Tom Morton
Encyclopedia
Tom Morton is a Scottish
writer
, broadcaster
, and musician
. He lives and works mainly in the Shetland Islands
.
Morton currently (2009) presents a BBC Radio Scotland
show, broadcast each weekday afternoon. It features contemporary rock and pop music, with a Scottish accent, and has of late become more centred on Morton's conversations with listeners using email, Twitter and Facebook, as well as interviews and other spoken word features. He has written several books, including a biography of the Gaelic rock band Runrig
, a whisky
travelogue
called Spirit of Adventure, and several critically acclaimed novels. A spy novel called Serpentine was published in the UK in 2009 and in the US and Canada the following year. For many years, he worked as a print journalist, as a columnist with the Daily
and Sunday Express, Scotland on Sunday
, The Big Issue in Scotland
, The Shetland Times
, and as a staff reporter with national newspaper The Scotsman
. He was the first non-DC Thomson employee to script the legendary Sunday Post cartoon strips The Broons and Oor Wullie - something he did for 12 months in 2005-2006.
Born in Carlisle, Cumberland
, England
, but brought up by his Scottish family in Glasgow
and Troon
, Ayrshire, Morton's early years were characterised by committed evangelical Christianity which he alluded to in the novel Red Guitars in Heaven. Heavily involved in religious music during the 1970s and early 80s, he released several albums and toured as a full-time evangelical singer. The evangelical period of Morton's life ended in 1984: a change referenced in several of his books.
His subsequent career included writing reviews and features for the defunct rock weekly Melody Maker
, and working as a producer and presenter in religious TV. A move to the Shetland Islands in 1987 saw his appointment as news editor of The Shetland Times, and the subsequent formation of the islands' first freelance news agency.
Appointment as Highlands and Islands Reporter with The Scotsman led to four years with the paper before a return to Shetland and more freelance work. He has continued to work sporadically in television, with the Discovery Home and Leisure series Village Green, about ecological housing, and three series of the STV motoring programme Wheelnuts. He wrote and presented the ITV network productions The Rock that Doesn't Roll and The Rock That Rolled Away, and the international golf feature, available on DVD, The Old Course. He has written scripts for some TV and many radio programmes.
His radio work began in 1992 on BBC Radio Scotland. In 2006, he released a CD of original musical material, mainly self-conscious meditations on the perils of being an ageing rock'n'roll fan. He blogs regularly.
Morton pioneered the use of ISDN digital telephone technology to broadcast nationally from his home in the Shetland Islands. For several years his radio show came mostly from The Radiocroft, an ISDN-equipped crofthouse in the remote north of Shetland's mainland. However, in December 2008, after months of unreliability, the local exchange was struck by lightning during a broadcast and the Tom Morton show went off air. A decision was taken to move the show to the BBC studios in Lerwick, at local radio station BBC Radio Shetland. During frequent visits to the UK mainland, the show has come from BBC studios in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Oban, Inverness, Wick, Ayr, Tunbridge Wells, Stranraer and other temporary ISDN linked studios.
Morton has returned to live performance with the Malt and Barley Revue a musical show about whisky. He has a blog about alcohol called Drinking for Scotland. The full-length thriller Serpentine, set in Palestine, Scotland and Northern Ireland, was published in June 2009 by Mainstream Publishing
. He has written about whisky for several publications and co-wrote the privately-published (2009) book Journey's Blend, about a charity motorcycle trip around Scotland's most geographically extreme distilleries.
Most recently, Morton has been working on the memoir Escapology, a sequel to Serpentine called Tiger's Eye, the one-man show about religion My Bad Gospel and several TV formats and documentaries.
For much of 2011, Morton provided public relations services and advice on developing a communications strategy to Shetland Islands Council. He also provided copywriting for the acclaimed 'Shetland - the brand' campaign.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, broadcaster
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
, and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. He lives and works mainly in the Shetland Islands
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
.
Morton currently (2009) presents a BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is BBC Scotland's national English-language radio network. It broadcasts a wide variety of programming, including news, sport, light entertainment, music, the arts, comedy, drama, history and lifestyle...
show, broadcast each weekday afternoon. It features contemporary rock and pop music, with a Scottish accent, and has of late become more centred on Morton's conversations with listeners using email, Twitter and Facebook, as well as interviews and other spoken word features. He has written several books, including a biography of the Gaelic rock band Runrig
Runrig
Runrig are a Scottish Celtic rock group formed in Skye, in 1973 under the name 'The Run Rig Dance Band'. Since its inception, the band's line-up has included songwriters Rory Macdonald and Calum Macdonald. The current line-up also includes longtime members Malcolm Jones, Iain Bayne, and more...
