This is a post I never expected to write. David Gow, the driving force behind Sceptical Scot, and much else besides, has died in London at the age of 80 after a heart attack.
Sudden, but not altogether unexpected. David, had recovered robustly from several bouts of ill health this year. But he responded well to treatment for a recently diagnosed heart condition, returning to energetic activity with great spirit, and his characteristic vigour and enthusiasm. He left Edinburgh to attend a memorial service in London full of plans for next steps in Edinburgh.
David lived life to the full. The best kind of journalist – curious, courageous, kind, interested in people, tenacious in getting to grips with the truth of the matter, fearlessly entering Scottish no-go areas – he was rightly proud of his award-winning time on Scotsman and Guardian. Richard Norton Taylor pays tribute to his remarkable career in the Guardian’s obituary.
His time in Brussels compounded a belief in the best of European communitarianism. When he returned to live in Scotland with his wife Gayle they arrived in the build up to the Scottish referendum and he was able to see both sides across an often painful divide with compassion. And some frustration. He also saw an urgent need for an open minded, open hearted exploration of what kind of Scotland we want to become.
As it happened I had been involved in the Wake Up Scotland blog established by Carol Craig and, despite support for the (badly named) No campaign, it also offered the kind of balanced debate that people were seeking. And still are. It didn’t take David long to join the group asking questions about the way forward. Inevitably he found himself taking the leading role in setting up what would become Sceptical Scot (you will find other founders here). For the next eleven years he set a relentless pace inviting experts of many kinds – academics, economists, politicians, sociologists, poets, musicians, artist, observers from different standpoints across borders and generations – to comment on life in Scotland. And how we might work together to make it better.
Securing Sceptical Scot
Some of you will know that David and I tried to ‘shut up shop’ in March 2022 after Sceptical Scot was securely archived in the National Library of Scotland. Within six months David was back at the dashboard aggravated once more by the issues that were not being tackled in mainstream media. John McLaren, James Mitchell, Walter Humes, Anton Muscatelli were amongst the first to answer the call.
Securing Sceptical Scot’s place in the National Library of Scotland archive.
It will be for other, much younger, perhaps more enthused, certainly more willing editors, writers and journalists to “shake up Scotland” in a period when the media in our country are traversing a profound crisis. [David in Mach 2022 – it wasn’t long before he returned to shake up Scotland again.]
That’s far from the whole story. David’s personal interests and activities spread so much further. From tending a shared allotment in Inverleith, to volunteering in the Leith Walk shop of the British Red Cross, from active participation as a fellow with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, trustee of the David Hume Institute to devoted membership of the National Union of Journalists. Bird watching, planting trees, visiting gardens, tending the hillside plot he has created with Gayle above Loch Earn. Active citizenship hardly covers it. He wasn’t perfect of course. He could be impatient and rub people up the wrong way. But not for long. He set himself a punishing pace in the gym too.
“I don’t think David could shift to low gear,” as Tony O’Donnell his close friend of 30 years put it on the phone today.
There are many other affectionate tributes coming spontaneously from old friends, newspaper journalists and Sceptical contributors (at the front and back of the website) from those that I have informed so far. David was a much loved and highly respected friend to so many different people of all ages. He could fire up a lively conversation in a queue at the bar, fish shop, gourmet restaurant, theatre, concert hall. He knew all kinds of people by name.
Deeply moved by music (choral, chamber, orchestral, opera, jazz) he also loved rock, pop, folk (of his, and my, generation) but in the afternoons he tuned into Radio 6 because he enjoyed exploring the new boundaries of contemporary sounds. Gayle, an opera singer with a beautiful voice, has undoubtedly been more than a creative influence in David’s life. They met in New York (as Richard’s obituary explains). From different worlds but American-born Gayle would become David’s great source of strength and a constant support in times of uncertainty. An anchor to a sometimes hasty spirit.
Linguist, translator, writer, editor, mentor, bon viveur, loyal and loving friend. David will be dearly missed.
I’d like to add. This is a top of the head tribute to ‘the guv’ from his co-editor of the last eleven years. There will be many more tributes to come and you are welcome to share your memories of a remarkable cosmopolitan Scot here on Sceptical Scot.
During the pandemic we held editorial meetings in unusual places. Here's David in 2021 at our boardroom table in North Bridge arcade
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