A 20-year-old Lewis woman by the name of Dolina Maclennan arrived in Edinburgh and, at a party, after making an impression by singing in her native Gaelic.
Dolina MacLennan was born on 1 January 1938 in Marvig, Isle of Lewis, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for The Queen (2006), Murder Rooms: Mysteries.!
Dolina Maclennan: Services to Gaelic
As a singer, actress, writer, broadcaster and cultural and political campaigner, Dolina Maclennan has worked tirelessly for the enrichment of Scottish culture and particularly of her native Gaelic language and song.
From a wartime childhood on Lewis, her eventful life has encompassed becoming one of Edinburgh’s first pub folk singers, performing Gaelic songs in a Scottish Ballet production, friendships with such cultural figureheads as Hamish Henderson, Norman McCaig, Sorley MacLean and Hugh MacDiarmid, her role in the ground-breaking 7:84 Scotland production, The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil and a distinguished career in Gaelic broadcasting.
In recognition of her significant contribution to Scotland’s life and culture, she received the Saltire Society’s Fletcher of Saltoun Award in 2012, while this year (2016) saw her presented with an honorary doctorate by Edinburgh University.
It all started in the village of Marvig, in the Lo