Finlay John Macdonald (Scottish Gaelic: Fionnlagh Iain MacDhòmhnaill; 4 July 1925 – 14 October 1987) was a Scottish journalist and radio and television producer and writer.

Career

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Born and raised on Harris in the Outer Hebrides, and a native Gaelic language speaker, was an important figure in Gaelic radio and television broadcasting, founding the Gaelic Drama Association. He co-founded the quarterly Gaelic magazine Gairm in 1951 with Derick Thomson and served as its chief editor until 1964.[1]

He was a radio and television producer. His production for radio of Sydney Goodsir Smith's play, The Wallace, was broadcast on 30th November 1959.[2]

Macdonald edited A Journey to the Western Isles (1983), in which he "retraced" the 1773 tour of Scotland by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell by providing the text of Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland along with his own commentary and numerous colour and black-and-white photographs.

Memoirs

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He wrote three books of memoirs that recall his childhood on Harris:

  • Crowdie and Cream (1982)
  • Crotal and White (1983)
  • The Corncrake and the Lysander (1985).[1]

These have been cited as providing a valuable insight into life in the Outer Hebrides in the interwar period.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Finlay J. McDonald". Ambaile. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
  2. ^ McLellan, Robert, Review of The Wallace, in Thomson, David Cleghorn (ed.), Saltire Review, Vol. 6, No. 22, Autumn 1960, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 75 - 77
  3. ^ Cooke, Anthony; Donnachie, Ian (1998). Modern Scottish History, 1707 to the Present: Major documents. Tuckwell Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-86232-088-8.