At first glance the low-slung thatched cottage in Glamis’ Main Street bears a remarkable resemblance to Robert Burns’ birthplace in Alloway. How appropriate then that it belongs to retired doctor and Burnsian Ian Duncan and his wife Jennifer.
Ian has been passionate about Scotland’s national bard for almost 50 years.
When Ian was a trainee doctor at the end of the 1960s he spent six months in the doctors’ residence in Ballochmyle House near Mauchline in Ayrshire, and it was here, following closely in the poet’s footsteps, that’s his interest began.
“Ballochmyle was the former mansion and home of Sir Claud Alexander and his sister, Wilhelmina, the subject of Burns’ song, The Lass o’ Ballochmyle,” explains Ian, 73.
“Burns lived in Mauchline with his new bride, Jean Armour, and later farmed at Mossgiel with his brother Gilbert,” he continues.
“Burns was highly intelligent with a retentive memory. He loved books and studied a wide range of subjects. He was familiar with Latin and French and was as fluent in standard English as he was in the Scots tongue,” he says.
“In addition he had a very strong social conscience supporting equal rights for men and women regardless of class or social standing. His political views were so dangerous at the time, he often had to write anonymously!”
Then in 1973, Ian’s interest in the poet took a more dramatic turn.
“I was in North Carolina that January when a friend asked if I could read Tam o’Shanter to them over supper,” says Ian.
“I was happy to oblige and back home in Dundee together with two other trainee gynaecologists, arranged a Burns Supper in Ninewells Hospital in 1979 and never looked back.”
Since then Ian has been in demand all over the UK and abroad to do Burns’ speeches and recitations, which include a toast to the memory of Robert Burns, a toast to the lassies (originally the ladies who prepared and served the supper), and the menu.
“As well as Burns’ Ode To a Haggis, I often recite several of his other poems including To a Mouse, To a Louse and Holy Willie’s Prayer. And his masterpiece Tam o’Shanter is always popular,” says Ian.
The largest Burns Supper he has addressed was the Heather and Thistle Society in Houston, Texas with over 700 in attendance. At the other end of the scale, the smallest was at the Burns Club of Atlanta, whose claim to fame is a life-sized copy of Burns’ birthplace.
Ian has also reactivated the Crochallan Fencibles, an 18th Century convivial dining club and a parody of the home guard regiments formed while the regular army were away fighting in the American War of Independence.
January is always busy for Ian and this year is no exception, with Burns’ events lined up until the start of February. “Having been a Burnsian for longer than the man actually lived, naturally I have a lot of material which is reusable,” he explains. “Of course I review it and make modifications here and there which I think will appeal to the given audience.
“I really enjoy the kindred spirit and bonhomie of my fellow Burnsians, the wit and sentiments of Burns’ verse and prose, the Scots language and the relevance of his love of nature,” Ian enthuses.
“His dream and earnest wish “That man to man, the world o’er shall brithers be for a’ that” could be no more pertinent, desirable and relevant than it is today.”
