Search

Information about local musicians and kenspeckle characters....

Date January 1953
Track ID 18146
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1952.12.A2

Original Tape ID

SA1952.012

Summary

Information about local musicians and kenspeckle characters.

Lordie [Hay] is still alive [1952], but Francie Markiss is dead. He was a great man who once raced a train, and he was a glutton, eating a bucket of tatties for his dinner. He was a fiddler, and travelled with a singer known as the 'Wonderful Boy'. Francie sang at Turra [Turriff] Market but when he saw the police he stopped. They had 'rough' songs that could not be sung on the streets. MacBeath is still singing and making a living at Keith. Hamish Henderson asks if Francie was a piper, as Dr Hunter had mentioned this, but Willie Mathieson never heard him play the pipes. Once when Francie was left to look after the family dinner he kept tasting the turkey to see if it was ready and ate it all. A good feed did not stop him running a race; he won races at Banchory or Braemar and at Edinburgh.

Item Subject/Person

Markiss, Francie; Hay, 'Lordie'; Sim, Joseph [the Wonderful Boy]

Recording Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Parish - Ellon

Village/Place - Ellon

Language

Scots

Genre

Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good