, a whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
travelogue
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
called Spirit of Adventure, and several critically acclaimed novels. A spy novel called Serpentine was published in the UK in 2009 and in the US and Canada the following year. For many years, he worked as a print journalist, as a columnist with the Daily
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
and Sunday Express, Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
, The Big Issue in Scotland
The Big Issue
The Big Issue is a street newspaper published in eight countries; it is written by professional journalists and sold by homeless individuals. It was founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991...
, The Shetland Times
The Shetland Times
The Shetland Times is a weekly newspaper in Shetland, published on Fridays and based in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland.The newspaper is owned by The Shetland Times Ltd, a company which also operates a publishing arm, a bookshop and a printing company. The Shetland Times Ltd claims to have 55...
, and as a staff reporter with national newspaper The Scotsman
The Scotsman
The Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
. He was the first non-DC Thomson employee to script the legendary Sunday Post cartoon strips The Broons and Oor Wullie - something he did for 12 months in 2005-2006.
Born in Carlisle, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, but brought up by his Scottish family in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and Troon
Troon
Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about eight miles north of Ayr and three miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with freight and ferry services...
, Ayrshire, Morton's early years were characterised by committed evangelical Christianity which he alluded to in the novel Red Guitars in Heaven. Heavily involved in religious music during the 1970s and early 80s, he released several albums and toured as a full-time evangelical singer. The evangelical period of Morton's life ended in 1984: a change referenced in several of his books.
His subsequent career included writing reviews and features for the defunct rock weekly Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, and working as a producer and presenter in religious TV. A move to the Shetland Islands in 1987 saw his appointment as news editor of The Shetland Times, and the subsequent formation of the islands' first freelance news agency.
Appointment as Highlands and Islands Reporter with The Scotsman led to four years with the paper before a return to Shetland and more freelance work. He has continued to work sporadically in television, with the Discovery Home and Leisure series Village Green, about ecological housing, and three series of the STV motoring programme Wheelnuts. He wrote and presented the ITV network productions The Rock that Doesn't Roll and The Rock That Rolled Away, and the international golf feature, available on DVD, The Old Course. He has written scripts for some TV and many radio programmes.
His radio work began in 1992 on BBC Radio Scotland. In 2006, he released a CD of original musical material, mainly self-conscious meditations on the perils of being an ageing rock'n'roll fan. He blogs regularly.
Morton pioneered the use of ISDN digital telephone technology to broadcast nationally from his home in the Shetland Islands. For several years his radio show came mostly from The Radiocroft, an ISDN-equipped crofthouse in the remote north of Shetland's mainland. However, in December 2008, after months of unreliability, the local exchange was struck by lightning during a broadcast and the Tom Morton show went off air. A decision was taken to move the show to the BBC studios in Lerwick, at local radio station BBC Radio Shetland. During frequent visits to the UK mainland, the show has come from BBC studios in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Oban, Inverness, Wick, Ayr, Tunbridge Wells, Stranraer and other temporary ISDN linked studios.
Morton has returned to live performance with the Malt and Barley Revue a musical show about whisky. He has a blog about alcohol called Drinking for Scotland. The full-length thriller Serpentine, set in Palestine, Scotland and Northern Ireland, was published in June 2009 by Mainstream Publishing
Mainstream Publishing
Mainstream Publishing is a publishing company in Edinburgh, Scotland, founded in 1978. It is associated with the Random House Group, who bought Mainstream in 2005....
. He has written about whisky for several publications and co-wrote the privately-published (2009) book Journey's Blend, about a charity motorcycle trip around Scotland's most geographically extreme distilleries.
Most recently, Morton has been working on the memoir Escapology, a sequel to Serpentine called Tiger's Eye, the one-man show about religion My Bad Gospel and several TV formats and documentaries.
For much of 2011, Morton provided public relations services and advice on developing a communications strategy to Shetland Islands Council. He also provided copywriting for the acclaimed 'Shetland - the brand' campaign.