John McGrath (1935 – 2002) was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire. After education in Wales, national service and Oxford University, he wrote and directed for theatre and television, as well as writing for cinema. Early work included ZCars for BBC-TV (1962), Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun (1966) and the screenplay for Billion Dollar Brain (1967). In 1971, together with Elizabeth MacLennan, he co-founded the 7:84 Theatre Company, which divided into Scottish and English companies in 1973 with McGrath remaining as Artistic Director of both. During his career McGrath wrote over seventy plays, including Fish in the Sea (1972), The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (1973), Blood Red Roses (1980), Border Warfare (1989), Watching for Dolphins (1992) and, most recently, HyperLynx (2001). He was twice Visiting Fellow in Theatre at Cambridge University. His previous books include A Good Night Out (1981), The Bone Won’t Break (1990), Six-Pack: Plays for Scotland (1996), and Naked Thoughts that Roam About (2002) and Plays For England (2005). McGrath founded Freeway Films in 1982, for which he produced, amongst others, The Dressmaker (1985), Carrington (1995), Ma Vie en Rose (1997) and Aberdeen (2002). He also founded Moonstone International Screen Labs to support and promote independent European film making. He received Lifetime Achieve ment Awards from both BAFTA (in 1993) and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (in 1997), as well as Honorary Doctorates from the University of Stirling and the University of London.
Sir David Lyndsay (1486 – 1555) at the age of 25 served at the cosmopolitan court of James IV, a great patron of the arts and sciences. When the King was killed at Flodden Field in 1513, Lyndsay became gentleman-usher to the infant James V and held the position for 10 years. He briefly fell out of favour and then returned to higher appointments including Lyon King of Arms, the highest heraldic office in Scotland. Lyndsay was also a poet, considered by some to be a forerunner to Burns, for although at the centre of the establishment he never lost touch with the concerns of the common people. His greatest work was Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites.
