Gordon M Hay was brought up on the family farm in the parish of Inverkeithny, Banffshire. He spent his working life as solicitor in general practice in Peterhead, retiring in 2013.
Gordon is a native Doric speaker and considers himself bi-lingual in English and Doric. He holds an MA and LLB from Aberdeen University. He has in intimate knowledge of the culture and language of the North-east of Scotland and has written several prizewinning stories in Doric. In 2012, he published his version of the New Testament in Doric and hopes to follow that with a Doric version of the Old Testament later this year. In conjunction with Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone Institute, he has translated Handel’s Messiah into Doric, excerpts of which were performed in 2018 in St Machar’s Cathedral under the direction of Paul Mealor. He was commissioned by the Aberdeen branch of the Dickens Federation to translate a passage from Dickens into Doric for the Federation’s World Conference in 2016. Several of his plays in Doric have been performed by local groups.
In 2021, he published his translation of well known nursery rhymes into Doric in conjunction with illustrator Rosie Cunningham. The book went on to win the Scots Language Awards’ “Bairns Beuk o the Year 2022”.
He was recently commissioned by The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra to translate the text of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” into Doric for a forthcoming performance of that work as part of the 2023 Aberdeen Jazz Festival.
He is a former chairman of the Charles Murray Memorial Fund, President of The Buchan Field Club, an Honorary President of The Buchan Heritage Society and treasurer of The Doric Board.
Gordon is well known in north-east musical circles as an organist and pianist and sings with several local choirs. He also is an accomplished public speaker, giving regular talks on various subjects to organisations and groups throughout the local area.
One of his passions is gardening in his four acre garden, which keeps him self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables for 6 months of the year.
Join the Doric TV Community today
We very much hope you will join our Doric TV Community by clicking on the link below, could you please share a link to this page with anyone else you think may be interested in being part of our community.
Recent Comments