|
 The
first joint Oliver Brown Award was presented to the distinguished
journalists and authors James S Adam and Sir Alastair M Dunnett on 28
June 1997 in the Terraces Hotel, Stirling. Speakers included SNP
President Dr Winifred M Ewing MEP and Michael F Russell, SNP Chief
Executive, who proposed the Toast to the Scots Independent.
Sadly Sir Alastair M Dunnett died on 2 September
1998 and his lifelong friend James S Adam on 16 April 2003.
The following article by Douglas
Moonie looked at the
careers of the joint Award winners and revealed why they were knows as
'The Canoe Boys', appeared in the May 1997 issue of the Scots
Independent.
THE CANOE BOYS - James S Adam and Sir Alastair M
Dunnett - by Douglas Moonie.
In late 1933 two young Scots gave up their
"safe" jobs, in banking and newspaper advertising, to launch a
weekly magazine for Scottish boys, with the title "Claymore",
which emphasised the physical and intellectual adventure ready to hand
in Scotland. With the aid of three compatriots, Alastair M Dunnet and
James (Seumas) S Adam, not only wrote but lived the adventures which
appeared in the pages of "Claymore".
After initial success the magazine ran into sales
difficulties in the summer of 1934 as Scottish boys preferred real
outdoors adventure to merely reading them second-hand! The aim of the
magazine to encourage Scottish youth to discover the outdoor attractions
of Scotland, proved to be its downfall as the falling sales resulted in
a drain not only on the founder’s pockets but on their health. They
eventually had to take the advice of their friendly printer and cease
publication. Cash flow was just as big a problem in the 1930s as it is
to-day.
Although "Claymore" ceased publication,
many of its stories later appeared in book form, such as Alastair M
Dunnett’s ‘Treasure at Sonnach’ (1935),
and after building up their physical strength
the two founders set out on an adventure worthy of the columns of
"Claymore". In single-seater "Lochaber"
canoes the kilted duo set off from Bowling on the Clyde to canoe to
Stornoway. Along their route they were told that it was "too late
in the year" for their venture. Nevertheless they paddled on,
writing dispatches for the "Daily Record" to cover costs, and
reached Skye before having to call a halt. The appellation "The
Canoe Boys" had been well and truly born and after more than 60
years is still the talk of the West Coast of Scotland. As James S Adam
recalls in his recently printed "Over The Minch", he overheard
a conversation in Tobermoray in 1996, "And one of the ‘Canoe Boys’
is on Calve". Seamas Adam was that ‘Boy’. I will review ‘Over
The Minch’ in the June SI.
Alastair M Dunnett was to immortalise their sea
adventure in 1950 when "Quest by Canoe" was published,
subsequently to be reprinted under the title "Too Late in the
Year", and in 1995 reprinted again under the Neil Wilson Publishing
imprint as "The Canoe Boys —from
the Clyde past The Cuillins". I was privileged to be at the book’s
launch when both "Canoe Boys" were in fine fettle as
undoubtably they will be in the Terraces, Stirling, on the afternoon of
28th June.
Seumas Adam was to complete their original aim of
canoeing to Stornoway when a year later he made the first solo canoe
trip across The Minch. Waiting to greet him at Stornoway was the other
half of "The Canoe Boys"
— Alastair M Dunnett.
"The Canoe Boys" by-name had been well
and truly launched and friendship first founded through their
participation in a Scout pantomine has been maintained throughout
their varied careers and the friends still meet on a weekly basis.
After the canoe venture, Sir Alastair went on to
work on various Scottish newspapers before becoming Chief Press Officer at the Scottish Office during the War
years. He worked for Tom Johnston, the best-ever Secretary of State
for Scotland, a man whom both "Canoe Boys" hold, rightly, in
high esteem. After the Hitler War, Sir Alastair became Editor of the
Daily Record in 1946 — a
vastly different paper from to-day’s tabloid — and in 1956 he moved to become the finest Editor
of the Scotsman in modern times. With the discovery of oil in Scottish
waters he served as Chairman of Thomson Scottish Petroleum Ltd from
1971 to 1979. He has also been a Director of Scottish Television,
Governor of the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Member of the Press Council, served on the Scottjsh
Tourist Board, been a Council Member of the National Trust for
Scotland, the Scottish International Education Trust, and on the
committees of Scottish Theater Ballet and Scottish Opera. An author and
playwright, his entertaining and informative autobiography "Among
Friends" was published in 1984. Sir Alastair is married to the
author and portrait painter Dorothy Dunnett.
James S Adam also returned to newspaper work before
War Time service working directly to the War Office as a Staff
Captain. On demob, Seumas Adam became successively Features Editor of
the Glasgow Evening News, then of the Daily Record, before taking on
the post of Assistant Editor of the Evening Times. He moved to
Edinburgh on his appointment as Editor of the Weekly Scotsman, a paper
which had a wide readership of Scots the world over — an apt task for a man with a vast knowledge of
all aspects of Scottish life. He moved into newspaper management as
General Manager of the Scotsman Publications. This was followed by a
period in exile as Managing Director of the Chester Chronicle
Newspapers and subsequently as Managing Director of the Middlesborough
Evening Gazette.
Returning to Scotland in 1975, he was invited to
organise the first-ever International Gathering of the Clans which
took place in 1977. He followed this success by helping to bring Scots
from the ends of the earth to the first-ever International Gathering
of the Clans in Nova Scotia. Through his participation in the Scottish
International Gathering Trust, Seumas Adam has developed world-wide
friendships. He is, appropriately, a Past President of the Scottish
Canoe Association, the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers, past member
of the Scottish Council of Physical Recreation and of the Cairngorm
Winter Sports Development Board.
 A Dundonian, with a Aberdeen, Buchan and Highland
background, he imbued Scots as his Mither Tongue, but has found time
in a hectic life to become fluent in Gaelic, to the extent that his
prose and poems have appeared in "Gairm". His fine poetry
in Scots has found many outlets including ‘Lallans’, ‘‘Scots
Magazine" and the "Scots Independent". Recent
publications such as "New Verses for an Auld Sang",
"Gaelic Wordbook" and "The Declaration of Arbroath"
have proved to be very popular — "The
DecIaration" alone having been purchased by over 1000 Scottish
schools, bringing a new generation of Scots the inspiring words of
1320.
Both."Canoe Boys" have contributed much
to Scottish life and letters. Their lives have been inspired by a love
of Scotland, her hills and glens, her culture, history and languages.
James S Adam and Sir Alastair Dunnett, ‘The Canoe
Boys’, are worthy, first-ever, joint winners of the Oliver Brown
Award.
|
