100 Notable alumni of
University of St Andrews
Updated:
The University of St Andrews is 227th in the world, 79th in Europe, and 16th in the United Kingdom by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of St Andrews sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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William, Prince of Wales
- Enrolled in the University of St Andrews
- 2001-2005 graduated with Master of Arts in geography
- Occupations
- aristocratphilanthropisthelicopter pilotpolo playeraircraft pilot
- Biography
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William, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, PC, ADC, is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales.
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Catherine, Princess of Wales
- Enrolled in the University of St Andrews
- In 2005 graduated with Master of Arts in history of art
- Occupations
- businesspersonphilanthropistaristocratsocialite
- Biography
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Catherine, Princess of Wales,, is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne.
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas
- Occupations
- television actorfilm actoractorvoice actorchild actor
- Biography
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Randy Taylor on Home Improvement and voicing young Simba in Disney's 1994 animated feature film The Lion King and Pinocchio in New Line Cinema's 1996 film The Adventures of Pinocchio.
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Lady Louise Windsor
- Enrolled in the University of St Andrews
- Studied in 2022
- Occupations
- aristocratschoolchild
- Biography
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Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor is the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. She is the youngest granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, and is the youngest niece of King Charles III. Born 8th in line to the British throne, she is now 16th.
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Ian McDiarmid
- Occupations
- television actorfilm directorstage actortheatrical directorfilm actor
- Biography
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Ian McDiarmid is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen. Making his stage debut in Hamlet in 1972, McDiarmid joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, and has since starred in a number of Shakespeare's plays. He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor for Insignificance (1982) and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Faith Healer (2006).
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Jean-Paul Marat
- Occupations
- physicianjournalistpolitician
- Biography
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Jean-Paul Marat was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes, a radical voice, and published his views in pamphlets, placards and newspapers. His periodical L'Ami du peuple (Friend of the People) made him an unofficial link with the radical Jacobin group that came to power after June 1793.
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Edward Jenner
- Occupations
- naturalistbiologistphysician
- Biography
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Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae ('pustules of the cow'), the term devised by Jenner to denote cowpox. He used it in 1798 in the title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.
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Olivier Sarkozy
- Occupations
- bankerbusinessperson
- Biography
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Pierre Olivier Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa is a French banker based in the United States. His half-brother is Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France.
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John Knox
- Occupations
- Christian ministerwriterpoliticiantheologian
- Biography
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John Knox was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
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John Napier
- Occupations
- astronomerastrologerphysicistinventormathematician
- Biography
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John Napier of Merchiston, nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. His Latinized name was Ioannes Neper.
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Fiona Hill
- Enrolled in the University of St Andrews
- In 1989 graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- political scientist
- Biography
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Fiona Hill is a British-American foreign affairs specialist and author. She is a former official at the U.S. National Security Council, specializing in Russian and European affairs. She was a witness in the November 2019 House hearings regarding the impeachment inquiry during the first impeachment of Donald Trump. She earned a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University in 1998. She currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. She was installed as Chancellor of Durham University in June 2023.
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Alex Salmond
- Enrolled in the University of St Andrews
- Graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- economistpolitician
- Biography
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Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond is a Scottish politician, economist and television host, who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure in the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as Leader of the Alba Party since 2021. Salmond was leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. He served as the party's depute leader from 1987 to 1990. Salmond hosted The Alex Salmond Show (2017–2022) on RT UK. He currently hosts Scotland Speaks with Alex Salmond (2023–present).
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James II of Scotland
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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James II was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his father. The first Scottish monarch not to be crowned at Scone, James II's coronation took place at Holyrood Abbey in March 1437. After a reign characterised by struggles to maintain control of his kingdom, he was killed by an exploding cannon at Roxburgh Castle in 1460.
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Louise Minchin
- Occupations
- television presenterjournalistnews presenter
- Biography
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Louise Mary Minchin is a British television presenter, journalist and former news presenter who currently works freelance within the BBC.
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James A. Michener
- Occupations
- writerscreenwriterautobiographermilitary officerteacher
- Biography
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James Albert Michener was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history. Many of his works were bestsellers and were chosen by the Book of the Month Club; he was known for the meticulous research that went into his books.
