Butt and Ben: A Highland Boyhood

Description

Donald Sutherland grew up in Oban at the beginning of the twentieth century. In this charming and perceptive memoir, he reminisces about his early life there, painting a detailed picture of those halcyon years just before the outbreak of the First World War. His privileged upbringing gave him a unique perspective on the upper stratum of society and their concerns and pastimes, and his book abounds with amusing incident and eccentric personalities: the American visitor who mistook young Donald’s kilt for a skirt and thought he was a girl, the sharp-shooting Princess Radziwill who tried to bag a Highland goat (which later suffered at the hands of a none-too skilled taxidermist) and the clan Maclaine heir who ran off to the London stage are just some of the characters which feature.