The Courier’s Impact 100 list for 2013 continues with positions 25 to 1 and confirmation of our winner. See Saturday’s Courier for full reaction to this year’s countdown.
25. ALAN DEAR. (COMPARED TO LAST YEAR: NEW)His year: As manager of the newly revamped and rejuvenated Gardyne Theatre, Alan Dear has put a lifetime of experience in the arts, performance, music and management into creating a real theatrical hub for the city, with the widest-ranging programme possible for its scale and amenities. This year, he also took on the challenge of producing Jackie the Musical, capturing the spirit of the famous teenage magazine. Created in association with DC Thomson, it enjoyed a sell-out and critically-acclaimed three-week run and is lining up further performances throughout the country.
PANEL VIEW: The new Gardyne is a real asset for the city, its arts communities and audiences and Alan Dear’s leadership and “can-do” approach have added another dimension to the cultural life of Dundee, Broughty Ferry and the east of Scotland.
24. PROFESSOR LOUISE RICHARDSON. (30)Her year: The celebration of the university’s 600th anniversary has placed Professor Richardson, as principal and vice-chancellor, in the local, national and international spotlight. She was instrumental – and gave the laureation address in September – in the high-profile award of an honorary degree to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, drawing the eyes of the world to St Andrews. She was also part of a cycle relay team from Spain to St Andrews, marking the route of the papal bull that established the university.
PANEL VIEW: St Andrews has many claims to fame but the tenure of Professor Richardson at the university has come at one of the most significant periods in history for both town and gown. She has risen to the occasion and seized every opportunity to promote and support the university’s image at home and abroad.
23. JUDY MURRAY. (NEW)Her year: As the power behind the throne of new king of tennis Andy Murray, his mother Judy trained and inspired the champion and still supports him to the hilt. She did the same for his elder brother Jamie, a doubles champion and former Davis Cup player, but in her own right is currently the coach of the Federation Cup team, the female equivalent of the Davis Cup, and the single most important woman in British tennis. She is reported to have said: “I’d rather die!” when asked if she was interested in the top job at the Lawn Tennis Association. She and golfer Colin Montgomerie recently unveiled plans for a top-notch tennis and golf academy based at Park of Keir, between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.
PANEL VIEW: Judy Murray was a central influence in making her own sons world-class sportsmen and is now turning her considerable energies and focus to doing the same for British women’s tennis and for grassroots activity. She’s a force to be reckoned with for the future of Scottish sport.
22. SCOT GARDINER. (NEW)His year: Dundee Football Club chief executive Scot Gardiner was instrumental in securing financial investment in the club from Texan backers. He also completed the appointment of manager John Brown after the sacking of Barry Smith, as well as being involved with the reconstruction of the Scottish football league structure.
Recently he was offered the equivalent position at Rangers FC a club where he has worked before but he turned it down to stay at Dens Park.
PANEL VIEW: 2013 was a big year for Dundee FC off the field and Scot Gardiner has played a big part in shaping the direction the Dark Blues will take over the coming years.
21. EVE MUIRHEAD. (NEW)Her year: She was skip of the Scottish Women’s team that won World Curling Championship gold in Latvia, carrying off the title with the last stone. She and her colleagues were the first British athletes selected for the Winter Olympics at Sochi 2014. In February, she clinched the Scottish curling title and her rink also carried off the end of season Players’ Championship in Toronto, the first European team to win a Grand Slam event.
PANEL VIEW: A great year for Scottish curling and a personal triumph for Eve, who emulated the last-minute winner of mentor and coach Rhona Martin in Salt Lake in 2002 to take this year’s world title.
20. YOUNGJAE LEE. (NEW)His year: Youngjae Lee is the public face of Samsung Heavy Industries’ wind turbine demonstration project in Fife. In 2013, Mr Lee helped oversee the erection of SHI’s 7MW test turbine – the largest machine of its kind in the world at 196m tall – in the Forth off Fife Energy Park at Methil.
Mr Lee has been heavily involved in the community engagement element of the project and represented the Korean engineering giant at a series of local meetings. A successful demonstration programme could lead to a £100m investment in Fife and the creation of 500 jobs at a full-blown manufacturing facility.
PANEL VIEW: SHI’s decision to locate its European renewables HQ in Fife was a momentous one and the work now being undertaken by Mr Lee and his colleagues in Fife holds the potential of a major future economic prize for the kingdom. As the company’s nominated spokesman on the turbine project, Mr Lee has become an increasingly influential figure in the Fife business scene during 2013.
19. LINDA HOLT. (NEW)Her year: Spokesperson and press officer for the newly-formed Scotland Against Spin, an alliance of anti-windfarm groups and successor to CATS (Communities Against Turbines Scotland), campaigner Linda Holt has been at the forefront of comment and condemnation of plans in Fife – and across Scotland – for further controversial wind energy developments. She has been vocal and visible across the media, speaking out on all related elements from planning proposals and the effect on property prices to opposing the University of St Andrews’ plan for turbines at Kenly Farm.
