r/Scotland • u/PantodonBuchholzi • 1d ago
Discussion Who’s your favourite famous Scot who isn’t a household name?
Basically anyone who’s perhaps famous in their field but not everyone would have heard of them. I’m into history and ww2 aircraft so for me it’s Eric “Winkle” Brown, I was talking to my colleagues today and was surprised none of them except for one have heard the name before; which is surprising given he’s considered by some to be the greatest pilot to have ever lived. For those who’ve also never heard the name:
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/ericbrown.html
I read his biography and often thought to myself “if this was fiction I’d say the author has overdone it because that can’t be real”.
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u/Theopold_Elk 1d ago
Professor Catherine Heymans. She’s the first and only female astronomer royal of Scotland. She’s done comedy shows, is an expert on dark matter and when I met her she was delightfully humble. Check her out on YouTube. Catherine Heymans Tedtalk
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u/Plz_Nerf 1d ago
Chris Sawyer - creator/developer of the original RollerCoaster Tycoon game.
The guy programmed almost the entire thing on his own in x86 Assembly which is absolutely fucking ludicrous.
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u/IDinnaeKen 1d ago
I don't know how I didn't know this! People always talk about DMA and the original GTA, Lemmings, etc. - but not this!?
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u/Razgriz_101 1d ago
Absolute legend to me aswell. His games had a massive impact on me as a kid, his transport tycoon game had a few nods to Scotland the “shopping centre” building is a copy of the St Enoch and another office building is the old Clydesdale one in Glasgow haha.
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u/herbdogu 1d ago
A lot of it quite literally handwritten, he used to turn up on a Monday morning with pages and pages he’d worked on over the weekend.
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u/MB1010101010101 1d ago
Mary Barbour - Scottish activist that led the rent strikes in Govan around 1915. A consequence of their action meant legislation was enacted in Westminster to implement rent caps.
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u/ComeBackNeilLennon 1d ago
I always remember my history teacher giving a brief outline of this and then saying in a tone of somewhat sarcasm and defeatism.
‘And who do we think the government sided with? The landlords or the strikers?’
And around half a dozen of us said ‘the landlords’ to which he excitedly replied ‘you would think so! But no!’ And then gleefully explained the whole story in great depth with a huge proud smile upon his face…. A thoroughly knowledgeable and very nice man.
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u/tartanthing 1d ago
There was some speculation that the new Southern General was to be named after Mary Barbour. Instead we got yet another 'Royal' hospital. Pretty convinced now the Monarchy keep records of how many hospitals get named after each them to discuss over family get together's to see who is winning.
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u/MB1010101010101 18h ago
Aye, their hands are in all the pies! If it is true its a shame they didn't but suits the ruling classes status quo - canny be having a hospital named after a working class hero; it would have been considered improper to keep her memory alive and so visible. Naming a hospital after her would have been honouring activism/collective action and may get the next generation thinking...
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u/boredHouseHusband69 1d ago
Probably John Jameson - it’s Irish whisky but that’s a bloke from Alloa who made it. Mad famous, but not everybody knows he’s Scottish.
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u/Sad-Olive-158 20h ago
He also potentially paid to eat a child… so there’s that!
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u/poundstorekronk 19h ago
That was his grandson, James sligo Johnson.
He didn't exactly pay for it to happen, and it wasn't him that ate the child. Apparently, he refused to believe that anybody would cannabilise another human. So a tribesman was paid in handkerchieves (???) to kill and eat a child, which he did.
James would later say it was the single most horrifying thing he had ever seen in his life.
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u/kiradax 1d ago
John Lamont aka Johann von Lamont. Born in a tiny village in Aberdeenshire, went to a monastic college in Germany where he studied astronomy and physics. Eventually became the court astronomer for the King of Bavaria.
He catalogued over 34,000 stars. He was the first to calculate the mass of Uranus, calculated the orbits of the moons of Saturn and Uranus, and did important work surveying the fluctuation of Earth's magnetic field.
He has craters on both Mars and our Moon named after him.
