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Famous Scots on Wikipedia
Every country has its famous and notorious inhabitants but nowhere so mamny as in Scotland. Below you will find some of them with their direct links. You can find the complete Famous Scots on Wikipedia.
Have fun!
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Robert ADAM 1728 - 1792 Architect. Famous for designing the New Town in Edinburgh, many public buildings en his contribution in the Gregorian development of Londen
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Sir William ARROL 1839 - 1913 Engineer. He was responsible for the construction of the impressive Forth Rail Bridge in South Queensferry and the Tay Rail Bridge. |
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John Logie BAIRD 1888 - 1946 Engineer. Inventor of the television. |
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Ian BANNEN 1928-1999
Performer.
Authentic member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. |
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Sir James BARRIE 1860 - 1937 Writer. Author of Peter Pan. |
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Alexander Graham BELL 1847 – 1922
Inventor. Born in Edinburgh, emigrated to Canada abd later moved to the USA.
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Tony BLAIR 1953 - Politician. Born in Edinburgh. Current Prime Minister of Great-Britain. |
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Billy BOYD 1968 - Actor. Better known as Peregrin Took in The Lord of the Rings. |
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Elisabeth BOWES-LYON 1900-2002 Queen. Deceased mother of the current Queen Elizabeth of Engeland. |
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Robert the BRUCE 1274 - 1329 King, commanding officer. Crowned to be king in 1306. Defeated the English army of Edward II in Bannockburn in 1314. |
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John BUCHAN 1875 - 1940 Author, politician. His best known work is The Thirty Nine Steps. |
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Colin BUCHANAN 1967 -Actor. Born in Edinburgh and known for his part as Peter Pascoe in the BBC series Dalziel and Pascoe. The Dalziel en Pascoe books were written by Reginald Hill |
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David Dunbar BUICK 1854-1929 Inventor. Has founded the Buick car company. |
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Robert BURNS 1759 – 1796 Poet, writer. Wrote the poem Lang Syne. Scotland celebrates Robert Burns on the 25th January with the traditional Burns Night where haggis and whisky are crucial. |
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Sir William BURRELL 1861 - 1951 Ship-owner. Was a passionate art and antiques collector. His gift of 8000 art pieces to the city of Glasgow can be visited in The Burrell Collection. |
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Gerard BUTLER 1969 - Actor, born in Glasgow. Performed in Timeline |
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Peter CAPALDI 1958 - actor/director |
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Robert CARLYLE 1961 - Actor. Performed in the BBC TV series Hamish MacBeth Which was filmed in Plockton on the west coast. |
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Andrew CARNEGIE 1835 - 1918 Industrial. Born in Dunfermline, emigrated to the USA, steel and iron magnate and great philanthropist. he remitted a big part of his fortune to Scotland. |
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Hamish CLARK 1965 - Actor. Born in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. Known as Duncan McKay in the BBC TV series Monarch of the Glen. I personally met him at the Highland Games in Newtonmore. |
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Jim CLARK 1936 - 1968 Racing driver. Twice world champion Formula 1, he won sevan grand prix in a row, twenty five in total. |
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George CLEGHORN 1716 - 1794 Surgeon. He discovered that quinine was beneficial against malaria. |
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Robbie COLTRANE 1950 - Actor. Performed as the giant Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter films. His real name is Anthony Robert McMillan. |
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Billy CONNOLLY 1942 - Comedian, TV and film personality. Bjorn in Glasgow, in Scotland he is well known as The Big Yin (the big one). He likes to take off all his clothes and hates socks. |
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Sean CONNERY 1930 - Actor. Known as the original James Bond. Won an Oscar for best male supporting role in The Untouchables. |
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Ronnie CORBETT 1930 - Comedian. Started his career in the 50's. He was also half of the famous pair "The Two Ronnies" together with Ronnie Barker (deceased in 2005). |
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James COSMO 1948 - Actor. Performed in: Battle of Britain, Highlander, Braveheart, Trainspotting, Troy, Greyfriars Bobby and The Chronicles of Narnia. |