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Alastair Reynolds
- Occupations
- science fiction writerastrophysicistwriter
- Biography
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Alastair Preston Reynolds is a Welsh science fiction author. He specialises in hard science fiction and space opera.
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Michael Fallon
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sir Michael Cathel Fallon is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2014 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks from 1997 to 2019, having previously served as MP for Darlington from 1983 to 1992.
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Philippe Cousteau Jr
- Occupations
- explorerconservationist
- Biography
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Philippe-Pierre Jacques-Yves Arnault Cousteau Jr. is an American oceanographer and environmental activist, the son of Philippe Cousteau and the grandson of Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau has continued the work of his father and grandfather by educating the public about environmental and conservation issues. In 2017, he received an Emmy nomination for hosting the syndicated science series Awesome Planet.
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Barry Gardiner
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Barry Strachan Gardiner is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent North since 1997. He is a member of the Labour Party.
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Russell Kirk
- Occupations
- writerhistorianscience fiction writernovelistjournalist
- Biography
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Russell Amos Kirk was an American political philosopher, moralist, historian, social critic, literary critic, and author, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book The Conservative Mind gave shape to the postwar conservative movement in the U.S. It traced the development of conservative thought in the Anglo-American tradition, giving special importance to the ideas of Edmund Burke. Kirk was considered the chief proponent of traditionalist conservatism. He was also an accomplished author of Gothic and ghost story fiction. He is often considered one of the most significant conservative men of letters of the twentieth century.
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Lily Nicksay
- Occupations
- television actoractor
- Biography
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Lily Nicksay is an American actress. She is known for originating the role of Morgan Matthews, Cory's little sister, in the first two seasons of Boy Meets World. She reprised the role for the season 3 finale of Girl Meets World.
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John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll
- Occupations
- politicianwriteraristocrat
- Biography
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John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman who was Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. He was the husband of Princess Louise, fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. He was the first president of "Rangers Football Club", thanks to his Argyll ties to the original founders of the football club.
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Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine,, often known as Lord Elgin, was a British nobleman, diplomat, and collector, known primarily for the controversial procurement of marble sculptures (known as the Elgin Marbles) from the Parthenon and other structures on the Acropolis of Athens.
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Christopher Chope
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sir Christopher Robert Chope is a British barrister and politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Christchurch in Dorset since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected in 1983 for Southampton Itchen, but lost this seat in 1992 to Labour. He returned to Parliament in 1997 and has remained an MP ever since. A Brexit advocate, Chope has been supportive of Leave Means Leave, a Eurosceptic pressure group.
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Kathleen Stock
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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Kathleen Mary Linn Stock is a British philosopher and writer. She was a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex until 2021. She has published academic work on aesthetics, fiction, imagination, sexual objectification, and sexual orientation.
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Bertie Charles Forbes
- Occupations
- entrepreneurwritereditorpublisherjournalist
- Biography
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Bertie Charles Forbes was a Scottish-American financial journalist and author who founded Forbes magazine.
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Desmond Swayne
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sir Desmond Angus Swayne is a British Conservative politician serving as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of New Forest West since 1997.
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Abigail Thorn
- Occupations
- actorYouTubervideo essayist
- Biography
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Abigail Thorn is an English YouTuber, actress, and playwright, best known for producing the YouTube channel Philosophy Tube.
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Andrew Lang
- Occupations
- essayistscholarhistorianfolkloristchildren's writer
- Biography
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Andrew Lang was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.
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Mark Sedwill
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Mark Philip Sedwill, Baron Sedwill, GCMG, FRGS, PC is a British diplomat and senior civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service to Prime Ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson from 2018 to 2020. He also served as the United Kingdom National Security Adviser from 2017 to 2020. He was previously the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and the NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017.
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Danny Blanchflower
- Occupations
- journalistsports commentatorassociation football managerassociation football player
- Biography
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Robert Dennis Blanchflower was a former Northern Ireland footballer, football manager and journalist who played for and captained Tottenham Hotspur, including during their double-winning season of 1960–61. He was ranked as the greatest player ever in Spurs history by The Times in 2009.
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Fay Weldon
- Occupations
- opinion journalistautobiographerwriterscreenwritertelevision writer
- Biography
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Fay Weldon was an English author, essayist and playwright.
