shiel, when he would have been 48, an unusually advanced age for a fighting man. The film starring Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange is fun but mostly nonsense.

Roderick MACKENZIE (d. 1746) was a Jacobite slain in Glen Moriston after the Battle of Culloden. The Hanoverian troops who killed him may have believed they had 'got' Prince Charles Edward Stuart. We pass his memorial cairn and grave on our Skye & the Great Glen trips - there is a link to another site about Mackenzie on that page.

James MACPHERSON (1736-96) occupies a strange place in Scottish literary history. In 1765 he published a book of poetry attributed to Ossian, a legendary Gaelic bard. This took Europe by storm, admirers on the Continent including Napoleon and Goethe - reference is in para 6 of this link. Others, such as David Hume and Dr Johnson, questioned the authenticity of the poems. We pass the fine house built by Macpherson on our Monarch tour.
Apart from the literary controversy, or scandal, James Macpherson was an important literary figure in his own right.

Sir Alexander Matheson was a member of the Jardine-Matheson families which did so much to develop Hong Kong in the 19th century.

Gavin MAXWELL (1914-1969). Scottish soldier, naturalist, and writer. He lived for a time at ‘Camusfearna', fictional name for Sandaig, and achieved wide fame with Ring of Bright Water (1960), an account of his life with otters there. It would be difficult to better express, in a few words, the summary of the latter part of his life as it is given in The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English: Ring "...struck a note of innocence and joy which Maxwell failed to recover in the bitter sequels The Rocks Remain and Raven, Seek thy Brother, as he was increasingly overtaken by personal and financial insecurities...".

Our Skye & the Great Glen tour passes many of the locales associated with Maxwell. Our photo shows the Skye Bridge; just below the bridge is a white house - the old lighthouse keepers' station - which was Maxwell's last home.

Born in Wick, actress Aline MOWAT starred in a Taggart some years ago (Bloodlines - 1998); has appeared from time to time as Jackie Walker in Holby City (never seen it); had a cameo appearance as Sister Nessie MacLean in an Inspector Morse (The Wench is Dead); and appears regularly on TV commercials in Scotland for 'Scottish Blend' tea. She appeared in the last episode of the 2001/02 series of Monarch of the Glen as Pamela McAlpine, Lexie's domineering mother. John o'Groats and Castle of Mey tours.

One of Scotland's greatest sons, Robert Louis STEVENSON (1850-94) came from a distinguished family of civil engineers who erected many of the lighthouses in Britain. RLS worked for some time in the family business, supervising harbour works at Wick, where he witnessed a ferocious storm; it is said this experience accounts for the vividness of the tempests in his writings. Shortly after this he abandoned engineering for writing. Another site, with Alanna Knight considering him as a crime writer. John o'Groats and Castle of Mey tours.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-96) published the enormously influential if now unfairly mocked Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. During one of her subsequent tours of Europe she stayed at Dunrobin Castle - which we pass on our John o'Groats and Castle of Mey tours - as a guest of the Earl (later Duke) of Sutherland, George Granville Leveson-Gower (1758-1833), and his wife Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland (1767-1839). Sensitive to the sufferings of slaves in the New World, she seemed unaware of the difficulties of the peasants in the Old and wrote in defence of the Sutherlands.
Gordon Douglas Duffus has a website about Clan Sutherland which includes a brief reference to Mrs Stowe's visit to Dunrobin - the mention is quite near the end of the (longish) page.

Thomas TELFORD (1757-1834) was a distinguished civil engineer from the south of Scotland who did much work in the Highlands where his most conspicuous structure is the Caledonian Canal. Works furth of Scotland include the the Gotha Canal in Sweden and in Wales where his achievements are particularly conspicuous, including the Menai Straits suspension bridge to Angelsey and the spectacular Pontcysyllte and Chirk viaducts carrying canal boats high above valleys without the need for scores of locks.
We don't make a link to any particular tour since Telford's work is so widespread in the Highlands.