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David COULTHARD 1971 -
Formula 1 racing driver |
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Donald CRISP 1880 - 1974 Actor. Born in Aberfeldy. Performed in films like Birth of a Nation, National Velvet and How Green is my Valley for which he won an Oscar for best male supporting role. |
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Kenny DALGLISH 1951 - Football player. Scotlands best footbal player, played for Celtic Glasgow under the legendary Jock STEIN. Played 102 times in the national team. Now he's a manager. |
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Anthony DAWSON 1916-1992 Actor. Known from From Russia With Love, Thunderball and Dial M for Murder. |
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Sir James DEWAR 1842 - 1923 Chemist/physicist. Inventor of the vacuum flask. |
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DONOVAN 1946 - Singer. Donovan Philips Leitch, born in Glasgow is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. |
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Sir Arthur CONAN DOYLE 1859 - 1930 Author. Most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes. |
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John Boyd DUNLOP 1840 - 1921 Inventor.Developed the inflated ruber tube for car and bicycle. |
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Sheena EASTON 1959 - Singer. Pop singer form Bellshill. She sang the title song of the Bond film For your eyes only. She now lives in America. |
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Sir Alex FERGUSON 1941 - Football Manager. Trainer vof the English topteam Manchester United. |
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Sir Alexander FLEMING 1881 - 1955 Doctor. Discoverer of penicillin. he won the Nobel prize in 1944. |
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Jimmy FINLAYSON 1887-1953 Actor. James "Jimmy" Finlayson performed in both silent and sound comedies. His roles in the Laurel and Hardy films are unforgettable as is his part in the Keystone Cops. |
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Gregor FISHER 1953 - Actor, comedian. Best known for his portrayal of his charater Rab C. Nesbitt, the Glaswegian in his singlet is legendary. He also apeared in The Tales of Para Handy. |
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Bill FORSYTH 1946 - Film director. Best known for his film Local Hero. |
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Niel GOW 1727 - 1807 Musician. Son of a weaver from Perthshire who played the violin. He composed a lot of dance music especially reels and strahtspeys (Scottish Country Danceing). |
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Kenneth GRAHAME 1859 - 1932 Autor. Most famous for The wind in the willows. |
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James GREGORY 1638 - 1675 Inventor. He developed the first model of the optical telescope. Later it was further developed by the Englishman Isaac Newton. |
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Stephen HENDRY 1969 - Multiple world champion snooker player. |
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Gordon JACKSON 1923-1990 Actor. Best known from the series Upstairs Downstairs. |
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Quintin JARDINE ? -
Author. Jardine was
born in Motherwell and studied law at the university of Glasgow.
Skinner's Rules
(1993) |
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James Robertson JUSTICE 1905-1975 Actor. Was a journalist at first. He played mostly historical individuals such as Henry VIII. |
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William KIDD 1645 - 1701 Seaman. Infamous pirate known as Captain Kidd. |
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Mark KNOPFLER 1949 - Musician, composer. Best-known as thelead guitarist and vocalist for the band Dire Straits. |
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Deborah KERR 1921 - Actress. Born in Helensburgh. Performed in The King and I and Quo Vadis. |
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John KNOX 1505 - 1572 Scottish religious reformer who took the lead in reforming the Church in Scotland along Calvinist lines. |
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Annie LENNOX 1954 - Singer. Scored many hits in the 80's with the Eurythmics. |
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Eric Henry LIDELL 1902 - 1945 Athlete. Broke many records. Won gold at the Olympics in 1924 in Paris. He was immortalised in the film Chariots of fire. |
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David LIVINGSTONE 1813 - 1873 Explorer and medical missionary. He was the first Westerner who travelled across the length of the Lake Tanganyka by boat. He discovered and named the Victoria Falls. |
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LULU 1948 - Singer. Born as Marie McDonald Lawrie. Most popular hist was Shout. Was married form 1969 until 1973 to Maurice Gibb from the Bee Gees. |
