Born: September 10, 1920–Died: July 28, 2016

Jamie Stuart, storyteller, evangelist and one of Scotland’s most successful and beloved Christian authors, has died at the age of 95. A celebration of his life will be held at 12pm on Thursday 4 August at Carntyne Parish Church, 358 Carntynhall Road, Glasgow.

Professor Donald Smith, director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival, will lead the appreciation. Through their connection at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, which hosts Stuart’s Psalms in Scots Pamphlet at John Knox House, they collaborated together often, and were close friends, as Professor Smith states:

“In his later life, Jamie Stuart essentially became a storyteller, evangelist and author, but during his early career he was a professional actor. In fact for many years he was the sole surviving cast member of the 1948 production of A Satire of The Three Estates and a major figure in the development of Scottish Theatre.

“He became best known for his Scots Gospel and then his Glasgow Bible.

“The Scots Gospel was originally a drama, inspired by The Gospel of Mark, a one-man show by Alec McCowen. Jamie decided to do it in Scots and then in Glaswegian. All of that exploded and he was always in demand as a speaker and storyteller.

“He had a remarkable life and a remarkable career well into his 90s. His final project was to translate the psalms into Scots. Eleven of the psalms were published in a free pocket pamphlet called Psalms for the People, and they were very, very popular.”

Picture: Jamie Stuart in 2013 after speaking at the General Assembly, Courtesy of the Church of Scotland