Finlay J. MacDonald
Finlay John Macdonald (Scottish Gaelic: Fionnlagh Iain MacDhòmhnaill; 4 July 1925 – 14 October 1987) was a Scottish journalist and radio and television producer and writer.
Career
Born and raised on Harris in the Outer Hebrides, MacDonald was a native Gaelic language speaker and an important figure in Gaelic broadcasting in Scotland. He founded the Gaelic Drama Association and co-founded the quarterly Gaelic language magazine Gairm in 1951 with Derick Thomson. MacDonald served as Gairm's chief editor until 1964.[1]
MacDonald was a radio and television producer. His production for radio of Sydney Goodsir Smith's play, The Wallace, was broadcast on 30 November 1959.[2]
MacDonald edited A Journey to the Western Isles (1983), in which he retraced the 1773 tour of Scotland by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. The book provided the text of Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland along with MacDonald's commentary and photographs.
Memoirs
He wrote three books of memoirs that recall his childhood on Harris:
- Crowdie and Cream (1982)
- Crotal and White (1983)
- The Corncrake and the Lysander (1985).[1]
These have been cited as providing valuable insights into life in the Outer Hebrides in the interwar period.[3]
References
- ^ a b "Finlay J. McDonald". Ambaile. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ^ McLellan, Robert, Review of The Wallace, in Thomson, David Cleghorn (ed.), Saltire Review, Vol. 6, No. 22, Autumn 1960, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 75 - 77
- ^ Cooke, Anthony; Donnachie, Ian (1998). Modern Scottish History, 1707 to the Present: Major documents. Tuckwell Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-86232-088-8.