37-562: (Redirected from Duncan MacRae ) Duncan Macrae or Duncan MacRae may refer to: Duncan Macrae (actor) (1905–1967), Scottish actor Duncan Macrae (rugby union) (1914–2007), Scottish rugby union footballer Duncan MacRae (rugby league) (1934–2019), New Zealand rugby league footballer Donnchadh MacRath aka Duncan MacRae of Inverinate (died between 1693 and 1704), Gaelic poet and compiler See also [ edit ] Duncan McRae (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by
74-604: A 1943 biography of FDR), literary criticism, satires, apologia ( Sublime Tobacco 1957), children's stories, poetry and so on. Of his fiction, The Four Winds of Love is sometimes considered his magnum opus . He was admired by F. Scott Fitzgerald , whose first book, This Side of Paradise , was written under the literary influence of Compton. Sinister Street , his lengthy 1913–14 Bildungsroman , influenced George Orwell and Cyril Connolly , who both read it as schoolboys. Max Beerbohm praised Mackenzie's writing for vividness and emotional reality. Frank Swinnerton ,
111-598: A fan of snooker , and gave an account of the origin of the game's name in The Billiard Player magazine of 1939, describing how young lieutenant Neville Chamberlain (not the former British Prime Minister) was experimenting on the officers' mess table with the existing game of "Black Pool" featuring 15 red balls and a black. He presented the World Championship trophy to Joe Davis at the 1939 Championships . After his retirement, Mackenzie sold
148-727: A literary critic, comments on Mackenzie's "detail and wealth of reference". Sir John Betjeman said of it, "This has always seemed to me one of the best novels of the best period in English novel writing." Henry James thought it to be the most remarkable book written by a young author in his lifetime. After his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1914, Mackenzie explored religious themes in a trilogy of novels, The Altar Steps (1922), The Parson's Progress (1923) and The Heavenly Ladder (1924). In 1922, Robin Legge , chief music critic of The Daily Telegraph , encouraged Mackenzie to write some of
185-723: A politician sensitively in Thin Ice (1956). The Lunatic Republic (1959) is a political satire. For the version of English spoken by the inhabitants of Lunamania on the far side of the Moon, Mackenzie invented over 150 new words. Mackenzie worked as an actor, political activist and broadcaster. He served with British Intelligence in the Eastern Mediterranean during the First World War , later publishing four books on his experiences. According to these books, he
222-647: A professional actor in 1943, after a successful amateur drama career. He first made his name as a comic actor of distinction with Curtain Theatre , an amateur group, in 1937, in the title role of Robert McLellan 's Jamie the Saxt , a performance which became his "signature" role in the early years. In 1938, he directed Curtain's production of Henrik Ibsen 's Hedda Gabler at the Lyric Theatre in Glasgow. He
259-525: A song lyricist and sketch writer. Within a year their relationship became estranged over the marriage of his sister Fay, aged 17, to the 37 year-old Pélissier. It was then that he took up novel writing as a full-time career bolstered by the success of his early best-seller Carnival (1912), partly based on his experience with The Follies. Mackenzie is perhaps best known for two comic novels set in Scotland: Whisky Galore (1947) set in
296-537: A theatrical family of Mackenzies, many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his English grandfather Henry Compton , a well-known Shakespearean actor of the Victorian era . His father, Edward Compton Mackenzie, and mother, Virginia Frances Bateman , were actors and theatre company managers; his sister, Fay Compton (whose son was Anthony Pelissier , Compton's nephew), starred in many of J. M. Barrie 's plays, including Peter Pan . He
333-406: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Duncan Macrae (actor) John Duncan Macrae (20 August 1905 – 23 March 1967) was one of the leading Scottish actors of his generation. He worked mainly as a stage actor and also made five television appearances and seventeen films. Macrae was born at 118 Kirkland Street, Maryhill , Glasgow ,
370-631: The Hebrides , and The Monarch of the Glen (1941) set in the Scottish Highlands . They were the sources of a successful film and a television series respectively. He published almost a hundred books on different subjects, including ten volumes of autobiography: My Life and Times (1883–71). He wrote history (on the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Salamis ), biography ( Mr Roosevelt ,
407-728: The James Bond spoof Casino Royale . Macrae became a mainstay of television Hogmanay celebrations in the 1950s and 1960s with a rendition of his song (in Glaswegian Scots ), "The Wee Cock Sparra". Macrae died in March 1967, in Glasgow, before the release of several screen appearances: in the films Casino Royale , and 30 Is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia , and in the television series The Wednesday Play and The Prisoner . Compton Mackenzie Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie , OBE (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972)
