{"product_id":"9781906000813","title":"A Touch of Treason","description":"\u003cp\u003eIan Hamilton QC may not be well known to many young people in Scotland today, but to an older generation he will be forever remembered as the leader of the 'vulgar vandals' who took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950. The event brought instant fame but it threw a deep shadow over him that nearly stifled his identity. Nor was an act of sacrilegious banditry the best way to start his career as an advocate. Ian fought his way free to preserve his identity and became one of the leading Queen's Counsel of his generation. He has never wavered in his pride at what he did as a young man. That is because Hamilton is a Scottish patriot in the best sense of the word and this revealing, entertaining and at times dramatic story shows that when faced with any course of action which compromised his belief in Scotland, he did not budge. In doing so he trod an almost friendless path for many years. Born in 1925, the son of a Paisley tailor, he grew up in a Scotland that was depressed, wretched and 'narrow, narrow…'. In 1943, while still a schoolboy, when the casualty rate was at its highest, he got himself into the RAFVR for pilot training which never materialised. Demobilised in 1947 he took up law which led him to the Faculty of Advocates. Marriage and children followed as did divorce and loneliness. His legal career took him to Zambia and Canada. When he was not practising law he survived as a printer, playwright, motorcyclist, museum curator, trans-Scotland canoeist, oyster-farmer, pilot and failed transatlantic yachtsman (he made it to the Azores, which is halfway). In time he married again and settled happily in Argyll. All of these episodes and more are recounted in this new and revised edition of Ian's engaging and frank memoir with wit, style and not a little pride. It is a record of on ordinary Scot who has lived an extraordinary life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wilson, Neil Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50096657826032,"sku":"9781906000813","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781906000813","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}