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Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar
- Enrolled in the University of St Andrews
- 2002-2003 graduated with Master of Letters
- Occupations
- beauty pageant contestantlawyer
- Biography
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Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar is an American lawyer who has served as solicitor general of the United States since October 2021. She served as acting solicitor general from January 20, 2021, at the start of the Biden administration, until President Joe Biden sent her nomination to the U.S. Senate on August 11, 2021, when she was prevented from serving while the nomination was before the Senate as a result of the terms of the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
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Dominic Sandbrook
- Occupations
- historiantelevision presenterprofessor
- Biography
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Dominic Christopher Sandbrook is a British historian, author, columnist and television presenter.
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James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
- Occupations
- poetwriterpoliticianmilitary officer
- Biography
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James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. From 1644 to 1646, and again in 1650, he fought in the civil war in Scotland on behalf of the King. He is referred to as the Great Montrose.
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Adam Ferguson
- Occupations
- university teacherlibrarianclericchaplainphilosopher
- Biography
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Adam Ferguson,, also known as Ferguson of Raith (1 July N.S. /20 June O.S. 1723 – 22 February 1816), was a Scottish philosopher and historian of the Scottish Enlightenment.
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Thomas Bowdler
- Occupations
- literary editorwriterphysicianchess player
- Biography
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Thomas Bowdler, LRCP, FRS was an English physician known for publishing The Family Shakespeare, an expurgated edition of William Shakespeare's plays edited by his sister Henrietta Maria Bowdler. The two sought a version they saw as more appropriate than the original for 19th-century women and children. Bowdler also published works reflecting an interested knowledge of continental Europe. His last work was an expurgation of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published posthumously in 1826 under the supervision of his nephew and biographer, Thomas Bowdler the Younger. From his name derives the eponym verb bowdlerise or bowdlerize, meaning expurgate, censor, that is the omission of elements deemed unsuited to children, in literature and films and on television.
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David Nott
- Occupations
- surgeon
- Biography
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David Malcolm Nott is a Welsh consultant surgeon who mainly works in London hospitals as a general and vascular surgeon, but also volunteers to work in disaster and war zones. Having recognised that training others could greatly increase his capacity to help, Nott established the David Nott Foundation, along with his wife Elly, to organise training in emergency surgery for others working in war and disaster zones. He has been honoured for this dangerous work and is now often styled the "Indiana Jones of surgery".
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James Black
- Occupations
- university teachercardiologistpharmacologistchemistpharmacist
- Biography
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Sir James Whyte Black was a Scottish physician and pharmacologist. Together with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings, he shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1988 for pioneering strategies for rational drug-design, which, in his case, lead to the development of propranolol and cimetidine. Black established a Veterinary Physiology department at the University of Glasgow, where he became interested in the effects of adrenaline on the human heart. He went to work for ICI Pharmaceuticals in 1958 and, while there, developed propranolol, a beta blocker used for the treatment of heart disease. Black was also responsible for the development of cimetidine, an H2 receptor antagonist, a drug used to treat stomach ulcers.
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Hugo Swire, Baron Swire
- Occupations
- politicianauctioneer
- Biography
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Hugo George William Swire, Baron Swire, KCMG, PC is a British politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Devon from 2001 until 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has had several ministerial roles, most recently as Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, a role he held until July 2016. Swire is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. He retired from the House of Commons at the 2019 general election. Since 2022 he has been a member of the House of Lords.
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James Gregory
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherastronomerinventormathematician
- Biography
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James Gregory was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. His surname is sometimes spelt as Gregorie, the original Scottish spelling. He described an early practical design for the reflecting telescope – the Gregorian telescope – and made advances in trigonometry, discovering infinite series representations for several trigonometric functions.
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Michael Victor Berry
- Occupations
- theoretical physicistmathematicianscreenwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Sir Michael Victor Berry, FRS, FRSE, FRSA, HonFInstP is a British mathematical physicist at the University of Bristol, England.
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David Kurten
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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David Michael Kurten is a British politician who has served as leader of the Heritage Party since September 2020. He was previously a member of the London Assembly (AM) for Londonwide from 2016 to 2021. Elected as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, he subsequently left the party in January 2020. He is the registered leader of the Heritage Party and characterises himself as a social conservative.
