Bob Dewar was born in Edinburgh. He was first published nationally when he was sixteen. He has had exhibitions in Edinburgh and Italy, and for fifteen years did political and social commentary for The Scotsman.
Clark McGinn was born in Ayr and has been a speaker at Burns Suppers and other events for thirty years. He has led the revelry at Suppers across Britain, Europe, Australia and the USA, usually with a dram of whisky in hand. While at Glasgow University he founded the World Student Debating Competition and passed enough exams to become a banker, where his arguing skills came in handy. His speeches have been shown on TV in Britain, America, Canada and Australia.
Robert Burns was born into a farming family in Alloway in Ayrshire in 1759. He died in Dumfries at the early age of 37. Yet in that short time he had taken the Scottish literary world by storm, and had secured for himself a place in history and legend. Burns only published four collections during his lifetime.
Dr John Cairney lives in Auckland with his wife Alannah O'Sullivan, and together they form the Pennyfarthing Partnership. John returns to Scotland on a regular basis. He made his stage debut at the tender age of 17 and has been acting ever since. He has adapted Burns for theatrical productions for decades, and performed for radio, television, in film, on stage, in musicals, as well as producing video and audio recordings of the Bard. He has toured his one-man show and was awarded a PhD for his work on Stevenson. Previous titles include On The Trail of Robert Burns, Immortal Memories and The Luath Burns Companion.