PANEL VIEW: This is an issue close to many people’s hearts across Scotland that isn’t going away any time soon. Linda Holt is a major figure in presenting the case against, and keeping the subject in the public eye.
18. JACK VETTRIANO. (86).His year: After 20 years as a successful painter with a huge public following, in 2013 Jack Vettriano was given his first large-scale show in a public gallery in Scotland. A retrospective of around 100 of his work was staged at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the second most popular gallery in Scotland. This was seen as a major coup for an artist known to have smarted at being looked down upon by the art establishment in his native land. All the works came from private collections, including Hollywood star Jack Nicholson’s and over 1,000 people a day visited the gallery with late opening being allowed for the first time in many years. The artist professed himself “honoured” by the event and the public reaction.
PANEL VIEW: Whether you like or loathe his work, Jack Vettriano is the embodiment of popular art in Scotland and far beyond, with his prints adorning walls where few other works of art might be found. A major show like this was, many would say, overdue; or, from the opposite point of view, a dumbing down of artistic expression.
17. JOHN SWINNEY. (2)His year: As cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth in the Scottish Government, John Swinney’s abilities and talents are central to the arguments of his party and government in the run-up to the crucial 2014 independence referendum. This year, he has been a vital figure in setting out the financial case for independence and also played a major role in the Grangemouth dispute. At the SNP conference this year, he also promised that there would be no tolls on the new Queensferry Crossing.
PANEL VIEW: With Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney’s political influence cannot be over-stated and this year, he has laid the groundwork for a hard-fought and passionate lead-in to the 2014 vote.
16. STEWART MURDOCH. (NEW)His year: Stewart Murdoch was the chairman of the bid team that battled to make Dundee 2017’s City of Culture, He is a community development worker who has over 30 years’ practice experience in both the voluntary sector and local government. He is the director of leisure and communities for Dundee City Council, the chair of the Scottish Community Development Centre and the Community Development Alliance (Scotland) and a trustee of the Community Development Foundation.
PANEL VIEW: One of the biggest cultural projects in the city’s history was put together by a wide-ranging team under the chairmanship of Stewart Murdoch, who has a reputation in the city and beyond for his commitment to wide-ranging artistic and community events and supporting people who live, work and create in Dundee. Its impact has already been massive in terms of confidence and belief in the city and its abilities.
15. NOAH DUNCAN. (NEW).His year: Rosyth 10-year-old Noah Duncan lost an eye after treatment for a rare form of cancer. He was given a Cancer Research UK Little Star award and as the embodiment of the spirit of the Little Star awards, this year Noah was named as an ambassador and has fronted Cancer Research-supported events locally.
He received a Kingdom FM Child of Achievement award and started last year’s Kirkcaldy Race for Life. This year, he took part with his mum Brenda in the event, with Beat It Cancer painted on his arms to encourage people to sign up. He also raised funds in the 1.5 Junior Race at the 2013 Edinburgh Marathon and raises funds for CCLASP, a charity that supports children with cancer and leukaemia and their parents.
PANEL VIEW: Noah is an inspirational wee boy, celebrating courage and resilience in the face of adversity and showing that it’s all about what you can do, not what you can’t.
14. PROFESSOR SIR PHILIP COHEN. (13)His year: This distinguished scientist and academic from the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee was awarded the Millennium Medal, the most prestigious award given by the Medical Research council to an outstanding recipient who has made a major contribution towards the organisation’s stated mission of improving human health through world-class medical research. He has devoted his career to studying a cell regulation process called phosphorylation – if the process goes wrong, it can cause diseases such as cancer, diabetes and arthritis.
PANEL VIEW: The Millennium Medal is the ultimate recognition by his peers of Sir Philip Cohen’s stature in the world of science and research. Not bad for a man who had been working away for 25 years before the first offer of funding from a pharmaceutical firm. “People used to say: ‘Oh, what you’re doing is interesting but it will never be of the slightest use for improving health or for wealth creation’,” he recalled.
13. PROFESSOR CAROLINE WILKINSON. (NEW)Her year: The rediscovery in a Leicester car park of the bones of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king who died in battle in 1485, was the unexpected headline-grabber of 2013. The story was brought to vivid life for many by the ground-breaking work of Caroline Wilkinson, professor of cranio-facial identification at the University of Dundee. She used her expertise to recreate the controversial and some would say much-maligned monarch’s facial features in 3D, based purely on the physical characteristics of the skull, rather than existing images. She also recreated a portrait head of Mary, Queen of Scots.
