From the archive: Charles MacLean
Friday, April 18, 2014 at 9:15 
I was rummaging through some old files yesterday when I found this.
It's an edition of Free Choice which began life as a Forest newsletter before it was upgraded to a 28-page magazine.
The cover features "bon viveur" Charles MacLean who succeeded Brian Monteith as Forest's spokesman in Scotland.
In a regular feature called 'What's Your Vice?' Charles responded as follows to a series of questions. For example:
Hello, what's your vice?
Scotch whisky
How serious is it?
Some of my friends say, rather enviously, that I drink whisky for a living.
How old were you when you first indulged?
I started at 17 but I didn't enjoy it until I was 25. Whisky is an acquired taste and you have to choose to acquire it, but once you have there are few drinks that give greater satisfaction.
How often do you drink?
Daily, and not only whisky. I also enjoy wine, beer and other spirits. I try hard to have at least one good old-fashioned lunch a week, the kind of lunch that leads to a lost afternoon.
Why do you drink?
Intellectual stimulation. Apart from a glass of sherry at lunch or two or three drams to unwind in the early evening, I rarely drink alone. Alcohol stimulates conversation. That's the joy of it. Just getting pissed is depressing.
Does drinking interfere with your work?
I can't afford to allow it to, but there is a long and honourable connection between drinking and writing and for me the two are entwined.
Have you ever tried to stop?
I tried to stop drinking for Lent once but I cracked after four days.
Best accompaniment to whisky?
Stimulating conversation, entertaining companions, and tobacco. I can't possibly enjoy a drink without a smoke. Tobacco is crucial to my enjoyment.
Has drinking ever got you into trouble?
Continually, especially with Mrs MacLean, but I've never woken up in the cells.
Your vision of Utopia?
Sitting on a yacht off the west coast of Scotland with three good friends, a full bottle of whisky and a fresh packet of cigarettes.
The same issue of Free Choice also features an interview with Brian Monteith who I described as a "smoker-friendly member of the Scottish Parliament".
Over the weekend I'll post that interview plus one or two other articles. Unfortunately most back copies disappeared when we moved office several years ago which is a pity because, according to the promotional blurb:
We've got smoker-friendly advice, comment and information, articles by Auberon Waugh and Edward Enfield and interviews with Kenneth Clarke, Laurence Marks and Antony Worrall Thompson; plus details of Forest events including our Annual Debate and the Summer Boat Party.
As for Charlie MacLean, you couldn't meet a more charming man. Today he is universally acknowledged as one of the world's leading authorities on Scotch whisky.
A few years ago he even appeared in a Ken Loach film, The Angels’ Share, playing himself. See Whisky expert turned movie star on the sweet smell of success (Daily Record).
Personally, I'll always remember sharing a room with him above a pub in Glasgow's Merchant City prior to the launch of a Forest campaign.
The following morning we launched the campaign with a smoker-friendly fry-up in that same pub. We invited some guests and it was featured as a live outside broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland.
We then drove to Edinburgh where we hosted a drinks reception for MSPs and journalists (in the appropriately named Oxygen Bar), and the day ended with me dashing back to Glasgow for an appearance on Newsnight Scotland.
It was possibly the most successful campaign launch Forest has ever done and I'll always remember Charles' calmness and grace under fire!
Reader Comments (3)
TV out takes..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPXsdCPY9JY
A Boat Place for a Regular Commenter
It’s all very nice having the great and the good on the boat which happens every year, but it would also be nice to have a raffle perhaps for ordinary commenters who live outside London and may find it too expensive to come and enjoy this kind of experience instead of just reading about it.
These affairs are London centric and I suppose that’s to be expected, but this raffle would give an exclusive experience to those that have never visited their capital city in very many years or perhaps not at all.
You have to remember Simon none of the great and good comment on this blog in the way that your regular commenters do…and without them this blog would die.
Unless I’m missing something I’ve never heard Ken Clarke or Worrall Thompson showing overt support for our cause but who are always invited to such events.
Well it’s time to invite a commenter who plays an important part on behalf of Forest and who knows much more about the nuances of this issue than a great many other people.
It's a great shame if you've lost the stuff from Auberon Waugh. He was always a firm favourite of mine, and one of the main reasons I used to buy the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator.
I can just imagine the tenor of his comments on the current state of play where 'Public Health' is concerned. 'Acerbic' would barely begin to describe his view.
One of the great commenters, with wit as sharp as a razor. He was a great loss.