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SCOTLAND: Suave Scots by Clark McGinn, ultimate Burns Supper Speaker

Written by Scotland.org

Sunday, 16 March 2008

Looking for panache, savoir faire and real class? Look no further than a Scotsman. Clark McGinn investigates...

I'm in Sydney, ready to talk at a Scottish gathering in the Sydney Opera House – so I am standing at the bar, looking out at one of the most beautiful vistas in the world, sharing in the view normally monopolised by the uber cool and suave of international society, from Opera Point over to Sydney Harbour Bridge. . . .

The chief barman – sorry, mixologist – is interested in all the guys in kilts. Even for a true Scot it's hot down under and so he has invented a cooling cocktail called the RBS Kiltlifter to keep everyone from evaporating – two measures of Scotch whisky, one of Drambuie, then add one shot each of Australian honey syrup and of peach purée and then top up a long frosted glass with ice cold apple juice.

Just what Dr Finlay ordered when the temperature is a very unScottish 28 degrees Celsius!

We get to talking about the Ozzie view of the Jocks. Popular opinion here is that we are either barnstorming Braveheart warriors or canny merchants, bankers and engineers – both species having added to Australia's development and history over the last couple of centuries.

But here we have kilt-wearing cocktail drinkers, looking very suave and sophisticated (and the ladies in the audience seem to heartily concur with that assessment). So maybe there is a third kind of Scot, combining the physique of the fighter, and the wit of the professional man.

I try to explain about the many examples of dashing, gentlemanly Scots who walk their smart way across Scottish literature: a favourite of mine is the Jacobite Alan Breck in Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson – with his catch phrase ('am I no a bonny fighter?') and a general approach to life that's smoother than a cashmere sporran. Or perhaps we could talk about the heroes of John Buchan's stories – equally assured in tweeds foiling villains on the moors as in black tie over a whisky in the library; duelling with vampish honey trap spies in the morning, or ceilidh dancing with Perthshire heiresses in the evening. These are gentlemen warriors with charm, skill and brains but are they just historical fiction?

The perfect example of this species must be Bond, James Bond.

Not just because of the immortal portrayal by Sean Connery, but because Commander Bond is very emphatically a Scot.

That is hardly surprising when you think his Scottish creator was Ian Fleming who lived his golden life in Goldeneye, Jamaica (an island with strong Scottish links from the early days of Empire). It's his centenary this year, but Bond is immortal! So the character is both Fleming's alter ego (and wish fulfilment) and an authentic distillation of a particular set of peculiarly Scottish traits.

Our Commander Bond was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh and kept the accent and habits of that class of Scots, but magically transformed what can be seen as aloof into what we call suave! With more amorous encounters than Burns, more life threatening adventures than Rob Roy MacGregor and more drink under his belt than Will Fyfe on Glasgow Fair Friday, he captures a great fantasy – with immense panache.

Even his famous sharp one liners show that essential economy of language that allows a Scot to joke (or to put someone back in his place) with a few sharp and witty words. That's another part of the suave persona too.

My mixologist friend is, however, professionally sniff about the great man's famous recipe for a drink: the Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred, which he insists gives you a cloudy glass of watery Eastern European potato juice. He was reassured when I told him that 007 really drank malt whisky for choice – in the books his consumption of the water of life is ten times more prevalent than his ill-made martini. But it is a good catch phrase which the movie script used with gusto.

So 007 displays defining Scots characteristics in accent and habit, but rarely in dress – there was a disastrous scene where a be-kilted George Lazenby looked more Moss Bros than MI6 (was that why he didn't come back?). Our mind's eye image must be Bond in a dinner jacket. If he'd been in a Scottish regiment during the war, rather than the RNVR, we might have had the perfect compromise: black tie and Regimental tartan trews (which is an increasingly popular dress choice nowadays and has a certain "je ne sais quoi", as we suave chaps would say!).

Of course, the steel and excitement in this species is that the outward style is cool, slightly detached and very social – but under that is the licence to kill!

Bond, with a soft Scottish accent, in black tie a glass in one hand and a beautiful women at the other – what an advert for being Scottish!

For most people there is only one Bond – the first and the Scot, Sean Connery. In real life, Sir Sean, with his international lifestyle, film star glamour and tartan visits home is a pretty good approximation of his screen persona. Not unlike another favourite, David Niven, whose class act as an actor and a gentleman would be hard to follow – much more convincing in the debonair roles than when roped into high octane tartan soap like being Bonnie Prince Charlie, who was pretty suave too in his day – or at least his brief moment – but whose life has been taken over by mythology, which sits unwell with suavity.

This all sounds pretty historical – can we not capture the magic with some modern Scots?

We are really fortunate to be living in a period where Scots and people of Scots heritage (or inclination) have a real joy in participating in our culture, dress, drink, music and sports. So it's not surprising that you can see some new suave lads on the stage.

In New York each April, Tartan Week / Scotland Week sees stars and wannabees jostle at bars and on catwalks in kilts and tartan and it's a great sight to end up in one of New York's famous bars to find it full of well dressed tartan folk with that famous NY buzz peculiar to the city that never sleeps.

There are flagbearers of the suave today – I think of Gerard Butler as one – largely because my inbox is filled daily with email petitions signed by girl fans calling on him to play Rabbie on screen – he certainly seems to have the Burns quality when it comes to the female! The star today though, must be Ewan McGregor. A gifted actor and a very Scottish approach. I am reliably informed by those who know that he is rather sexy in his kilt (which he's often seen wearing) and his embrace of all that's good on Scotland sees him in the heart of parties which partake of our Caledonian cheer – even hiring the famous Red Hot Chilli Pipers to entertain his guests.

So yes, our historic clichés are widely known, but more than soldiers and bankers, there is a distinct, sharp and very sexy group of Scots out there – the suave who capture that secret side in every one of us – displaying panache, savoir faire, and real class!

Or so it feels as the sun goes down over Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Kiltlifter is quaffed and I tidy my notes waiting for the MC to say 'Ladies and Gentlemen . . .'.

Here's a toast to all our suave Scotsmen, wherever they may be!

Clark McGinn, the Burns Supper Speaker and SCOTSIN Member, is a well-known Scottish banker in asset finance globally and combines the day job with speaking, lecturing and writing on Scottish subjects. A fully paid-up member of the Scottish Diaspora (based in the wilds of North West London) he has written the acclaimed guide to Burn Suppers: The Ultimate Burns Supper Book published by Luath Press at £7.99/$14.95 which is available in bookshops or Amazon.

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