PANEL VIEW: A 500-year-old story was retold in an amazing way by scientific skills that literally put a surprising face to a name shrouded in infamy for centuries. We could all look into the eyes of a long-dead king and see a real person. It gave us the chance to look directly at history with humanity.
12. DAVID NELSON, LOUISE McLEARY, ANNIE HARROWER-GRAY. (NEW)Their year: Four out of five appeals brought with the assistance of the Fife Law Centre against the so-called “bedroom tax” were upheld this year in important judgments for those who live in social housing. David Nelson of Auchmuty and Dovecot Tenants and Residents Association, Louise McLeary, spokesperson for Kirkcaldy Anti-Bedroom Tax Campaign and Annie Harrower-Grey who lives in Anstruther benefited from the rulings by Westminster government appointed QC Simon Collins and there could now be many more such cases in the pipeline. Another un-named appellant also succeeded on appeal.
PANEL VIEW: These could well be landmark decisions in a long drawn-out dispute between tenants and landlords in the “bedroom tax” debate and have great significance in setting a precedent for other future appeals against loss of housing benefit.
11. DR PER OLA KRISTENSSON. (NEW)His year: Named as one of the people “most likely to change the world” in MIT Technology Review’s list of 35 Top Young Innovators. Previous winners include the founders and designers of Google, Facebook, Apple and Tumblr. The Swedish 34-year-old is a lecturer in human computer Interaction in the University of St Andrews’ School of Computer Science, where he leads the Intelligence Interactive System Group. He helped invent the popular gestural text-entry method known as Shapewriter. “I’m interested in optimizing the flow of information from the brain into the computer,” he says.
PANEL VIEW: People like Per Ola Kristensson are the shapers of the future where social interaction and new technology are concerned. Recognition at this level from an organisation like MIT is hugely impressive.
10. SHONA ROBISON. (65)Her year: The MSP for Dundee East has been ubiquitous at events at home and abroad as the Scottish Government’s figurehead promoting and highlighting the Commonwealth Games and their potential legacy, with particular emphasis on getting people actively involved in sport, as well as providing an audience in the eyes of the world for this major sporting event being held in Scotland in independence referendum year. She recently announced a £10million sportscotland investment in club sport development across Scotland.
PANEL VIEW: Shona Robison has one of the highest profile jobs in the Scottish cabinet, as minister with responsibility for the Commonwealth Games and sport and for what happens after that in terms of public health and sporting activity.
9. LORRAINE KELLY. (1)Her year: A high-profile national broadcaster on ITV’s Daybreak with a vast audience and fan-base, for many she is synonymous with the City of Dundee and its renaissance as a cultural and academic centre of excellence. This year she was named as one of the ambassadors for Dundee’s City of Culture bid. She is also a tireless promoter of charities from the military to medical research, has publicly supported the new Scottish Air Ambulance and is an honorary colonel in the Black Watch.
PANEL VIEW: One of the best-known and best-loved presenters on TV and associated strongly with her adopted home city, she is one of the faces of Dundee in the national and international arena.
8. ANN GLOAG. (18)Her year: Stagecoach founder, businesswoman and philanthropist Ann Gloag now concentrates on charity work including from Mercy Ship projects to an orphanage and school in Kenya. She founded Freedom from Fistula to help African women suffering from the effects of childbirth difficulties. This year she launched the charity in the USA, bringing together supermodel Christy Turlington, former Irish president and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson with Africa’s two female presidents, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and Dr Joyce Banda of Malawi. In October, she bought Manston Airport in Kent from its New Zealand owners for £1.
PANEL VIEW: Ann Gloag’s business sense and dedication to philanthropic projects globally have combined to make her an internationally significant figure. She is probably one of the few private individuals in the world who could bring together such a distinguished and high-status group of influential women.
7. BILL WALKER. (NEW)His year: Former SNP MSP for Dunfermline Bill Walker was jailed for 12 months in September after being convicted of a series of domestic abuse offences against three ex-wives and a step-daughter going back 28 years. His downfall and eventual resignation – he was ejected from the SNP in 2012 and subsequently sat as an independent – led to an important by-election in October, eventually won by Labour’s Cara Hilton. The case also turned the spotlight on the evils of domestic abuse and how such cases should be treated and tried – in summary courts or in higher courts where sentencing could be more severe. It has also led to rule changes at Holyrood on ejection and salary payments of convicted MSPs.
PANEL VIEW: Quite apart from the political fallout at a sensitive and interesting time for the balance of power in Scotland, the highly public nature of this case highlighted domestic abuse issues much more prominently than usual. It attracted universal condemnation and turned the spotlight on the way cases are tried.
6. CHRIS VAN DER KUYL. (NEW)His year: One of Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs and founder/owner of 4J Studios, Chris van der Kuyl heads the company that has produced Minecraft for the Xbox 360. It has sold more than 10 million copies, topped the best-sellers chart and fired into the top 10 best-selling games of all time. 4J has been nominated in the best family game category of the BAFTA videogames awards.
