Albert Morris

About Albert Morris:
Morris – known to his friends as Bert – left school at 14 and, inspired by Hollywood movies, set his cap (famously flat) at a career in journalism. After learning typing and shorthand at Skerry’s College, he worked in the courts for a year before joining the Edinburgh Evening Dispatch in 1944 as a copy boy, rejoining after National Service as a reporter in 1949. In 1954 he started at The Scotsman where he was to continue for the rest of his career.

Occasionally watered by horizontal rain assailing him at his favourite bus-stop on Edinburgh’s exposed North Bridge, Morris never lacked subjects inspired by the Scottish capital, many of which were captured in his weekly columns. Though retiring from his staff job at The Scotsman in 1992, he continued writing columns for another 13 years, only giving up when his eyesight started failing.

A keen walker he also co-authored a guide to the Pentland Hills. Two collections of his columns were published in book form, and he also wrote Scotland’s Paper: The Scotsman 1817-1992.