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u/Acrobatic-Shirt8540 Is toil leam càise gu mòr. 1d ago
It's a shame so few people seem to know the many scientists and engineers we've produced.
Here's one: James Dewar. Fuck Thermos, they should be called Dewars.
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u/lythander 21h ago
The badass ones are. The ones you use to hold liquid gases like nitrogen that are staggeringly cold. That’s a dewar.
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u/Acrobatic-Shirt8540 Is toil leam càise gu mòr. 19h ago
They're all vacuum flasks. They're all Dewars.
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u/CrabbitBawbag 1d ago
Thomas Telford. He gets sadly overlooked in favour of Isambard Brunel, which is understandable, but still. A genius.
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u/Sad-Olive-158 20h ago
I live close to the Telford Bridge. Absolutely beautiful.
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u/Belle_TainSummer 15h ago
Round my way there is a Telford built bridge standing firm and handling all traffic, but the modern bridge in the middle of town just had to close to all traffic because it might collapse under even a particularly heavy car.
That's progress for you, I suppose. I blame the towrists.
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u/ewenmax DialMforMurdo 1d ago
Toss up between George Buchanan and James Crichton
His treatise De Jure Regni apud Scotos, published in 1579, discussed the doctrine that the source of all political power is the people, and that the king is bound by those conditions under which the supreme power was first committed to his hands, and that it is lawful to resist, even to punish, tyrants. The importance of Buchanan's writings is shown by the suppression of his work by James VI and the British legislatures in the century following their publication. It was condemned by act of parliament in 1584, and burned by the University of Oxford in 1664 and 1683.
https://www.humanism.scot/2019/10/16/george-buchanan-1506-1582-an-early-scottish-humanist/
By the age of twenty, he was not only fluent in, but could discourse in (both prose and verse) no fewer than twelve languages, as well as being an accomplished horseman, fencer, singer, musician, orator, and debater. Noted for his good looks as well as his refined social graces, he was considered to have come closest to the ideal of the complete man.
Leaving Scotland, Crichton travelled to Paris, where he continued his education at the Collège de Navarre. It was in the French capital that he first came to prominence by challenging French professors to ask him any question on any science or liberal arts subject in Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Latin, Slavonic, Spanish, or Syriac. It is said that throughout the course of one extremely long day, French scholars failed to stump Crichton on any question they threw at him, no matter how abstruse.
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u/Paintboxer89 1d ago
Jim Clark, 1960s racing driver and one of the all time greats. He was considered even in his time a legend of a driver, competing in many different classes such as rallying and F1 with some of win records still standing today. But sadly killed in 1968, his death was very high profile and was a major influence on the push towards better safety.
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u/lythander 21h ago
Agree he was a fucking unit. Every F1 fan (even some of those DtS twats) knows him.
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u/michaelm54176 1d ago
I’m in the medical field, so have a soft spot for Archie Cochrane of Galashiels.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Cochrane
The ‘Cochrane reviews’ are the gold standard of evidence in medicine and reflect his innovative work in the value of randomized control trials.
He also just seemed like a cool guy!
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u/darkotics 11h ago
I did a (partial!!) Cochrane review for my MSc dissertation and used some data from other ones and it was incredible to learn about Archie and his work. Really interesting stuff.
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u/NiagaraThistle 1d ago edited 1d ago
Gus Campbell.
He's my dad. We live in the US. He coached soccer here when I was growing up.
Every single time I would come home from anywhere - EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. - he would ask me 2 questions:
- "Did you tell 'them' your dad's from Perth?"
- "Did you tell them your dad's Gus Campbell?"
Every single time I would reply "no. no one knows where Perth is and no one knows you." Plus who are 'THEY'? Like every person I ran into? Come on.
Fast forward into my 20s and drinking at the bars in and around my hometown and meeting locals older than me from the area:
"You're Gus Campbell's son?!?! I know your dad! I/My son used to play for him. We love Gus! What's he up to? Here have a drink."
Turns out people DID know him! And 'THEY' were anybody within a 50 mile radius that had been involved in soccer for the past 40 years (now). Now my own kids always say "Wow. Lots of people know Papa."
