My father died on 19th April, 1953, aged 86. Wallace was his hero. He fought the English and routed them in places you wouldn’t find on the map. Bruce – ‘He and his spider! Bruce was just a bloody traitor.’

Mary Brooksbank’s father was Alexander Soutar. He fought for union recognition. He became influenced by James Connolly. Clearly he was articulating the long established Scottish subterranean folk tradition of the ‘lower orders’ with regard to the relative roles of Bruce and Wallace.

Allan Armstrong