PANEL VIEW: This Dundee-based operation has achieved a truly worldwide reach with Minecraft, a phenomenon in the field of gaming and has put the city and its skills and technologies at the heart of this international and forward-looking industry.
5. BOB SERVANT. (NEW)His year: Broughty Ferry’s own cheeseburger tycoon turned political candidate became a high-profile figure outside his native constituency – and his famous extension – when he transferred from the printed page to the TV screen in the BBC’s Bob Servant, Independent. As documented by Dundee writer Neil Forsyth, the flat-capped, leather-jacketed, opinionated worthy began life as an email prankster, inspired a couple of books, became a radio hit and emerged as the face of the Ferry in the persona of his alter ego, City of Culture ambassador and Dundee University rector Brian Cox, who based his characterisation on his late brother, Charlie.
PANEL VIEW: Bob is a one-off with a style all his own. Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him. Some people say he’s made up and the figment of a wild imagination but we all know someone just like him. And you can’t deny that in Neil Forsyth and Brian Cox, he keeps very good company.
4. CRAIG & CHARLIE REID THE PROCLAIMERS. (52)Their year: The bespectacled pop twins with the unmistakable Scottish accent celebrated 30 years since the formation of their quirky duo back in 1983. The show (pioneered on-stage at Dundee Rep) based on their anthem Sunshine on Leith transferred to the big screen this year with excellent reviews and spectacular popular success – and of course, they provided the best-selling soundtrack. They also fronted this year’s Poppyscotland appeal and were the subjects of a pop art project, celebrating Andy Warhol and Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, staged at the Scottish Parliament.
PANEL VIEW: The Proclaimers have gone much further than 500 miles to stand the test of time, becoming musical legends with a real Scottish feel and national treasures in the process. There’s no-one quite like them!
3. ALISTAIR PHILLIPS-DAVIES. (NEW)His year: He took over as the new chief executive of Perth-based energy giant SSE this year and signed off on the decision to hike gas and electricity prices for thousands of customers across the UK, the first of the Big Six to do so, leading inevitably to rises from the other major providers. He advocates the removal of “stealth taxes” – to fund energy efficiency, renewables and social policies – as a way to reduce household bills and say he wants to make SSE as well-loved and highly regarded a brand as John Lewis and M&S. He declined to take the staff discount on his own energy bill and donated it to charity.
PANEL VIEW: SSE’s CEO is a major figure in the life of thousands, if not millions of customers and Alistair Phillips-Davies has come out fighting in defence of his company and its role, taking the argument to the politicians to undertake changes at a government level.
2. GORDON BROWN MP & SARAH BROWN. (41) (37)Their year: The former Prime Minister and MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Gordon Brown celebrates 30 years in parliament this year. Although he has had a role to play domestically, in the Dalgety Bay clean-up and Remploy campaigns, he has relished his wider role as UN Special Envoy for Global Education, with a particular highlight being the visit to Scotland this year of Malala Yousafzai whose cause he has championed. In Edinburgh, she spoke in support of the campaign A World at School, of which Sarah Brown is founder, and the recognition of the right of everyone – and particularly girls – to education. Malala and two friends, also injured in the attack in which she was shot, travelled to Burntisland in Fife, in Gordon Brown’ constituency and “topped out” a new primary school, with its library named after Malala. As founder of the Global Business Coalition for Education, Sarah Brown chaired a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative 2013 and was on the panel at an education event at the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit. She gave this year’s Fickling Lecture at Newcastle University.
PANEL VIEW: Gordon Brown’s passion for global politics has been replaced by an equally strong passion for education and the right to education in the international arena. He is succeeding in highlighting this vital process and in connecting Scotland and Scottish education to the wider world. Sarah Brown’s commitment to children’s issues and in particularly to education for girls and those in conflict zones has earned her wide respect and recognition.
1. ANDY MURRAY. (NEW)His year: In 2013, Andy Murray carried off his second Grand Slam and first Wimbledon men’s singles title, the first British player to achieve this in 77 years. He also helped the Great Britain team back into the Davis Cup World Group for the first time since 2008. He is currently World No 3. He recently published his autobiography, Coming of Age. The Dunblane Hotel he bought, Cromlix House, is about to open as a five-star venue next year.
He donated his winnings from the 2013 Aegon tournament at Queens to the Royal Marsden Hospital to highlight its support of his friend, Ross Hutchins, in his battle against cancer. He also dedicated his 2013 win in the Brisbane Open to Hutchins, who is now in remission.
PANEL VIEW: Andy Murray followed a ground-breaking year in 2012 with an even more impressive 2013 to become perhaps the highest-profile Scottish athlete of his generation. He also won a lot of new fans at home and abroad for his handling of these events and for his commitment to his country in team tennis.