THE COVENANTER
that appointment. I was then ADC to Lord Boustead was in charge of the Sheikh of Abu
Reith, the first Director General of the BBC, Dhabi’s stud. Boustead’s own life and career
during his time as Lord High Commissioner beat fiction, but his autobiography The
of the General Assembly of the Church of Wind of Morning paints an evocative picture
Scotland. John Reith had joined the 5th of the Arab world, now fast changing, in
Battalion Scottish Rifles, known popularly the immediate post-war years. At the time
as 5th SR, as a territorial before the First the war in Dhofar was still running and we
World War, and on the outbreak of war went sent down occasional patrols to assist the
to the front with the battalion as Transport Sultan’s Armed Forces. Flying down over the
Officer. By all accounts he was a prickly Jebel Akdhar to visit a patrol I thought of
young officer with his own set of values and the Battalion’s part in the operations further
he chose to pick a fight with the adjutant, south to put down the Imam’s Revolt in
Captain Croft. The feud which was mutual 1957. I also remembered Sultan Qaboos Bin
is documented in Reith’s autobiography Said, who had just succeeded his father in
Wearing Spurs, and came to a head over a a coup d’état, as a young officer fresh from
horse, aptly named Sailaway. The result was Sandhurst with the Battalion in Minden.
that Reith was sacked as Transport Officer,
and in high dudgeon he requested and was Fast forward another dozen years and I was at
a granted a transfer to the Royal Engineers Edinburgh Castle. One of my responsibilities
with whom he was later badly wounded. was to oversee the military support for the
Croft went on to win no less than four Edinburgh Military Tattoo. In an office a floor
DSOs. Despite all this Reith maintained a above me was the Tattoo Producer Colonel
great fondness for the regiment. However, Dow, who had been my first company
his reputation as a stickler for protocol commander and my last commanding
preceded him to Edinburgh and we were officer as a Cameronian. Down the hill, as
not to be disappointed. The Purse Bearer Business Manager of the Tattoo, was your
and I met him at Waverley Station with a Editor, Major Brian Leishman, whom I had
large black, shiny limousine, complete with first met as the Battalion’s mortar platoon
uniformed chauffeur, which had been hired commander. There is a saying that ‘History
for the occasion. Just about to enter it, Reith is the science of what never happens twice’.
swung round and demanded, “Why isn’t Looking back, it can sometimes seem a close
the driver wearing a cockade in his cap?” run thing.
to which there was no adequate answer. Robin Buchanan-Dunlop
The drive to Holyrood was a frosty one. I
nevertheless got on remarkably well with
My Last Year in the Band,
him and he was kind enough to ask for me
again the following year, but by that time I
In 1953, we joined the battalion in Barnard
was in Berlin and the MOD dug its toes in
Castle, Co. Durham. Like Lanark in size
much to Reith’s fury. Two years later he was
and appearance, it was an attractive small
dead and Pipe Major Tom Anderson played
market town on the banks of the River
The Flowers of the Forest at his memorial
Tees, containing the Bowes Museum. Like
service in Westminster Abbey.
Winston Barracks, Streatlam Camp was a
short distance from the town and this is
I had arrived in Berlin as a Cameronian. I
where the comparison ends with Lanark.
left as a Scots Guardsman. A year later I was
Streatlam Camp lived up to its name by
with 1st Battalion Scots Guards in Sharjah.
providing wartime huts heated by coke
That part of the Gulf could have changed
stoves. The battalion had to make the
little since the Cameronians were there a
transition from the trauma of jungle warfare
dozen years before. My company included
to being prepared for their next posting to
the Reconnaissance Platoon commanded by
Germany.
Jeremy Cox who had transferred to the Scots
Guards with me. Next door was a squadron
Our new CO was H.T. Alexander, a small
of the Royal Scots Greys, its armoured cars
man with pronounced dark eyebrows, a
painted in dusty pink, the desert camouflage
large array of medal ribbons, confirming he
colour then in vogue, which was commanded
had served in almost every campaign in the
by my old friend Major George Stephen.
war. My initial impression of him was that
I recall one memorable and wild evening
he looked like a steeplechase jockey which
with Jeremy Cox at the Trucial Oman Scouts
was confirmed when I learnt that he was
fort at Buraimi. Near by Colonel Sir Hugh
a very good polo player and had won the
78
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