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John McADAM 1756 - 1836 Supervisor and road builder. Developed a tar-based, waterproof road surface which became known as "macadamisation" - now know as "tarmac". |
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Sir Robert McALPINE 1847 - 1934 Entrepreneur. Pioneer in the use of concrete and labour-saving machinery. Worked in the coalmines since he was ten years old, but chose to erect buildings. His best known building is the Wembley stadium in London which has now been replaced by a new one. |
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MacBETH 1005 - 1057 Last Celtic king of Scotland. Portrayed by William Shakespeare as a bad person, which some say is unjust. |
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Flora MacDONALD 1722 – 1790 She helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape after a defeat against the English in 1745. |
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Dr. William McEWAN 1827 - 1913 Brewer and philanthropist. Opened the Fountain Brewery in Edinburgh in 1856 in the Fountainbridge area. He's still best known for his McEwan's beer. |
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Angus MACFADYEN 1963 - Actor. Born in Glasgow. Performed the role of Robert The Bruce in Mel Gibson's film : Braveheart. |
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Rob Roy MacGREGOR 1671 - 1734 Notorious cattle thief. Presented by Walter Scott voorgesteld as a romantic figure who defended the way of life in the Highlands. |
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Ewan McGREGOR 1971 - Actor. Performed his first major role in Trainspotting. Later he played the role of Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars trilogy. |
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Alistair MacLEAN 1922-1987 Author. Best known for his war novel The Guns of Navaronne. His grave can be visited in Daviot/Inverness. |
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James MACPHERSON 1960 - Actor. Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Best known for his role as Michael Jardine in the long-running Scottish police drama Taggart. In 2001 he stopped because of health problems |
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Kirkpatrick MacMILLAN 1813 - 1878 Inventor of the bicycle. However he never made any attempt to patent his invention. |
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Charles MACKINTOSH 1766 - 1843 Inventor and entrepreneur. |
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David McCALLUM 1933 - Actor. Best known for his role as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian secret agent in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. |
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Ally McCOIST 1962 - Footballer. His Rangers nickname was “Super Ally”. You can see him in Question of Sport on BBC1. Het also performed in the film A Shot at Glory together with his friend and actor Robert Duvall. |
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David O'HARA 1965 - Actor. Performed in Braveheart, The Devil's Own and The District |
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QUEEN of Scots, Mary 1542-1587 Queen. JThe Scottish queen who tickles everyone's imagination. |
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Ian RANKIN 1960 - Writer. Born in Edinburgh and very famous for his Rebus stories.
Inspector Rebus
novels |
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Ian RICHARDSON 1934-2007 Actor. Renowned Shakespeare expounder. |
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Robert Louis STEVENSON 1850-1894 Autor. Best known works were Treasure Island and Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. |
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Jackie STEWART 1939 - Formula 1 race driver. Became multiple world champion. jStill is one of themost important advisors of the Formula 1 racing track. |
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Rod STEWART 1945 - Singer. Born in Londen but never gave up his Scottish roots. |
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Ken STOTT 1955 - Actor, born in Edinburg. Performed as Rebus (Ian Rankin) amongst other performances. |
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David TENNENT 1971 - Actour. Born in Bathgate, West Lothian. Could be seen in Doctor Who and played an astonishing Casanova. |
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Sir William WALLACE ?1270 - 1305 Patriot, freedom fighter.Conquered the English army at Stirling in 1297 |
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Sir Walter SCOTT 1771-1832 Author. Known for his novels Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, The lady in the Lake and Waverley. |
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James WATT 1736-1819 Inventor.Developed the steam engine amongst other things. |
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Richard WILSON 1936 - Actor and theatre director. Best known for his role as Victor Meldrew in the popular BBC cemedy series One Foot in the Grave. |
Compiled by Martine Maryns
Revised: april 02, 2007