Summer in the north is packed with highland games, but one Moray town’s new chieftain is hoping the attendance of a legendary UK songwriter will take his event to even starrier heights.
Bill Martin is famed for penning lyrics for Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, The Bay City Rollers and Sandie Shaw.
And now the man behind the UK’s first winning Eurovision entry, Puppet on a String – as well as other timeless hits including Congratulations, My Boy and Shang-A-Lang – is gearing up to attend Dufftown Highland Games this Saturday as chieftain Alex Grant’s special guest of honour.
Mr Martin, 76, said: “I’m looking forward to this. I think the whole atmosphere of these games is the magic.
“You can’t toss your caber anywhere else.”
The Govan-born winner of three Ivor Novellos started writing songs at the age of 10 and was made an MBE for services to music and charities in Scotland last year.
He added: “One of the biggest highlights for me was Congratulations being played outside Buckingham Palace at the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday, while I was sat next to my own mother, who was 99.
“For a wee boy from a tenement building in Glasgow, that was magic. I went to Govan High School with Sir Alex Ferguson and lived nine yards from the Fairfield Shipyards.
“When we were taught in the school, it wasn’t perspiration that fuelled us, it was determination to get out of the Glasgow Shipyards. You have to hang your hat somewhere and keep going. You can’t just accept failure.
“I started with a detail or a phrase that came into my mind and pieced it all together and then I had to sell it.”
Mr Grant said he hoped Mr Martin’s appearance will be the first of many celebrity visits to the gathering in years to come.
He said: “I’m trying to raise the profile of Dufftown Highland Games, so we can get more people through the gates and make more money for local groups and charities.
“I think the locals will look forward to it. It’s not very often you get a celebrity in small places like Dufftown, and it is very nice Bill is doing this for me as a friend.”
Gates open at the Field in Dufftown on Saturday at 11am. Mr Martin will be marching with Mr Grant and 14 pipe bands, which are due to depart from the clock tower at 1pm and arrive for the opening ceremony at 1.30pm.