Angus Fitchet, fiddler; born July 12, 1910, died May 15, 1998

WITH no formal tuition on the instrument, Angus Fitchet not only became one of Scotland's foremost fiddlers and band leaders but was an authority on all types of music.

Having started his musical career playing for the silent films, he went on to lead a five-piece orchestra in a restaurant in Largs, but this came to an end with the outbreak of war.

After the war he joined Jimmy Shand's Band. This gave him a taste for Scottish band work and he formed his own highly successful Scottish Dance Band - but what other band leader drove his band all over Scotland and England in an old Red Cross ambulance? There was one occasion when, at North Queensferry, the ferry had moved off, but when it was noticed that an ambulance had missed the boat, the ferry turned back. Angus cheerfully drove his ''band bus'' on board.

Playing solo he toured with many well-known Scottish artists such as Will Starr and Robert Wilson. He was in his 60s when he joined Jimmy Blue, whose band travelled full-time with Andy Stewart, and this was a wonderful partnership.

Andy loved Angus's humour and many a time ''dried up'' on stage because of Angus's witticisms from ''the pit''. The weekly TV show Scotch Corner was going out nationwide at that time with guest stars such as George Hamilton IV, Rolf Harris, Dana, and others. Angus loved the challenge of sight reading the ''dots'' placed in front of him and enjoyed the tours to Australia and New Zealand with the show, as well as playing at the occasional village dance.

Having overcome deafness and a severe bout of arthritis, when he was no longer able to play his beloved fiddle, with the advent of accordion and fiddle clubs Angus found yet another new career, guesting with Bobby Crowe and his Band at venues all over Scotland and in the North of England, and probably his last appearance at a club was in Perth when he was 81 years of age.

The sweet tone Angus brought out of the fiddle was always recognisable, no matter in which band he was playing. He did not have valuable fiddles but could coax the same tone out of whatever instrument he played.

To travel to ''gigs'' with Angus was a delight. Every village brought a memorable story to relate, which would digress into tales of characters he had met or tunes he had played, and always there was humour and laughter. He was eternally young at heart.

Angus's legend will live on in his music. He was a prolific and wonderful composer, who wrote his first tune, Mr Michie, in 1926 - a march which is still popular with festival competitors. His reel, J B Milne, holds a record in that it has been played on radio more than any other Scottish tune. But his slow airs, Lament for Lockerbie, Marjorie Jane Barclay, and Lament for Will Starr, to name only three, like his many other compositions, make him comparable to the great James Scott Skinner.

Angus was predeceased by

his wife, Bette, four years ago and is survived by his family, Angus, Hilda, Gerald, Yvonne, Anne, and Robert, and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.