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Jings, crivvens, help ma boab.
See when they folk at FirstFoot asked me tae dae
a wee article on Great Scotch?
Well, ah thought tae maself, here we go, easy money.
Whit's it tae be, Balvenie, Lagavulin, Highland Park? And when
they telt us it was James Clerk Maxwell, ah was straight oan the
phone tae Haddows tae order a bottle.
Turns oot, it wisnae Great Scotch they wanted me
tae write aboot, it was Great Scots, and some guy called James
Clerk Maxwell. Never heard of him. Mind you a cheered maself up
wi the thought that ah had never heard of Preston North End till
last year either.
So, ah have been away an done ma homework on yon
laddie. Turns oot that he's been deid for the last one hundred
and twenty years. So, he's no eligible for Scotland, but he might
get a wee game for Preston (Honest Mr. Chairman
. it was
just a joke).
The first thing ah learned aboot yer Mr. James Clerk
Maxwell (JCM from noo oan in), fair made ma chest swell up wi
pride:
See yon Albert Einstein whit did aw thae Theories
aboot yer relatives? Turns oot that he thought that JCM was a
real genius. Apparently, withoot JCM's work, light travel would
never have been possible. Ah could have telt him that travelling
light wi yer passport and yer wallet has long been proved entirely
possible by the Tartan Army, but that's an academic argument and
one for another day.
A was starting tae see parallels here. Einstein thought
JCM was a genius. And ah'm thinking
. see him wi his attachment
tae JCM, and see me wi mah attachment tae Mattie Elliott
.
just what is the difference between me and these brainy guys?
The next thing ah discovers aboot JCM is that he
was incredibly nice and good. He wis affy, affy, affy nice tae
his wife, his pals, his parents and tae the underprivileged folk
that he taught at Cambridge University. Endlessly good and patient.
Now, that would have been me too if it hud'nae been for that long
streak of unmitigated malcontentment, Mr. D Ferguson, an ex-Barlinnie
player.
Well ah was really hittin my stride wi parallels
when it dawned oan me. Whit made JCM famous was Theories. Apparently
he had put doon in mathematical formulae, theories aboot electromagnetism,
or electro-orgasms
electro something anyhow.
Which led me tae some serious thinkin. If ah was
tae be remembered in 200 years, ah had better get some theories,
and bloody quickly too.
Well, ah have had a long think, and ah have come
up with mah ain theories which ah can now exclusively reveal tae
the readers of FirstFoot:
For short, a call this the BBT:
"See, you never find a good footballer wi a
beard. In mah time, ah can remember Socrates fae Brazil. But he
was a Greek philosopher in his spare time. And, also Danny McGrain
fae Celtic and Scotland. But, whisper it quietly, ah don't think
he was a philosopher."
"So, ah can now reveal in it's full glory, the
Broon Beard Theory (BBT):"
Footballer + Beard
= Keech
"Aye well, now that's me miraculous again, and
immortalised tae boot. Ah'll wish ye'ze all a very good New Year."
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