On this day 1899: Novelist Eric Linklater was born

ON THIS day in 1899, novelist and playwright Erik Linklater was born.

Born in Wales, Linklater always considered himself a steadfast Orcadian. Picture: TSPL

Born in Wales, Linklater always considered himself a steadfast Orcadian. Educated at Aberdeen University, Linklater spent many years on Orkney, the birthplace of his father, and even commanded the Orkney garrison during the Second World War.

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Loch Harray, by the Merkister Hotel (former home of Eric Linklater), Orkney. Picture: Norman Braidwood

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An extensive traveller, Linklater spent time in India before returning to Scotland where his writing career took off. Linklater wrote three children’s novels, The Wind on the Moon (1944), The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea (1949) and Karina With Love (1958), winning the 1944 Carnegie Medal for wind on the Moon.

He went on to write 23 novels in total and several plays but he is perhaps best known for Magnus Merriman, a political satire based on his unsuccessful National Party of Scotland candidacy in the East Fife by-election of 1933.