Scott's life set in a book for children

Well known as the Voice of the Tattoo, Mr Hutton signed copies at the inaugural Scottfest event at Abbotsford at the weekend, and said: “This year marks the 250th anniversary of Sir Walter Scott’s birth.

"He was a quite extraordinary Scotsman so I thought a simple book telling some of the history of his life might tempt younger people and older people who have not read him to try his stories.

“The stories Scott told are remarkable. He was the father of the fast-moving historical novel and his fame spread around the world, but in recent years he has quite unfairly gathered a reputation for being too dense and unreadable.”

“That simply is not true and I hope when people read about his extraordinary life from losing the power of his right leg to polio as an infant to losing all his money half a century later they will be fascinated by his incredible achievements and how much he manged to pack into his 61 years.”

Mr Hutton freely admits that he has left out a lot of the details of Scott’s packed life but says there is a wealth of information about Sir Walter in other great biographies and books which he hopes his little book will encourage people to seek out and read.

In 2019, he also wrote a story for kids, called Mustard and Pepper, two Dandie Dinmont terriers who lived at Abbotsford with Scott.

Titled “Scotland’s Greatest Storyteller” the new book is published by Curly Tale Books at £8.99 and has delightful illustrations by publisher and artist Shalla Gray.