Education
Garioch was born in Edinburgh, the son of a decorator and a music teacher, and attended the Royal High School before going to the University of Edinburgh.
Garioch was born in Edinburgh, the son of a decorator and a music teacher, and attended the Royal High School before going to the University of Edinburgh.
His poetry was written almost exclusively in the Scots language, he was a key member in the literary revival of the language in the mid-20th century. However, his biggest influences were the 18th-century poet Robert Fergusson and the Italian dialect sonneteer Giuseppe Gioachino Belli. However, whilst serving in Operation Torch in North Africa, Garioch was captured by German troops in November 1942 and spent the following three years as a Prisoner of War.
After Garioch returned to the United Kingdom in 1945 he became a teacher, a job he held until taking early retirement in 1964.
Following his retirement he worked on a number of Scottish literary magazines, most notably Scottish International. He also spent a number of years in the 1970s as writer-in-residence at Edinburgh University.