Monstrous

Who are the best-known Scots?

One author out of a list of ten people. A list that includes bloomin' Lorraine Kelly and Ewan McGregor.

I'm not surprised there is only one author, the only other one I could think of coming close at present is Ian Rankin.

The fact that the UK's best known Scot is a mythical creature says more about the ignorance of the British public than the lack of meritorious Scots.

Mythical? Nooooooo... ;)

*edit*

Jargoneer, I've just been engrossed in the Classics Thread in Awful Lit, and found your comment:

The general public have notoriously poor taste

Says it all, really :) I suppose I'm just always disappointed when the evidence just keeps coming.

I was still studying at Glasgow Uni when Greg Hemphill was elected Rector ahead of Alasdair Gray, so nothing surprises me anymore. I should think that, if another author had come close to making the list, it would have been Irvine Welsh. Answers on a postcard as to whether this would have been any better than Lorraine Kelly.

Irvine Welsh crossed my mind too, even if not for the right reasons. I'd thought that perhaps people would have heard of Alexander McCall Smith, Arthur Conan Doyle or R.L. Stevenson. It upsets me that ridiculous lists like that get so much attention in the media when whoever commissioned it always neglects to mention how big their sample was and where they got 'em from.

To be fair, I think lists like this always wind up getting far more attention from those of us who grumble about them than from anyone else. :)

What really depresses me is that three out of nine (not counting Nessie!) are dead...