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John Hutton Balfour
- Occupations
- bryologistsurgeonuniversity teacherbotanistliterary editor
- Biography
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John Hutton Balfour was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the University of Edinburgh and also becoming the 7th Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Her Majesty's Botanist in 1845. He held these posts until his retirement in 1879. He was nicknamed Woody Fibre.
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George Buchanan
- Occupations
- historiantranslatorwriterlinguistphilosopher
- Biography
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George Buchanan was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." His ideology of resistance to royal usurpation gained widespread acceptance during the Scottish Reformation. Brown says the ease with which King James VII was deposed in 1689 shows the power of Buchananite ideas.
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James Wilson
- Occupations
- politicianjudge
- Biography
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James Wilson was a Scottish-born American Founding Father, legal scholar, jurist, and statesman who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1789 to 1798. Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress, was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and was a major participant in drafting the U.S. Constitution becoming one of only six people to sign both documents. A leading legal theorist, he was one of the first four Associate Justices appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington. In his capacity as the first professor of law at the College of Philadelphia (later to become the University of Pennsylvania), he taught the first course on the new Constitution to President Washington and his Cabinet in 1789 and 1790.
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Michelle Duncan
- Occupations
- actorfilm actorstage actor
- Biography
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Michelle Duncan is a Scottish-Canadian actress, known for Driving Lessons (2006), Atonement (2007) and The Broken (2008). She portrayed Shelley Stern in the biographical drama film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).
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Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll
- Years
- 1607-1661 (aged 54)
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and peer. The de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 1650s known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was a major figure in the Covenanter movement that fought for the maintenance of the Presbyterian religion against the Stuart monarchy's attempts to impose episcopacy. He is often remembered as the principal opponent of the royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.
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Barbara Woodward
- Occupations
- diplomat
- Biography
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Dame Barbara Janet Woodward is a British diplomat and China expert. She is the current Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, having previously served as British Ambassador to China from 2015 to 2020, the first woman to hold that position.
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Liz Mair
- Occupations
- political adviser
- Biography
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Elizabeth Mair is an American political and communications consultant. She has worked as a journalist and commentator. She was the Online Communications Director at the 2008 Republican National Committee and has been a political strategist for a number of Republicans.
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Colleen Bell
- Occupations
- television producerphilanthropist
- Biography
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Colleen Bell is an American television producer known for her work on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and for her involvement in various social issues. She was appointed Director of the California Film Commission by Governor Gavin Newsom on May 23, 2019. She was appointed United States Ambassador to Hungary by United States President Barack Obama and took office on January 21, 2015.
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John Arbuthnot
- Occupations
- writercomposermathematicianphysician
- Biography
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John Arbuthnot FRS, often known simply as Dr Arbuthnot, was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contributions to mathematics, his membership in the Scriblerus Club (where he inspired both Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels book III and Alexander Pope's Peri Bathous, Or the Art of Sinking in Poetry, Memoirs of Martin Scriblerus, and possibly The Dunciad), and for inventing the figure of John Bull.
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John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John Graham, 7th of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, a Tory and an Episcopalian. He was responsible for policing southwest Scotland during and after the religious unrest and rebellion of the late 17th century, and went on to lead the Jacobite rising of 1689.
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Thomas Chalmers
- Occupations
- university teacherwritereconomistphilosophermathematician
- Biography
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Thomas Chalmers, was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nineteenth-century churchman".
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Dougal Dixon
- Occupations
- science fiction writerchildren's writerpaleontologist
- Biography
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Dougal Dixon is a Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, educator and author. Dixon has written well over a hundred books on geology and palaeontology, many of them for children, which have been credited with attracting many to the study of the prehistoric animals. Because of his work as a prolific science writer, he has also served as a consultant on dinosaur programmes.
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Helen Bannerman
- Occupations
- children's writerauthorwriterillustrator
- Biography
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Helen Brodie Cowan Bannerman was a Scottish children's writer. She is best known for her first book, Little Black Sambo (1899).
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Lord Colin Campbell
- Years
- 1853-1895 (aged 42)
- Occupations
- aristocratpolitician
- Biography
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Lord Colin Campbell was a Scottish Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1878 to 1885.
