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Significant Scots
Harry Gordon


Harry Gordon (11 July 1893, Aberdeen - 21 January, 1957, Glasgow) was a popular Scottish Music Hall Artiste. From the 1920s until the mid-1950s he graced the stage far and wide, but also produced a large number of recordings. He was known as the 'Laird of Inversnecky', the fictional Scottish town that he used in his comic routines. Harry was born in Aberdeen as Alexander Ross Gordon, one of five sons and a daughter. He attended King Street and Central schools, before leaving to work as an insurance clerk to help with the family finances. By the time he was fifteen years old, he had decided to pursue a full-time career as an entertainer and thus began to develop his stage skills at various venues in North-East Scotland.

An important turning-point in his career was the 1909 formation of a Pierrot troupe, with whom Gordon played in many open-air performances. He then started appearing at many theatres across Scotland and also did seaside shows in the summer. After WW1 Harry often performed in Aberdeen at His Majesty's Theatre and the Beach Pavilion. Very often he was the master of ceremonies at the Beach Pavilion and eventually leased the theatre himself before its closure in 1941. He had a homely, chatty style, and established intimate rapport with his audiences. With his complementary use of English and Doric dialect, he soon became one of Scotland's most popular entertainers.

Harry Gordon sings 'The Beadle O' The Kirk' (1927), 'Inversnecky Moon' (1929) and 'The Inversnecky Fireman' (1929)


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