Not super famous of course, but locally.
Plus now I can tell him I told someone 1. My dad's from Perth, and 2. My dad's Gus Campbell when he asks next time I see him :)
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u/Gwaptiva Immigrant-in-exile 1d ago
And when I run into your da, I'll ask him if he's NiagaraThistle's da
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u/Linnskie 1d ago
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u/TheUmpteenth 1d ago
Came here to say this. The Scots Scarlet Pimpernel. Broadcast the news about the Spanish Civil War to the English speaking world. Helped her fellow Anarchists escape the communists, at her own expense - jailed twice by the communists.
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u/HaggisPope 1d ago
James Braidwood, founder of the fire brigade. Before him fires were put out by insurance company’s, or volunteers. Braidwood trained builders and roofers to do it, then truly innovate by having them actually enter buildings to put out fires. Before him firefighters only extinguished fires from outside.
His work was incredibly influential, he made our fire brigade in his mid 20s, and by his 30s he was in London setting up theirs too. This became the model for modern firefighting
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u/The_Vivid_Glove 1d ago
Thomas Lipton, founder of Lipton’s Tea. Came from the slums of the Gorbals to become one of the biggest characters of the Victorian era both in the UK and the US.
He was even given the keys to city of New York due to his involvement in the Americas Cup
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u/Mr_Sinclair_1745 1d ago
Edinburgh born and raised
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Flockhart_(racing_driver)
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u/PantodonBuchholzi 1d ago
I’ve come across the name before but never really looked into his endeavours, having just glanced at the wiki page I should correct that!
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u/like_a_wreckingball 1d ago
Ali Smith- phenomenal writer from Inverness and so many readers I know have never heard of her.
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u/Small_Assistant3584 1d ago
I met her once and told her how much I loved her work. Total fangirl moment, she’s a lovely woman.
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u/like_a_wreckingball 21h ago
I’ve never met her, but I was like that when I met Iain Banks- couldn’t string a coherent sentence together.
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u/it00 1d ago
This led to him landing at a Luftwaffe airfield in Denmark to take possession of a number of Arado Ar 234 twin-jet bombers, only to find that the allied ground troops who were meant to have captured the airfield had not yet arrived. Luckily the Luftwaffe commander was content to surrender his airfield and his 2,000 men to Brown, who subsequently arranged for the return of a dozen of the aircraft to Britain.
When your flight arrives early and there's.... *checks uniform* - the wrong side still in charge.... Jeez!
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u/ruairihair 1d ago
Lynne Ramsay - directed some of the best films in the last 20 years in my opinion. Far from unknown but not a household name really.
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u/SkipInExile 22h ago
If you’re not into cycling,most people wouldn’t have a clue. Danny mckaskil (spelt that wrong, sorry Danny). Rides for red bull. Master at his craft.👍
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u/marvellous 1d ago
John Muir, wilderness champion. He was the driving force behind the US national parks movement, and his 1903 camping trip with Teddy Roosevelt in Yosemite inspired federal protections of natural landscapes. He also wrote beautifully about nature, one of my favourite quotes is “the clearest way into the universe is through a forest”.
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u/New-Translator-7995 19h ago
My old Da fought MS for years and was always in a great mood despite constant pain. My fucking hero
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u/AbominableCrichton 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thomas Cochrane.
I'm still waiting on a tv show about his involvement with the British Navy, getting arrested for financial scam, helping Chile and Paraguay gain independence, helping Brazil gain independence, introducing ironclad ships to some navies, being involved with the cut and cover technique used for constructing underground railways, trying to help Greece gain independence but planning such brutal things like exploding flame ships, he was asked to step back. I think I missed some things but the above is still plenty.
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u/cheesegratemyassplz 1d ago
Lorne Balfe. Hollywood composer who's worked on loads of films and TV series. He's working on one of my favourite shows right now, The Wheel of Time.
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u/flaysomewench 15h ago
Great shout, his score for WOT is amazing. Love the whole show too!
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u/cheesegratemyassplz 9h ago
I'm really digging Season 3. Season 1 was a bit bumpy in my opinion. Have you read the books?
