Finlay J Macdonald

Who is Finlay J Macdonald?

Finlay J MacDonald was a Scottish journalist and radio and television producer and writer.

Born and raised on Harris in the Outer Hebrides, and a native Gaelic language speaker, was an important figure in Gaelic radio and television broadcasting, founding the Gaelic Drama Association. He co-founded the quarterly Gaelic magazine Gairm in 1951 with Derick Thompson and served as its chief editor until 1964.

Macdonald edited A Journey to the Western Isles, in which he "retraced" the 1773 tour of Scotland by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell by providing the text of Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland along with his own commentary and numerous colour and black-and-white photographs.

He was a radio and television producer. He wrote three memoirs related to his home town of Harris:

Crowdie and Cream

Crotal and White

The Corncrake and the Lysander.

These have been cited as providing a valuable insight into life in the Outer Hebrides in the inter-war years.