The Times Great Scottish Lives cover art

The Times Great Scottish Lives

Obituaries of Scotland's Finest

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Times Great Scottish Lives

By: Magnus Linklater - editor
Narrated by: Angus King
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Discover the fascinating lives of the iconic figures that have shaped Scotland from the early 19th century to the present day.

Explore the rich history of Scotland's cultural, social and political landscape, with more than 100 obituaries carefully curated from The Times archive.

The Scots have contributed richly to the world, most notably in literature and science, but also in the arts, law, politics, religion, scholarship and sport. In this volume, The Times brings together a unique and fascinating collection of obituaries. The list includes people who have made the greatest impact in their fields, others who have led particularly interesting or influential lives, and a selection of notable Scottish figures in the history of The Times.

This audiobook features the major Scottish figures of influence from the last 200 years and includes a diverse range of people, including Sir Walter Scott, Sir David Livingstone, Thomas Carlyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Keir Hardie, Alexander Graham Bell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Phoebe Traquair, James Ramsay MacDonald, John Logie Baird, Mary Somerville, Jim Clark, John Smith, Donald Dewar, Eugenie Fraser, Robin Cook, Jock Stein, R. D. Laing, Margo MacDonald, William McIlvanney, Tam Dalyell and Ronnie Corbett.

©2017 Magnus Linklater (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
Great Britain Historical Celebrity Scotland England Young Adult Highlander Imperialism
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Brief Lives cover art
Old Thunder cover art
Time Travels in Scotland cover art
Mr. Churchill's Profession cover art
Waverley cover art
Lion in the White House cover art
Adams cover art
Churchill and Roosevelt cover art
Martin Van Buren cover art
Legends of The Enlightenment cover art
The Road to Monticello cover art
Dagger John cover art
P.T. Barnum: A Captivating Guide to the American Showman Who Founded What Became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus cover art
William Randolph Hearst: The Life and Legacy of 20th Century America’s Most Influential Publisher cover art
John Quincy Adams cover art
Henry VIII: The Quest for Fame cover art

What listeners say about The Times Great Scottish Lives

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Is that how X is pronounced, I've often thought Y

With due acknowledgement to Samuel Johnson I was reminded of his observation that much could be made of a Scot if he be caught young. There were some interesting obits. I 'met' some new folk and resolved to get reconnect with JM Barrie.

I found it was a worthwhile listen EXCEPT for some of the pronunciations. I gave up at althogether at Douglas-Home though the narrator's stab at the surname Geddes was so painful I skipped that chapter. Pity. Sir Patrick Geddes (two syllables) was one talented chiel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Varied and interesting mini biographies

This is an engaging series of obituaries published in The Times newspaper starting with famous Scots who died in the early 1800s and continuing up to an example in 2017. Many are world famous, at least in the Western World, such as Robert Lewis Stevenson, Logie Baird and Andrew Carnegie, but others, such as Dr Elsie Inglis, I guess will be mostly known by Edinburgh folk reminded of her by a local hospital named after her.

The wide range of people including footballers, poets, writers, soldiers, politicians, scientists and medics makes for an entertaining and interesting listen. The chronological ordering of the obituaries illustrates how the style of writing has changed over two centuries: the early biographies written in a more elaborate style that seems florid to the modern ear.

The narrator has a pleasant Scottish accent that suits the material but I was surprised by his mispronunciation of some names, notable Alex Douglas Home, which quaintly should actually be pronounced as Hume.

An enjoyable listen probably even more so if you’re Scottish.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I was initially attracted to this book, I thought it would provide clues to Scotland's achievements... it didn't. It is obviously a list of obituaries and some were interesting, even entertaining, but looking back I can barely remember the names far less their achievements. The choices disappointed, there is almost no mention of the industrialists that made Scotland a world leader in engineering, for example no William Lithgow, but a smattering of sports stars, even a sports commentator, it is a populist selection rather than a reflection of Scotland's greatest, it is not for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!