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u/flaysomewench 9h ago
I have but it was about 9 or 10 years ago. Yourself?
Yeah Season 1 was uneven but I still enjoyed it, Season 2 was much better and Season 3 is absolutely killing it. Haven't seen the latest episode yet but will later!
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u/cheesegratemyassplz 4h ago
Latest episode was fabulous. I agree with your assessment. I've also read the books.
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u/Morton_1874 1d ago
James Douglas , Scotland's greatest ever warrior
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u/Belle_TainSummer 15h ago
If you watched Outlaw/King on Netflix and thought the character was a bit hammy and OTT, know that they toned him down a lot to make him more believable.
Ended his life when he single-handedly charged an entire opposing army during the crusades. That is one helluva way to go, if you ask me.
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u/ItsGonnaGetRocky 1d ago
I think Malcolm Jones is in with a shout of being the best and most underrated guitar player Scotland's ever produced.
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u/Accurate-Teaching858 1d ago
Roddy Woomble, lead singer of Idlewild. He's talented, funny, and totally humble. I've met him a few times. I'll be seeing him again twice this year.
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u/flaysomewench 14h ago
I've been listening to You Held The World In Your Arms on repeat for over 20 years at this point!
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u/exstaticj 1d ago
Is The Black Douglas allowed, or is he too famous?
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u/AliMaClan 13h ago
I remember my primary teacher telling us stories about him on a project on the wars of independence.
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u/exstaticj 12h ago
Unfortunately, I'm an American. However, my mother enjoyed Scottish history so much that she wrote a wee book about it and the influence Scots had on Americn independence. She also had owned Celtic Story, a shop where she sold items from or about the seven Celtic nations. She would always be telling her customers historical tidbits, and I latched on to The Black Douglas stories.
I don't know how well know he is in Scotland. The same way, I don't know how well known Blind Harry, Brian Beru and his grueling death, Sommerled, or Flora MacDonald. I just know stories from my mother, a bard and poet.
The kid in me thinks it would be cool to carry someone else's heart with me into battle.
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u/Dangerous_Hot_Sauce 1d ago
Francis hutchheson, was born in Ireland to Scottish parents (presbyterian but well gloss over that) and became professor of moral philosophy and basically was instrumental in the Scottish enlightenment and started to law the foundation of modern human rights theory
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u/Bael_thebard 19h ago edited 12h ago
Constantine 2nd, he brought a huge amount of stability to Scotland. A very long reign for the time, fought the vikings, then with the vikings (and the kingdom of Strathclyde) at the battle of brunanburh (should check that battle out, was simply referred to as “the battle” for centuries), defended Scotland against English invasions, terms such as Alba, Scots, Scotland all appeared during his reign referring to our country’s name, he also retired as a king to become a monk. What we know of him indicates he must have been a very impressive man, and hardly anyone knows he even existed. His family are also incredibly interesting.
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u/Dismal-Pipe-6728 18h ago
Mary Barbour, Dr Elsie Ingles, James Clerk Maxwell, Thomas Muir, Thomas Telford to name but a few.
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u/RandomiseUsr0 Double positive makes a negative? Aye, Right! 18h ago
Maxwell is a household name in this household, Mr Kelvin too
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u/tots-units-fem-forca 17h ago
Gregor McGregor. Not a good guy but an incredible life story. I think there exists letters to him from Simón Bolívar asking him to recommit to the cause.
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u/Teddy-Don 12h ago
Nan Shepherd (the woman on the £5 note). She was a writer and poet, who authored the memoir, The Living Mountain, based on experiences of hill walking in the Cairngorms. She made a major contribution to Scots-language literature at a time when it was still disparaged.
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u/civisromanvs 1d ago
Alexander Meiklejohn, on of the biggest free speech activists of the 20th century
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u/abz_eng ME/CFS Sufferer 1d ago
He holds a number of records that will never be equalled never mind beaten
- Most aircraft types flown, and it only logs main name not marks/versions - e.g. Spitfire not the 20 variants
- Most carrier landings >2400, an American Navy pilot tried to get the record for the US Navy but suffered a mental breakdown at c1600 as the odds of having an accident just increase & increase
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u/Firegoddess66 1d ago
Ken Cowan, founder of PHACE west, Outright Scotland and helped create Body Positive.
