Tormod MacGill-Eain

Background

Maclean was born in Glasgow on 26 December 1936, but was evacuated to Lochaber in 1940 where he was brought up by Gaelic speaking relatives. His father died suddenly when Maclean was 15.

Education

He then went to Glasgow where he attended Bellahouston Academy. Maclean attended Glasgow University.

Career

His struggles with alcoholism are documented in his autobiography, The Leper"s Bell:Autobiography of a Changeling. He spent a part of his childhood in South Uist and Benbecula. He trained to become a teacher but also started to perform songs and piping.

In the early 1970s he expanded his repertoire by spending more time on jokes between songs and became a stand-up comedian (similar to the progression made by Billy Connolly with whom he was often compared).

He wrote and starred in his own television show "Tormod Air Telly". Maclean provided the vocal talents for several re-dubbings of children"s programmes into Gaelic - most notably "Donnie Murdo", the Gaelic version of Danger Mouse.

He played the lead role of the Miller in the 1998 British Broadcasting Corporation Alba children"s programme Baile Mhuilinn. Maclean, the subject of an award-winning documentary, "Tormod", produced by British Broadcasting Corporation Alba, moved to Uist in 2009.

He writes a monthly column for the community newspaper, "Am Pàipear", and has a supporting role, as an old bard, in the full-length feature film, Ruadhan the Bard, due to be released in early 2012.

Maclean is settled in Uist and has enjoyed sobriety since the spring of 2010, when he also stopped smoking.

Achievements

• He is the only person to have won both Bardic Crown and Gold Medal at the same Royal National Mòdaughter Throughout his life, Maclean has had a destructive relationship with alcohol which stopped him taking many opportunities, he was due to appear in Comfort & Joy as well as failing to appear for bookings or failing to achieve his potential as well as having a large effect on his personal life and health. Maclean composed the pipe tune "A Scarce O" Tatties", he has composed long and short poems, including "Maol Donn" a.k.a.MacCrimmon"s Sweetheart which won him the Bardic Crown in 1967, and has produced novels in Gaelic, "Cumhnantan" (1997), "Keino" (1999), "Dacha Mo Ghaoil" (2005), and "Slaightearan" (2007), as well as his autobiography, "The Leper"s Bell" (2009), in English.