''Angus Og'' (originally ''Angus Òg'') is a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

created by Scottish cartoonist

Ewen Bain Ewen Bain (23 June 1925 – 18 December 1989) was a Scottish Highlander cartoonist, whose most notable creation was the '' Angus Og'' comic strip, a stereotypical depiction of the quintessential 20th century Highlander, which ran in the Glasgow ...

. It ran from 1960 to December 1989, first in the Glasgow ''Bulletin'' and then in the '' Daily Record'' and '' The Sunday Mail''.

Background

Set on the fictional island of Drambeg (''dràma beag'', a wee dram) in the Utter Hebrides (Outer Hebrides in Scots slang), it featured the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous Angus Og, and a whole host of other characters, including: *Mrs Og, Angus's mother, and facially his virtual twin, distinguishable from Angus only by a headscarf and apron *Donald, Angus's brother *Lachie Mor, Angus's best friend *Mairileen, Angus's erstwhile girlfriend, who is rarely seen without her black

beret A beret ( or ; ; eu, txapela, ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in 19th century France and Spain, and the beret remains ...

, and Bain's Hebridean homage to Marilyn Monroe *Mr MacSonachan, the Minister *Rosie the Highland Cow *Granny McBrochan, the local spey-wife *Constable McPhater The first story, published in the ''Bulletin'' in 1960, introduced Angus Og as a 'Highland

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. History In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the undergr ...

', under the title "A Teenage Tangle of the Isles". "Òg" is

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

for "young", and "Angus" was seen as a stereotypical

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

first name. Angus Og was also the name of a figure in Gaelic

mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

, a kind of love god, and a Scottish historical figure, a

Lord of the Isles The Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles ( gd, Triath nan Eilean or ) is a title of Scottish nobility with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title w ...

: it is possible that the name was an ironic reference to this. Bain used eye dialect for the strip to approximate (and knowingly stereotype) a

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coas ...

accent: hence ''chentleman'' (''gentleman''), ''Tonald'' (''Donald''), ''effery'' (''every'') as well as aspects of Scots, such as ''bachle'' (clumsy or useless person), ''crater'' (creature) and the near-ubiquitous ''Ochone!'' (Oh no!) whenever things went wrong, as they invariably did. Given the largely Lowland readership of the ''Daily Record'', Bain used virtually no Gaelic beyond Angus's name, and the occasional ''Ciamar a tha thu?'' (''How are you?''). Whenever the story featured

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

or Glaswegians (Angus's relatives all seemed to come from Glasgow), Bain took a similar approach, resembling the '' Parliamo Glasgow'' stereotype popularised by

Stanley Baxter Stanley Livingstone Baxter (born 24 May 1926) is a Scottish actor, comedian, impressionist and author. Baxter began his career as a child actor on BBC Scotland and later became known for his British television comedy shows ''The Stanley Baxter ...

. Angus Og has been described as the "

archetypal The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...

cartoon

teuchter ''Teuchter'' () is a Scots language, Lowland Scots word commonly used to describe a Gàidhealtachd, Scottish Highlander, in particular a Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic-speaking Highlander. Like most such cultural epithets, it can be seen as offensive, bu ...

". When he leaves the confines of the islands to go on holiday abroad, he still wears his

wellington boots The Wellington boot was originally a type of leather boot adapted from Hessian boots, a style of military riding boot. They were worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. The "Wellington" boot became a staple of pr ...

on the beach. Bain wrote over 100 stories during the strip's 28-year existence. Most stories ran to around 70 daily instalments, around 2 months each. However several were shorter. The final story, ''The Devil to Pay'', was unfinished at the time of Bain's death.

Plots

Originally, Bain introduced an element of fantasy to the stories, with Angus befriended by a 'wee man', a

fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...

-like spirit who helps him become a pop star

chanter The chanter is the part of the bagpipe upon which the player creates the melody. It consists of a number of finger-holes, and in its simpler forms looks similar to a recorder. On more elaborate bagpipes, such as the Northumbrian bagpipes or the ...

player. However, after joining the ''Daily Record'', Bain was persuaded to ground the stories in more real-life situations, often featuring topical issues such as the change from and to

British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...

(an issue of considerable controversy in the Highlands) and featuring figures such as the Prime Minister of the day. Bain himself was politically a supporter of Scottish independence and many of the strips satirised Westminster politics. Following publication of ''The

Kelpie A kelpie, or water kelpie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Each-Uisge''), is a shape-shifting spirit inhabiting lochs in Scottish folklore. It is usually described as a black horse-like creature, able to adopt human form. Some accounts state that the kelpie ...

'' between November 1983 and January 1984, a story involving the return of salmon to the upper

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, Bain was presented with a certificate from the Clyde River Purification Board in recognition of him raising awareness of the issue of river quality. Some of the other memorable storylines included Drambeg being towed away to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

one night, and the islanders experiencing their own version of '' Whisky Galore''.

Angus Og of Puckermuck Cove

A comic strip of the same name also appeared in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, as part of the Puckermuck Cove series, but was completely unrelated. The character hosted a website entitled "Every Celtic Thing on the Web" until 2000. It was created by Michael D. McNeill

Books

Four collections have been published, two in Bain's lifetime. Most feature complete stories, and together contain about a dozen complete, with the 21st anniversary collection featuring extracts only. As of 2015 all are out of print. * Bain, Ewen (1974) ''Angus Og'' (Glasgow: Daily Record) * Bain, Ewen (1981) ''21 Years of Angus Og'' (Glasgow: Daily Record and Sunday Mail) * Bain, Ewen (1990) ''The Best of Angus Og'' (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company Ltd) * Bain, Ewen (1999) ''Angus Og: from the Og Logs'' (Glasgow: Zipo Publishing)

References

External links