He worked hard for Scottish folks and is often overlooked.
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u/Lexter2112 18h ago
James Finlayson.
Actor extraordinaire, pioneer of Hollywood comedies, unknown to Gen Z along with most of his contemporaries now. Jimmy was one of the most recognisable actors of his day and arguably the first Scottish actor known worldwide. Also the inspiration for Homer Simpson's famous....
.... D'oh!!!!!
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u/vickylaa 16h ago
Local mad scientist who came up with a smallpox inoculation way ahead of the curve and probably a big part in preventing the extinction of shetland people and culture. Also had loads of other inventions, despite zero qualifications or formal education. Makes you wonder what a person like that would have created if they were around today.
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u/Iknockholes-inhouses 7h ago
Robert Watson-Watt, pioneer in Radar and Direction Finding Radar that greatly helped the WWII war effort. Born in Brechin not far from where I lived, my friend lived opposite the square where theres a statue commemorating his achievments
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u/ranjitzu 17h ago
Kevin Woods
Incredibly talented mountaineer and the 3rd person to complete a winter round of all the munros.
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u/tagh-beatha 15h ago
James Croll, a 19th century scientist who taught himself physics and astronomy when he was working as a janitor at the University of Glasgow. He developed theories about climate variability based on the Earth’s orbit, which decades later was further developed and proven as Milankovitch cycles.
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u/CalimeroVortogern 15h ago
James Clerk Maxwell rightly is the name everyone will post. But David Hume and James Hutton should be up there. Hume is mentioned alongside the world's greatest philosophers and James Hutton has been called the 'Father of geology"
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u/ImaginaryAcadia4474 13h ago
John Rae. Saw a fantastic documentary once and watched an English naval officers brain almost explode at the conclusions in it.
So inspired by the documentary that I went to visit John Rae’s house and grave. Fascinating man altogether. More people should know about him
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u/AliMaClan 13h ago
Donald Dinnie. The BBC website says "Comparing his best performances long before the Athens Olympics of 1896 leads one to imagine him capable of winning seven gold, a silver, and a bronze medal"
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u/ofnuts 13h ago
William Fife. Naval architect, designed some of the finest sailboats ever, including one worshipped in France.
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u/Go1gotha Clanranald Yeti 12h ago
A distant relation of my wife, John Cruickshank VC, he turns 105 next month.
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u/StairheidCritic 11h ago
Little known
Admiral Thomas Cochrane (of several navies) - his military exploits going up the ranks and beyond are the stuff of legend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cochrane,_10th_Earl_of_Dundonald
Hero
John Maclean 'Red Clydesider'.
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u/Enough-Variety-8468 10h ago
James Maxton, old buddy and influence on my great grandfather
Manny Shinwell for the same reasons
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u/Adventurous-Dish619 3h ago
Dr John Rae. Arctic explorer who found and reported evidence of cannibalism in the Franklin expedition but was then rubbished by Charles Dickens.
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u/WeedelHashtro 1d ago
Rennie Mackintosh.
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u/renebelloche 1d ago
Isn’t CRM a household name, though? Am I just massively overestimating the general public?
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u/WeedelHashtro 17h ago
As far as conversations I've had with people no. However that's just my experience and it's even been the same on building sites which you would assume would know all about buildings architecture and design.
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u/DINNERTIME_CUNT 1d ago
You left out his first name. Charles.
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u/WeedelHashtro 17h ago
It was a subtle point only 2 people seem to have noticed . I also missed out his wife. Much respect <3
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u/barmey696969 16h ago
James Watt, smart bloke. Know for work on steam engines, went a long way to starting off the Industrial Revolution. Probably not too many people recognize the fact that the electrical measurement Watt is named after him PS Probably the only good thing to come out of Greenock apart from Greenock Football Club.
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u/renebelloche 1d ago
James Clerk Maxwell. He really should be a household name.