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William Dunbar
- Occupations
- Catholic priestwriterpoet
- Biography
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William Dunbar was a Scottish makar, or court poet, active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in Scots distinguished by its great variation in themes and literary styles. He was probably a native of East Lothian, as assumed from a satirical reference in The Flyting of Dumbar and Kennedie. His surname is also spelt Dumbar.
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John Playfair
- Occupations
- geologistphysicistmathematician
- Biography
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John Playfair FRSE, FRS was a Church of Scotland minister, remembered as a scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (1802), which summarised the work of James Hutton. It was through this book that Hutton's principle of uniformitarianism, later taken up by Charles Lyell, first reached a wide audience. Playfair's textbook Elements of Geometry made a brief expression of Euclid's parallel postulate known now as Playfair's axiom.
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Andrew Mackenzie
- Occupations
- geologistchief executive officerentrepreneur
- Biography
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Sir Andrew Stewart Mackenzie is a Scottish businessman, who is the chairman of Shell plc and formerly CEO of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company. He succeeded Marius Kloppers, on 10 May 2013, and was succeeded by Mike Henry, at the start of 2020.
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David Beaton
- Occupations
- Catholic bishopCatholic priestpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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David Beaton was Archbishop of St Andrews and the last Scottish cardinal prior to the Reformation.
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Stephen Doughty
- Occupations
- politicianreportercolumnist
- Biography
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Stephen John Doughty is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff South and Penarth since 2012. He has been the Shadow Minister for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories since November 2021.
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Alexander Duff
- Occupations
- theologianmissionary
- Biography
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Alexander Duff, was a Christian missionary in India; where he played a large part in the development of higher education. He was a Moderator of the General Assembly and convener of the foreign missions committee of the Free Church of Scotland and a scientific liberal reformer of anglicized evangelism across the Empire. He was the first overseas missionary of the Church of Scotland to India. On 13 July 1830 he founded the General Assembly's Institution in Calcutta, now known as the Scottish Church College. He also played a part in establishing the University of Calcutta. He was twice Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland in 1851 and 1873, the only person to serve the role twice.
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George Mackenzie
- Occupations
- writerlawyeradvocatelibrarianheraldist
- Biography
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Sir George Mackenzie of Rosehaugh was a Scottish lawyer, Lord Advocate, essayist and legal writer. He was nicknamed Bloody Mackenzie.
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Patrick Hamilton
- Occupations
- theologian
- Biography
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Patrick Hamilton was a Scottish churchman and an early Protestant Reformer in Scotland. He travelled to Europe, where he met several of the leading reformed thinkers, before returning to Scotland to preach. He was tried as a heretic by Archbishop James Beaton, found guilty and handed over to secular authorities to be burnt at the stake in St Andrews as Scotland's first martyr of the Reformation. In no other country in the world was the Reformation so complete or as thorough as in Scotland. This country was moved by the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton in 1528. Hamilton began preaching in Scotland in 1527 and was invited as a friend by Archbishop Beaton to a conference in St. Andrews. Once there, he was charged with heresy and burned. After Hamilton's death, others who had New Testaments or who professed Reformed doctrines were burned or sentenced to severe punishments, and some fled the country. The clergy were held up to ridicule all over the land.
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Jules Knight
- Occupations
- singeractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Julian "Jules" Knight is an English actor and singer. He is best known for being a member of the British vocal group Blake and his portrayal of Harry Tressler in the medical drama Holby City. He left Blake in January 2013 and first appeared in Holby City as doctor Harry Tressler on 14 May 2013. Knight left Holby City on 14 April 2015.
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John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, KT, KP, GCMG, GCVO, PC was a British politician. Born in Edinburgh, Aberdeen held office in several countries, serving twice as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1886; 1905–1915) and serving from 1893 to 1898 as Governor General of Canada.
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John Scott Russell
- Occupations
- military engineercivil engineer
- Biography
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John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built Great Eastern in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He made the discovery of the wave of translation that gave birth to the modern study of solitons, and developed the wave-line system of ship construction.
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Edward Smyth-Osbourne
- Years
- 1964-.. (age 60)
- Occupations
- military personnel
- Biography
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Lieutenant General Sir Edward Alexander Smyth-Osbourne, KCVO, CBE is a retired senior British Army officer.
