* SIR NICHOLAS FAIRBAIRN (SCOTTISH 1933 - 1995),
TAY STREET, PERTH, ACROSS FROM THE RIVER
mixed media on paper, signed, titled label verso
image size 20cm x 27.5cm, overall size 39cm x 46cm
Mounted, framed and under glass.
Handwritten artist's label verso.
Note: Sir Nicholas Fairbairn was a colourful, flamboyant and controversial figure in Scottish legal circles and on the UK political scene during the latter quarter of the 20th century. He was immensely popular among his constituents and was widely respected as a competent and diligent constituency MP. Fairbairn was the epitome of an eccentric in his attitudes, his sartorial style and in most other aspects of his working and personal life. While some disagreed with him, few if any, doubted his intelligence or wit. He was a brilliant QC and was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland in 1979. He always carried a silver miniature, working revolver on a chain attached to his belt. He was reputedly the only MP to use the House of Commons Parliamentary snuff box. Above all, Sir Nicholas Fairbairn was his own man. He amusingly, but typically, described himself in his final entry in Who's Who, as "Author, forester, painter, poet, TV and radio broadcaster, journalist, dress-designer, landscape gardener, bon viveur, raconteur and wit". His autobiography, A Life is Too Short, was published in 1987.