This section of the forum has been created to discuss famous Scots and their contributions to Scotland and/or the world at large.

One thing that I will ask is that we leave this section for people who are either Scottish or of Scottish descent; anyone else can be discussed in the section that is more appropriate (for example, Edward I of England would feature in the History section while author J K Rowling would be included in culture)!

I am now going to move discussions from other areas of the forum to this new section as appropriate!

Bruce - do you really think that J K Rowling should be classified as culture?

Quite apart from that cynical comment, I think that it is an excellent idea to create a forum for Famous Scots. I think I might be able to contribute to this. I think there may be scope here for unrecognised Scots, is that partly your intention?

My reference to Rowling was a bit tongue in cheek and, in a way, was a dig at her inclusion in The Greatest Scot... however, I do recognise that she has made a contribution to Scottish culture (how many people are aware of the Glenfinnan Viaduct because of the Harry Potter films?)

Anyway, non-Scottish people aside, you are right Lorn, this section is as much about unknown Scots as it is about the really famous ones... so if you have some you'd like to include let us all know about them here!

Hmm... How should one define a Scot? Personally, I'd go with a definition of all those who consider themselves to be Scots rather than any other nationality, including those who live here but were not born here, and who live outwith the country but were born here, and perhaps even those who meet the "rather than any other nationality" bit of that definition who were neither born here nor live here.

I'm happy to go with your definition Ken, but I think that would still exclude J K as (as far as I know anyway) she doesn't claim to be Scottish. Of course we could include David Niven as he claimed his birthplace was Kirriemuir (and there are many sites that still say he was despite the fact his birth certificate claims otherwise!)