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Jay Parini
- Occupations
- literary criticpoetwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jay Parini is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels, poetry, biography, screenplays and criticism. He has published novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, Paul the Apostle, and Herman Melville.
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Charles B. Macdonald
- Occupations
- golferlandscape architect
- Biography
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Charles Blair Macdonald was a major figure in early American golf. He built the first 18-hole course in the United States, was a driving force in the founding of the United States Golf Association, won the first U.S. Amateur championship, and later built some of the most influential golf courses in the United States, to the extent that he is considered the father of American golf course architecture. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
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Narendra Patel, Baron Patel
- Occupations
- obstetricianpolitician
- Biography
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Narendra Babubhai Patel, Baron Patel, KT, FMedSci, FRSE is a Tanzanian-British obstetrician and cross bench peer, and a former Chancellor of the University of Dundee.
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James Bowman Lindsay
- Occupations
- physicistengineerastronomer
- Biography
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James Bowman Lindsay was a Scottish inventor and author. He is credited with early developments in several fields, such as incandescent lighting and telegraphy.
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Jamie Stone
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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James Hume Walter Miéville Stone is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician, representing the constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, since 2017 the northernmost mainland British constituency and one of the largest by area.
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Robert Fergusson
- Occupations
- writerpoet
- Biography
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Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet. After formal education at the University of St Andrews, Fergusson led a bohemian life in Edinburgh, the city of his birth, then at the height of intellectual and cultural ferment as part of the Scottish Enlightenment. Many of his extant poems were printed from 1771 onwards in Walter Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, and a collected works was first published early in 1773. Despite a short life, his career was highly influential, especially through its impact on Robert Burns. He wrote both Scottish English and the Scots language, and it is his vivid and masterly writing in the latter leid for which he is principally acclaimed.
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Malcolm Bruce
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Malcolm Gray Bruce, Baron Bruce of Bennachie, is a British Liberal Democrat politician.
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William Bruce
- Occupations
- architect
- Biography
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Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes. As a key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May and Sir Roger Pratt.
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Ian Duncan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ian James Duncan, Baron Duncan of Springbank is a Scottish politician serving as a deputy speaker in the House of Lords. A member of the Conservative Party, he was formerly Minister for Climate Change in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and minister in the Northern Ireland Office. He initially joined the UK Government as a Scotland Office minister following the 2017 UK general election. Duncan was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 2014 to 2017. He is the only minister to have served in each of the UK Government's territorial offices.
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Thomas Thomson
- Occupations
- physicianuniversity teacherbotanistchemist
- Biography
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Thomas Thomson MD was a Scottish chemist and mineralogist whose writings contributed to the early spread of Dalton's atomic theory. His scientific accomplishments include the invention of the saccharometer and he gave silicon its current name. He served as president of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow.
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Ian Diamond
- Occupations
- statistician
- Biography
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Sir Ian David Diamond is a British statistician, academic, and administrator, who served as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen until 2018. He became the UK's National Statistician in October 2019.
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John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl,, was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and officee. He served in numerous positions during his life, and fought in the Glorious Revolution for William III and Mary II.
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Andrew Bell
- Occupations
- priestphysicianmissionary
- Biography
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Andrew Bell was a Scottish Anglican priest and educationalist who pioneered the Madras System of Education (also known as "mutual instruction" or the "monitorial system") in schools. He was the founder of Madras College, a secondary school in St Andrews, and helped fund other schools.
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William Maitland of Lethington
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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William Maitland of Lethington was a Scottish politician and reformer, and the eldest son of poet Richard Maitland.
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Asha de Vos
- Occupations
- international forum participantbiologist
- Biography
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Asha de Vos (Sinhala:ආශා ඩි වොස් (born 1979) is a Sri Lankan marine biologist, ocean educator and pioneer of blue whale research within the northern Indian Ocean. She is known for her Blue Whale Project. She is a Senior TED Fellow and was chosen for a BBC 100 Women award in 2018. She is a National Geographic 2016 Emerging Explorer Grantee.
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Hugh Blair
- Occupations
- preacheruniversity teacherwriterliterary criticpublisher
- Biography
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Hugh Blair FRSE was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse.
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Hector Boece
- Occupations
- historianwriterphilosopherteacher
- Biography
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Hector Boece, known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Aberdeen.