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#1732797468410444-827: The Royal Stuart Society , and a co-founder of the National Party of Scotland . He became a member of the Scottish Arts Club in 1929. He was rector of University of Glasgow from 1931 to 1934, defeating Oswald Mosley , who later led the British Union of Fascists , in his bid for the job. From 1920 to 1923 Mackenzie was the Tenant of Herm and Jethou . He built a house on Barra , in the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides) of Scotland, in
481-551: The 1930s. On Barra, he gained inspiration and found creative solitude, and befriended a great number of people that he described as "the aristocrats of democracy". He was a founding member of the short-lived secret organisation Clann Albain . Mackenzie was married three times. On 30 November 1905 (aged 22), he married Faith Stone in St Saviour's, Pimlico : they remained married for more than 50 years, until her death. In 1962 (aged 79), he married Christina MacSween, who died
518-695: The 1932 edition was entered in the British Library's public catalogue. In 2011 Biteback published the original 1932 edition of Greek Memories , including the Secret Intelligence Service memo detailing the offending passages of the book. He was president of the Croquet Association from 1953 to 1966. He was president of the Siamese Cat Club. He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1956 when he
555-524: The Italian pianist Renata Borgatti , who was connected to Romaine Brooks . Compton Mackenzie's observations on the local life of the Italian islanders and foreign residents led to at least two novels, Vestal Fire (1927) and Extraordinary Women (1928). The latter, a roman à clef about a group of lesbians arriving on the island of Sirene, a fictional version of Capri, was published in Britain in
592-456: The book by Sir Compton Mackenzie , and, in the first TV series adapted from stories about Para Handy – Master Mariner , Neil Munro 's masterpiece of west coast "high jinks", Macrae played the eponymous Captain . He lived in Glasgow and also had a home in Millport on the island of Cumbrae . In 1953 he starred alongside Jean Anderson in the role of James MacKenzie, an embittered settler in
629-406: The case, succeeded in annoying the trial judge to such an extent that he then reduced the penalties to a token amount. Even so, the costs of his defence and the withdrawal from sale of Greek Memories left Mackenzie out of pocket and an attempt was made to ask the authorities exactly which passages in the book they objected to so it could be re-issued with the offending material removed. This approach
666-649: The drama The Kidnappers for which he received a Scottish Arts Council award. One of the film's most memorable moments comes with the horror on Duncan Macrae's face at what his grandchild must have thought of him when the little boy implores "Don't eat the babbie". Macrae played the Nabob in the Edinburgh Gateway Company's Edinburgh International Festival production of McLellan's historical comedy The Flouers o Edinburgh in August 1957. He then played
703-476: The earliest gramophone record reviews. In 1923 he and his brother-in-law Christopher Stone founded Gramophone , the still-influential classical music magazine. Mackenzie continued to edit the magazine until 1961. He was also the literary critic for the London-based national newspaper Daily Mail . Following his time on Capri , socialising with the gay exiles there, he treated the homosexuality of
740-517: The entire copyright in 20 of his books for a lump sum of £10,000 arguing that this was a capital receipt and not the proceeds of the business. The Court of Appeal held that this was assessable income as part of the proceeds of his business: Mackenzie v Arnold (1952) 33 TC 363. Mackenzie died on 30 November 1972, aged 89, in Edinburgh and was interred in St Barr's churchyard cemetery at Eoligarry on
777-457: The following year. Lastly, he married his deceased wife's sister , Lilian MacSween in 1965 (aged 82). (died 2009) Mackenzie was a supporter of West Bromwich Albion F.C. Although from the north east of England, he "was influenced in the choice of Albion as 'my' team by the fact that their ground was romantically called The Hawthorns and that they were nicknamed the Throstles". He was also
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#1732797468410814-438: The fourth of the six children of James Macrae, a sergeant in the Glasgow police force, and his wife, Catherine Graham. He attended Allan Glen's School and matriculated in the engineering faculty at Glasgow University in 1923–1924, but did not graduate. He trained as a schoolteacher at Jordanhill College, where he met Ann H Mcallister, the voice coach, who was a profound influence on his life. He taught in Glasgow until he became
851-483: The plan when the Duke asked him not to publish. Between 1913 and 1920 he lived with his wife, Faith , on Capri at Villa Solitaria , and returned to visit in later years. This Italian island near Sorrento was known to be tolerant not just of foreigners in general, but of artists and homosexuals in particular. He became friends with the writer Somerset Maugham , a frequent visitor to the island. Faith had an affair with
888-689: The royal palace was to be surrounded by fire to prevent him escaping. While his secret service work seems to have been valued highly by his superiors, including Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming , his passionate political views, especially his support for the Venizelists , made him a controversial figure and he was expelled from Athens following the Noemvriana . In 1917, he founded the Aegean Intelligence Service, and enjoyed considerable autonomy for some months as its director. He
