Master storyteller; Born April 11, 1928; Died November 8, 2007.
Duncan Williamson, who died yesterday aged 79, was regarded as being among the finest storytellers in Scotland.
His publisher, Canongate's Stephanie Wolf-Murray, yesterday described him as "number one - head and shoulders above anyone else in his field", while Dr Donald Smith, director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh, added: "He was uniquely gifted with a keen sense of poetry and above all else a passion for wonder."
Indeed, if the Scottish story-telling community had the gift of beatification it would probably have made Williamson its first saint. Such accolades are not inconsequential, for in the past 20 years the art of storytelling has acquired an important status in Scottish education.
Williamson was the seventh of 16 children born to travelling folk on the shores of Loch Fyne, possibly in the grace-and-favour woodsman's hut provided to his family by the Duke of Argyll. He was the genuine article, his family having been tinsmiths, horse traders and travellers for many generations and, aged 15, he continued in the family tradition by setting out to begin a traveller's life on the road.
He would announce with a grin and a shrug: "My grandfather pushed a barrow around Scotland. Some travellers like to stay in one area. He went from Inverness in the north to Dumfries in the south. Aye and further."
Williamson fished commercially, dug and cooked for navvies, slept in tents and howffs and in the open, and he sang. When he sang, folk stopped what they were doing and were drawn by his voice into a fantastical world of cold days and wild storms, of happy lovers and troubled souls.
It was while on his travels that Williamson began to collect stories, some of which he had first heard during the campfire gatherings of his childhood. He sought out tales from everyone he met, to the extent that by the end claimed to know more than 3000. Though he was probably guessing, his memory was truly remarkable.
He was at his best in a small group - the formal stage never suited him. Surrounded with folk he loved, Williamson would weave a spell, altering the performance according to interest and mood, constantly tasting the feedback gained from eyes and smiles.
By the middle of his life he was settling down, in Fife, with horse-trading as his main income earner.
He had married early, to distant cousin, Jeanie Townsley. Ten children followed but later he went on to meet a young American academic.
Dr Linda Williamson, as she became, was young, small and winsome, and when he asked what she could offer in exchange for his tales she responded with a good deal of her life, marrying him and bearing him two children.
The remainder of his days were extraordinary. He became an international celebrity in the storytelling world with Linda guiding and driving him in a remarkable career as an author, teacher, storyteller and (sometimes to his detriment) bon viveur. He travelled extensively to festivals all over the world, wrote songs, recorded, visited schools and was met with great affection wherever he went.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article