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Robert Henryson
- Years
- 1425-1506 (aged 81)
- Occupations
- writerpoet
- Biography
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Robert Henryson was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the Scots makars, he lived in the royal burgh of Dunfermline and is a distinctive voice in the Northern Renaissance at a time when the culture was on a cusp between medieval and renaissance sensibilities. Little is known of his life, but evidence suggests that he was a teacher who had training in law and the humanities, that he had a connection with Dunfermline Abbey and that he may also have been associated for a period with Glasgow University. His poetry was composed in Middle Scots at a time when this was the state language. His writing consists mainly of narrative works. His surviving body of work amounts to almost 5000 lines.
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John Jonston
- Occupations
- historianbotanistornithologistphysicianentomologist
- Biography
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John Jonston or Johnston was a Polish scholar and physician, descended from Scottish nobility and closely associated with the Polish magnate Leszczyński family. The standard author abbreviation Jonst. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
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John MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market
- Occupations
- politicianmagician
- Biography
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John Roddick Russell MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, OBE, PC, FKC, is a politician from the United Kingdom. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Norfolk from 1974 to 2001. He served in the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1985–87), Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1987–89), Secretary of State for Education and Science (1989–90), Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council (1990–92), and Secretary of State for Transport (1992–94). He was made a life peer in 2001.
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Catherine Stihler
- Occupations
- politicianresearcher
- Biography
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Catherine Dalling Taylor Stihler is a Scottish former politician who was chief executive officer (CEO) of Creative Commons from 2020 to 2023. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, she was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 1999 to 2019.
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James Younger, 5th Viscount Younger of Leckie
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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James Edward George Younger, 5th Viscount Younger of Leckie, is an elected hereditary peer who sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.
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Madsen Pirie
- Occupations
- philosophereconomist
- Biography
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Duncan Madsen Pirie is a British researcher and author. He is a co-founder and current President of the Adam Smith Institute, a UK neoliberal think tank which has been in operation since 1977.
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Zbigniew Pełczyński
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Zbigniew Pełczyński was a Polish-British political philosopher and academic. He taught politics at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1957 to 1992, and was later an Emeritus Fellow of the college. Pełczyński was instrumental in providing opportunities for scholars from Poland and other post-communist countries to study at British universities, especially at Oxford and Cambridge.
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Peter Comensoli
- Occupations
- Catholic bishopCatholic priest
- Biography
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Peter Andrew Comensoli is an Australian Catholic prelate who was named the ninth Archbishop of Melbourne on 29 June 2018.
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William Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk
- Years
- 1935-.. (age 89)
- Occupations
- politicianjudge
- Biography
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William Douglas Cullen, Baron Cullen of Whitekirk, KT, PC, FRSE, HonFREng is a former senior member of the Scottish judiciary. He formerly served as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Session, and was an additional Lord of Appeal in the House of Lords prior to the transfer of its judicial functions to the Supreme Court.
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John Leslie
- Occupations
- naturalistmathematicianmeteorologistphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Sir John Leslie, FRSE KH was a Scottish mathematician and physicist best remembered for his research into heat.
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Gavin Douglas
- Occupations
- Catholic priesttranslatorpoetwriterCatholic bishop
- Biography
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Gavin Douglas was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, he is chiefly remembered for his poetry. His main pioneering achievement was the Eneados, a full and faithful vernacular translation of the Aeneid of Virgil into Scots, and the first successful example of its kind in any Anglic language. Other extant poetry of his includes Palice of Honour, and possibly King Hart.
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James Crichton
- Occupations
- linguistfencermathematician
- Biography
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James Crichton, known as the Admirable Crichton, was a Scottish polymath noted for his extraordinary accomplishments in languages, the arts, and sciences before he was murdered at the age of 21.
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David Lyndsay
- Occupations
- diplomatwriterjudgepoetgenealogist
- Biography
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Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount was a Scottish knight, poet, and herald who gained the highest heraldic office of Lyon King of Arms. He remains a well regarded poet whose works reflect the spirit of the Renaissance, specifically as a makar.
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Calum Kerr
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Calum Robert Kerr is a Scottish National Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk from 2015 to 2017. During his tenure in Parliament, he was the SNP's Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson in the House of Commons.
