Allan Massie (born 1938) is a well-known Scottish journalist, novelist and establishment figure. Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is of the Gaelic (Goidelic) family, a division of Insular Celtic languages. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... The Establishment is a slang term (chiefly in British and Commonwealth English) for a traditional conservative ruling class and its institutions. ...

Early life

Born in 1938 in Singapore, where his father was a rubber planter for Sime Darby, Massie spent his childhood in Aberdeenshire. He was educated at the expensive fee-paying private schools Drumtochty Castle preparatory school and Glenalmond College, then attending Trinity College, Cambridge, where he read history. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has lived in the Scottish Borders for the last 25 years, and now lives in Selkirk. In 1910, William Middleton Sime, a Scottish gentleman, and Henry Darby, an English gentleman, teamed up to form a company to manage 500 acres (2 km²) of rubber estates in the state of Malacca. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Glenalmond College (formerly known as Trinity College, Glenalmond) is the name of a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. ... Full name The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity Motto Virtus vera nobilitas Virtue is true Nobility Named after The Holy Trinity Previous names King’s Hall and Michaelhouse (until merged in 1546) Established 1546 Sister College(s) Christ Church Master The Lord Rees of Ludlow Location Trinity Street... The Royal Society of Literature is the senior literary organisation in Britain. External link The Royal Society of Literature Categories: Literature stubs | Literature of the United Kingdom ... Scottish Borders (often referred to locally as The Borders or The Borderland) is one of 35 local government unitary council areas of Scotland. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Career

Journalist

Massie is one of Scotland's most prolific and well-known journalists, writing regular columns for The Scotsman, The Sunday Times (Scotland) and the Scottish Daily Mail. He has been The Scotsman's chief fiction reviewer for a quarter of a century and also regularly writes about rugby union and cricket for that paper. He has previously been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph, the Glasgow Herald, and was the Sunday Standard's television critic during that paper's brief existence. He is also a contributor to The Spectator, the Literary Review and The Independent. He has also written for the New York Review of Books. The Scotsmans offices in Edinburgh The Scotsman is a Scottish newspaper published in Edinburgh. ... The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ... The Daily Mail is a British tabloid newspaper first published in 1896. ... A rugby union scrum. ... For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... This article deals with The Daily Telegraph in Britain, see The Daily Telegraph (Australia) for the Australian publication The Daily Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper founded in 1855. ... The Lighthouse, Charles Mackintoshs Glasgow Herald building The Herald is a broadsheet newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Cover of the Nov 12, 2005 issue of The Spectator magazine. ... Literary Review was founded in 1979 for people who love reading. ... For other uses, see The Independent (disambiguation). ... The New York Review of Books (or NYRB) is a biweekly magazine on literature, culture, and current affairs published in New York which takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity. ...

He is well known for advocating a Tory viewpoint, though this has been a losing battle given the decline of Conservative influence in Scotland (it is currently the fourth party). He was a leading, if lonely, campaigner against Scottish devolution and a critic of much of the legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament since it came into existence after the 1997 general election. His political views on devolution changed during the Thatcher years and he came to regret his support for the 1979 devolution referendum. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... The Scotland referendum of 1979 was a post-legislative referendum held in Scotland only, over whether there was support for Scotland Act 1978, which if passed would have created an assembly for Scotland. ... For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland. ... Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC (born October 13, 1925), former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in office from 1979 to 1990. ...

In his literary reviews, his preferences lie towards traditional novels rather than the avant-garde. He is a great admirer of Sir Walter Scott (and a past president of the Sir Walter Scott Club). Among contemporary novelists, he is a champion of the Russian writer Andreï Makine and Scotland's William McIlvanney. Though he has criticised Irvine Welsh and James Kelman, he has admired some of the latter's work, arguing that Kelman is an important voice for a section of society often ignored in literary fiction. For the first Premier of Saskatchewan see Thomas Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott (August 14, 1771 - September 21, 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe. ... Andreï Makine is a Russian-born French author. ... William McIlvanney (born in November 25, 1936¹ in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, is a writer of crime stories and other novels. ... Irvine Welsh (born Leith, Edinburgh, September 27, 1958) is an acclaimed contemporary Scottish novelist, most famous for his novel Trainspotting. ... James Kelman (born in Glasgow on June 9, 1946) is an influential writer of novels, short stories and plays. ...

Novelist

He is the author of nearly 30 books, including 19 novels. He is notable for writing about the distant past, and the middle class, rather than grittier elements of the present. The most successful of his novels, at least in terms of sales, have been a series of reconstructed autobiographies or biographies of Roman emperors, including Augustus, Tiberius, Anthony, Caesar, Caligula and Nero's Heirs. Gore Vidal has called him a "master of the long-ago historical novel." His most recent book is The Thistle and the Rose, a series of essays on the often thorny relationship between Scotland and England, in which he takes a strong Unionist viewpoint. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Augustus (disambiguation). ... Tiberius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero (November 16, 42 BC – March 16 AD 37), was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. ... Anthony or Antony is a male given name, (eleventh most popular male first name in the United States as of 2004), derived from Antonius, a Roman family name. ... In Ancient Rome, several men of the Julii Caesares family were named Gaius (Caius) Julius (Iulius) Caesar, the most famous of which was the Dictator Julius Caesar. ... Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (August 31, 12 – January 24, 41), more commonly known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman Emperor and a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 37 to 41. ... Nero[1] Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, AD 37 – June 9, AD 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. ... Gore Vidal in 1948, photographed by Carl Van Vechten Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (born October 3, 1925) (pronounced , occasionally , , etc) is an American author of novels, stage plays, screenplays, and essays. ...

His 1986 novel about Vichy France, A Question of Loyalties won the Saltire award for being the best Scottish book of the year - an award he has been shortlisted for more than once. The Sins of the Fathers (1991) caused a controversy when Nicholas Mosley resigned from the judging panel for the Booker Prize, protesting that none of his books (of which Massie's was the favourite) made it on to the shortlist (Martin Amis' Times Arrow edged out Massie's novel for the final spot on the six book list). Motto: Travail, famille, patrie (Work, family, country) unoccupied zone of Vichy France (until November 1942) Capital Vichy Language(s) French Religion Roman Catholicism Government Republic President of the Council  - 1940 - 1944 Philippe Pétain Legislature National Assembly Historical era World War II  - Battle of France June 16, 1940  - Battle of... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Right Honourable Nicholas Mosley, 3rd Baron Ravensdale (born June 25, 1923) is a British novelist. ... The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known as the Man Booker Prize, or simply the Man Booker, is one of the worlds most important literary prizes, and awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland in... Photo of Martin Amis by Robert Birnbaum Martin Amis (born August 25, 1949) is an English novelist. ...

Those two novels, and Shadows of Empire constitute a loose trilogy in which a constant concern is the potential danger of idealism and ideology, as well as the struggle to lead a decent personal life in indecent political times. An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ...

Other works include critical studies of Muriel Spark and Colette as well as histories of Edinburgh and Glasgow and A Portrait of Scottish Rugby. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Colette Colette [1] [2] was the pen name of the French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (January 28, 1873 – August 3, 1954). ... Logo of Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. ...

Novels, in order of publication

• Change and Decay in All Around I See
• The Last Peacock
• The Death of Men
• One Night in Winter
• Augustus
• A Question of Loyalties
• Tiberius
• The Hanging Tree
• The Sins of the Father
• Caesar
• The Ragged Lion
• These Enchanted Woods (sequel to The Last Peacock)
• King David
• Shadows of Empire
• Anthony
• Nero's Heirs
• The Evening of the World
• Arthur the King
• Caligula