DAVID W PURDIE was born privately in Prestwick and educated publicly at Ayr Academy and Glasgow University. He is a Professor Emeritus of Hull University and is presently an Hon. Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities of the University of Edinburgh, where his field is the history and philosophy of the 18th century. David is Editor-in-Chief of The Burns Encyclopaedia, which covers the life and work of the poet Robert Burns, and editor of Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and The Heart of Midlothian, both adapted for the modern reader. He is a former Chairman of the Sir Walter Scott Club. In non-academic mode, he is the co-author of The Ancyent & Healthfulle Exercyse, a history of golf, and of The Dean’s Diaries, an exposé of the goings-on at the (fictional) St Andrew’s College in Edinburgh.