925-406: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duncan_Macrae&oldid=938930038 " Category : Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
962-484: The same year as two other ground-breaking novels with lesbian themes, Virginia Woolf 's love letter to Vita Sackville-West , Orlando , and Radclyffe Hall 's controversial polemic, The Well of Loneliness , but Mackenzie's satire did not attract legal attention. He was a friend of Axel Munthe , who built Villa San Michele , and Edwin Cerio , who later became mayor of Capri. Mackenzie went to great lengths to trace
999-465: The steps of his ancestors back to his spiritual home in the Highlands, and displayed a deep and tenacious attachment to Gaelic culture throughout his long and very colourful life. As his biographer, Andro Linklater , commented, "Mackenzie wasn't born a Scot, and he didn't sound like a Scot. But nevertheless his imagination was truly Scottish." He was an ardent Jacobite , the third Governor-General of
1036-701: The title role in James Bridie 's Dr. Angelus at The Gateway before returning to the Citizens' to play Malvolio in Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night . He also played the lead role in The Sow's Lug , a radio play written and produced by the Hawick poet and writer David Hill. During the 1960s he appeared in episodes of the cult TV series The Avengers and The Prisoner , as well as Inspector Mathis in
1073-512: The trial, vividly described, is in Octave Seven (1931–38) of his autobiography: the result was a fine of £100 and (prosecution) costs of £100. His own costs were over £1,000. Mackenzie states that a plea-bargain (described in the text as "an arrangement") had been reached with the judge prior to the trial: in exchange for his pleading guilty, he would be fined £500 with £500 costs. However Sir Thomas Inskip , then attorney general who prosecuted
1110-521: Was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist . He was one of the co-founders in 1928 of the National Party of Scotland along with Hugh MacDiarmid , R. B. Cunninghame Graham and John MacCormick . He was knighted in the 1952 Birthday Honours List . Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool , County Durham , England, into
1147-960: Was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and was also honoured with the French Legion of Honour , the Serbian Order of the White Eagle , and the Greek Order of the Redeemer . After the publication of his Greek Memories in 1932, he was prosecuted the following year at the Old Bailey under the Official Secrets Act for quoting from supposedly secret documents. His account of
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1184-634: Was commissioned in the Royal Marines , rising to the rank of captain. His ill-health making front-line service impractical, he was assigned counter-espionage work during the Gallipoli campaign , and in 1916 built up a considerable counter-intelligence network in Athens, Greece then being neutral. He is alleged to have taken part in an attempt to assassinate the King by poison in August 1916, during which
1221-643: Was educated at St Paul's School , London, and Magdalen College, Oxford , from where he graduated with a degree in Modern History. In 1910, he began a brief career as an actor at the Garrick theatre in The Bishop's Son by Hall Caine . From there he joined the satirical theatrical troupe The Follies under the management of the comedian and impresario H.G. Pélissier at the Apollo, Shaftesbury Avenue as
1258-574: Was offered the Presidency of the Republic of Cerigo , which was briefly independent while Greece was split between Royalists and Venizelists , but declined the office. He was recalled in September 1917. Smith-Cumming considered appointing him as his deputy, but withdrew the suggestion after opposition from within his own service, and Mackenzie played no further active role in the war. In 1919, he
1295-726: Was rebuffed. In Octave Eight, covering the years 1939–45, Mackenzie recounts that the matter was raised in Parliament and a new version of Greek Memories was eventually published in 1939. However, in spite of the withdrawal of the 1st edition a copy had already been deposited at the British Museum (which then contained what is now the independent British Library) but was not given a general catalogue reference making it effectively impossible to access. In 1994 The Guardian newspaper published an article about this anomaly The muzzling of Compton Mackenzie – 62 years on . Following this
1332-561: Was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the King's Theatre , Hammersmith , London. A strong supporter of Edward VIII , Mackenzie was a leading member of the Octavians, a minor society that campaigned in support of Edward VIII and for his return to the UK after he became the Duke of Windsor. According to a 1938 Time article Mackenzie had intended to write a book in support of Edward but abandoned
1369-547: Was then a member, along with Stanley Baxter , of the early Citizens' Theatre company in Glasgow, founded during the war in 1943 . In 1948, he played Oliphant, the Laird of Stumpie, in the first performance of Robert Kemp 's Let Wives Tak Tent , a translation into Scots of Molière 's L'école des femmes , at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh. He had a role in the 1949 Ealing comedy Whisky Galore! , based on
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