Famous people that you may not know are Scottish…

Not only are the Scots hospitable, friendly, and fun (even if we do say so ourselves) but they have also given the world several great inventions – all the way from the pedal bicycle and pneumatic tire to the telephone and tele-printer, and much more!

When you think of famous Scottish people most likely Sean Connery and Ewan McGregor spring to mind, however we bet you didn’t know that some of these famous actors, sportspeople, musicians and influential business people are/were Scottish.

Calvin Harris

World renowned, Grammy award winning and listed at the top of the Forbes list of highest paid DJs for six years in a row is DJ Calvin Harris who hails from Dumfries in Scotland. Born in 1984, Adam Richard Wiles soared to fame in 2007 with his album ‘I Created Disco’ however it was his collaboration with Rihanna on the track ‘We Found Love’ that released in 2012 that truly catapulted him into the household name that he is today.

In October 2014, he became the first artist to have three songs on the top 10 Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart simultaneously and became the first United Kingdom solo artists to reach over 1 billion Spotify streams.

Andrew Carnegie

Born in Dunfermline in 1835, Andrew Carnegie played a huge part in revolutionizing the 19th century steel industry through his investment and expansion of railroads, bridges and other projects. He was known to be a savvy businessperson and he built some incredibly significant establishments such as Carnegie Hall and Carnegie Mellon University.

He gave much of his wealth away as donations and with special focus on things such as local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research.

Annie Lennox

Hailing from Aberdeen, Annie went on to become an international musical sensation as part of the four-time Grammy award winning duo – the Eurythmics. Their songs such as ‘Sweet Dreams’, ‘There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)’ and ‘Here Comes the Rain Again’.

Annie was named "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone.

Besides her fame as a musician Annie is a social and political activist and raises money and awareness for HIV/AIDS for women and children in Africa.

 Andy Murray

Considered one of the best British professional tennis players of all time, Andy Murray was born in Glasgow in 1987 and he is even nicknamed ‘The Great Scot’! The only tennis player to have won two gold Olympic medals in singles competitions.

For all but one month, Andy ranked in the top ten global players from July 2008 until October 2017, and he is known to be a feminist supporter, and is the second only top ten player in the history of the ATP Tour to have a female coach. He is also well known for his work with charities, and he has played significant roles in raising money for charitable organizations.

Karen Gillan

Karen Gillan is a Scottish actress best known for playing Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and Ruby Roundhouse in the Jumanji film series. Born in Inverness in 1987, Karen is also a filmmaker, having written and directed The Party's Just Beginning, as well as acting in the film, which received critical acclaim.

Karen holds an Empire Award, a National Television Award, a Teen Choice Award, and nominations for a variety of other awards under her belt and is well known for her activism around suicide prevention.

We hope that you have enjoyed finding out some more about Scotland! Did you know that any of these famous folks above hailed from our bonny island? Can you think of anymore Scots that are doing great things?

We hope to see you out and about on the hills and Munro’s soon. Happy hiking, The Walker’s Club Team.