George Smith Morris, The Buchan Chiel, was born in Aberdeen in 1876 and died in 1958. He is best known as a singer and writer of Doric comic songs. His father was a farrier with his own business and in due time George too became a blacksmith. In 1912 he married Agnes Kemp, the sister of Willie Kemp, the King of the Cornkisters, and moved to Oldmeldrum in 1919 where the Kemp family ran a hotel business.
During his time in Oldmeldrum he started performing and writing. By 1930 he came to the attention of the Beltona record label and during the following decade he recorded more than 40 pieces, either bothy ballads or cornkisters, for them, some of which he composed himself or in collaboration with Willie Kemp.
His best-known composition, still popular in Northeast Scotland today, was A Pair o Nicky-tams but he wrote many others, the most notable of which were The Buchan Bobby, Aikey Brae and A New Lum Hat.
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989. He was the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee in the 1996 election, as the running mate of Bob Dole; they lost to incumbent president Bill Clinton and vice president Al Gore. Kemp had previously contended for the presidential nomination in the 1988 Republican primaries.
Doric, the popular name for Mid Northern Scots or Northeast Scots, refers to the Scots language as spoken in the northeast of Scotland. There is an extensive body of literature, mostly poetry, ballads, and songs, written in Doric. In some literary works, Doric is used as the language of conversation while the rest of the work is in Lallans Scots or British English. A number of 20th and 21st century poets have written poetry in the Doric dialect.
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
Martin McLean Buchan is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Born in Aberdeen, he played for Aberdeen, Manchester United and Oldham Athletic. He also played in 34 international matches for Scotland between 1971 and 1978 including at two World Cups. Buchan later managed Burnley.
Clan Farquharson is a Highland Scottish clan based at Invercauld and Braemar, Aberdeenshire, and is a member of the Chattan Confederation.
Charles Murray Buchan was an English footballer, sporting journalist and commentator.
Oldmeldrum is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a population of around 2,187, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of population. Oldmeldrum is home to one of the oldest whisky distilleries in Scotland, Glen Garioch, which was built in 1797. Local industries are agriculture and engineering services connected to the oil industry in Aberdeen.
Formartine is a committee area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This district extends north from the River Don to the River Ythan. It has a population of 36,478.
Back in Line is the twelfth studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. The album was released in 1986, after a hiatus of almost 6 years. It is their first album without founding member Tim Hart, who quit the music business entirely. It is also the last album they recorded with Maddy Prior's husband, Rick Kemp, until They Called Her Babylon; Kemp suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to stop playing for a long time.
Banff is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron. It is a former royal burgh, and is the county town of the historic county of Banffshire.
The Battle of Inverurie, also known as the Battle of Barra, was fought in the north-east of Scotland and was a victory for the Scottish king Robert Bruce over his chief domestic enemy, John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan. Though part of the wider Wars of Scottish Independence, it is more properly viewed as an episode in a brief but bitter civil war. It was followed by the Harrying of Buchan, a violent act of destruction of property long remembered with bitterness in Buchan. The battle was fought in May 1308 according to Fordun. However, Barbour states clearly that it was fought at Christmas of 1307. Many current historians accept Fordun's date, but Barron and some others believe that Bower misinterpreted Fordun's notes. The battlefield was added to the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland in 2011.
A cornkister is a Doric song, generally a comic song, written during the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, in the tradition of the bothy ballads. The name refers to the cornkist used to measure oats sufficient to feed a plough horse on the farms of Northeast Scotland at that time. The reason for the association was that it was assumed that the singers—or one of the listeners—sat on top of the cornkist while singing and kicked their heels against it in time to the music. Nowadays most cornkisters are known via recordings made by entertainers of the 1920s and 1930s such as Willie Kemp, G. S. Morris or by later imitators such as Andy Stewart.
Willie Kemp, King of the Cornkisters is best known as a singer and writer of Doric comic songs. His family owned a hotel in Oldmeldrum, formerly Kemp's hotel, now Morris's and at an early age Kemp started performing at the hotel.
Robert Horne Shepherd MBE is a former Scottish broadcaster and author who is known for presenting shows on BBC Radio Scotland and for writing a column in Doric for Aberdeen's Press and Journal newspaper.
William Ralston Murray Buchan was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He played for Celtic, Blackpool, Hull City, Gateshead, Coleraine and East Stirlingshire.
Glen Garioch distillery is one of the oldest whisky distilleries in Scotland, dating back to 1797.
The 1946–47 season was Blackpool F.C.'s 39th season in the Football League. They competed in the 22-team Division One, then the top tier of English football, finishing fifth.
William Copeland Ferguson was a Scottish footballer and manager best known for his time at Chelsea and Dumfries side Queen of the South. His position was usually as a left winger.
The Pitfour Estate, in the Buchan area of North-East Scotland, was an ancient barony encompassing most of the extensive Longside Parish, stretching from St Fergus to New Pitsligo. It was purchased in 1700 by James Ferguson of Badifurrow, who became the first Laird of Pitfour.
John Malcolm Bulloch (1867–1938) was a Scottish journalist and magazine editor, known also as a genealogist, and a literary and theatre critic.
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