Alexander McCall Smith at the Oxford Literary Festival

I do feel very sorry for Scottish nudists, they must the only ones in the world who also have to wear a plastic mac.

Notes

Last Sunday, I had the privilege to be in the audience to hear Alexander McCall Smith (or Sandy as he is commonly known) speak at the Oxford Literary Festival. This took place, quite appropriately, in the soaring surroundings of The Sheldonian Theatre, whose panelled ceiling fresco reminded us of Sandy’s love of the arts in general.

The prolific author

A prolific author, Sandy has 100’s of books to his name, including the N0.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (for which Sandy has received the Presidential Order of Merit from Botswana), 44 Scotland Street (starring Bertie, ‘who’s now been 6 years’ old for about 8 years’), and The Sunday Philosophy Club series to name but a few.

That’s not to mention the numerous one-off books, such as ‘My Italian Bulldozer‘, a story regarding an Italian rental car which turned out to be a bulldozer, and his subsequent adventures in it, including the movement of a boundary wall from the expensive Brunello di Montalcino wine territory, over to the (less the well-regarded, and hence cheaper) Rosso varietal.

The raconteur

Sandy had the audience in stitches as he recounted some of the adventures of Bertie, from his innocent encounters with the Glaswegian ‘informal businessman’ (i.e. gangster) Lard O’Connor, to being forced to learn to play ‘As Time Goes By’ – ‘which in Bertie’s case….it didn’t!’ – on the sax by his pushy mother Irene, and his joy at finding a friend who owned six Swiss Army penknives, ‘because that’s what the Swiss Army fight with, didn’t you know?’

Likewise, Sandy’s experience of Literary Festivals, from the misguided but well-meaning  – ‘you know, you’ll be much more successful posthumously!’ – to the downright weird, such as the man who kept staring at him non-stop in the USA, but in the end only wanted him to read his book, ‘…which turned out to be hilarious…all about a man kidnapped by nuns….and rather enthusiastic ones at that….this being well before ’50 Shades of Grey’!’

Wicked sense of humour

You will have gathered by now, about the impish sense of humour which lies just beneath the surface of everything which Sandy engages with.

For example, there is the Scottish Nudist Society, ‘which doesn’t add anything to the plot, but I really enjoy writing about wherever possible.’ Part of this is due to the absurdity of Scottish nudists, ‘the only ones who also have to wear a plastic mac’, and part is due to the location of their headquarters, deliberately positioned at one of the poshest addresses in Scotland, called Moray Place. Having already upset the well-to-do locals, their mood was not further enhanced when UNESCO published a literary walking guide to Edinburgh, and next to Moray Place was printed the warning, ‘Beware of Nudists!’

Other interests

Phew…and that’s not all!

The Really Terrible Orchestra, who ‘rarely finish a piece at the same time’, the formation of the Botswana Opera House, various Readers’ Safaris, writing plays for Radio 4, and numerous musical compositions, to name but a few.

Sandy is keen to emphasise that he only writes the words for these compositions, having already proclaimed his complete lack of musical ability. However, even some of these compositions are a story in their own right.

For example, a current piece is entitled the ‘Okavango Macbeth’, and came about as the result of scientists studying baboons in the Okavango Delta.

I should backtrack a little, and explain that Sandy was being taken around at the time by a guide called Mighty, when they came across an encampment on an island which Mighty was keen to avoid, ‘because the baboon people live there’. It turned out that this was a couple conducting an extensive field study of African baboons, and Sandy had just read their book, ‘Baboon Metaphysics‘. So, they duly landed upon the island, and ended up discussing how status is inherited in baboon troops…hence the females have ‘Lady Macbeth issues’, scheming for the ‘advancement’ of their male partners in baboon society.

And all this, from a chance meeting on a boat in the middle of the jungle!

How do you fit it all in?

Which all goes to beg the question….how does one man achieve so much?!

It could be down his work ethic: “So, I would get up at three or four o’clock in the morning, and I would tend to work until about half past six. And then I go back to bed, and have a second sleep, so to speak, which I find very restorative.”

Or the fact that he is usually writing 3-4 books and numerous different projects at the same time; ‘it would feel odd if I wasn’t working on a book’

In short, this is a man interested in the world at large, whose interests inform his writing, and vica versa….all in all, the perfect combination….which is very much what Alexander McCall Smith is to Literary Festivals

Other Reviews from the OLF

Nicholas Lander, Restaurant Critic http://www.nobleword.co.uk/suppose-cant-always-cake-eat/

Lucy Kellaway, Journalist http://www.nobleword.co.uk/lucy-kellaway/