Neil Maclean

b. 1895    d. 1962

Born in Glasgow on 21 April 1895 to parents from Coll and Tiree and raised at Kilmore, south of Oban. He was educated at Kilmore Primary School and Oban High School. He undertook naval duties during World War I before attending Glasgow University. He won the Gold Medal at the Glasgow Mod of 1921 and from 1924 and 1930 he was Station Director at BBC Aberdeen where his programme Sgeulachdan agus Oran ('Stories and songs’) pioneered broadcasting in Gaelic. In 1927 he married singer and pianist Jenny M B Currie with whom he gave regular performances and broadcasts and made many gramophone records. From 1930 to 1937 they lived in the KIImartin area of mid Argyll, and from then until 1960 Neil taught at Dunoon Grammar School. He recorded for Parlophone from the late 1920s until the early 1950s.