Finlay John Macdonald (; 4 July 1925 – 14 October 1987) was a Scottish journalist and radio and television producer and writer. Career Born and raised on Harris in the Outer Hebrides, MacDonald was a native Gaelic language speaker and an important figure in Gaelic broadcasting in Scotland. He founded the Gaelic Drama Association and co-founded the quarterly Gaelic language magazine Gairm in 1951 with Derick Thomson. MacDonald served as Gairm'''s chief editor until 1964.
MacDonald was a radio and television producer. His production for radio of Sydney Goodsir Smith's play, The Wallace, was broadcast on 30 November 1959.McLellan, Robert, Review of The Wallace, in Thomson, David Cleghorn (ed.), Saltire Review, Vol. 6, No. 22, Autumn 1960, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, pp. 75 - 77
MacDonald edited A Journey to the Western Isles (1983), in which he retraced the 1773 tour of Scotland by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell. The book provided the text of Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland along with MacDonald's commentary and photographs.
Memoirs He wrote three books of memoirs that recall his childhood on Harris: Crowdie and Cream (1982) Crotal and White (1983) The Corncrake and the Lysander'' (1985).
These have been cited as providing valuable insights into life in the Outer Hebrides in the interwar period.
References