Tom Morton

Tom Morton (born December 31, 1955) is a Scottish writer, broadcaster, and musician. He lives and works in the Shetland Islands.

Morton currently (2008) has a BBC Radio Scotland music show, broadcast each weekday afternoon. He has written several books, including a biography of the Gaelic rock band Runrig, a whisky travelogue called Spirit of Adventure, and several critically acclaimed novels. For many years, he worked as a print journalist, as a columnist with the "Daily" and "Sunday Express", "Scotland on Sunday", "The Big Issue in Scotland", "The Shetland Times", and as a staff reporter with national newspaper "The Scotsman".

Born in Carlisle, England, but brought up by his Scottish family in Glasgow and Troon, Ayrshire, Morton's early years were characterised by committed evangelical Christianity which he alluded to in the novel "Red Guitars in Heaven". Heavily involved in religious music during the 1970s and early 80s, he released several albums and toured as a full-time evangelical singer. The evangelical period of Morton's life ended in 1984: a change referenced in several of his books.

His subsequent career included writing reviews and features for the defunct rock weekly "Melody Maker", and working as a producer and presenter in religious TV. A move to the Shetland Islands in 1987 saw his appointment as news editor of The Shetland Times, and the subsequent formation of the islands' first freelance news agency.Appointment as Highlands and Islands Reporter with The Scotsman led to four years with the paper before a return to Shetland and more freelance work. He has continued to work sporadically in television, with the Discovery Home and Leisure series Village Green, about ecological housing, and three series of the STV motoring programme Wheelnuts.

His radio work began in 1992 on BBC Radio Scotland. In 2006 he released a CD of original musical material, mainly self-conscious meditations on the perils of being an ageing rock'n'roll fan. He blogs regularly.

Morton pioneered the use of ISDN digital telephone technology to broadcast nationally from his home in the Shetland Islands. His radio show now comes mostly from The Radiocroft, an ISDN-equipped crofthouse in the remote north of Shetland's mainland.

Morton has returned to live performance with the [Malt and Barley Revue] a musical show about whisky.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radioscotland/view/show.shtml?tom BBC Radio Scotland - Tom Morton]
* [http://beatcroft.blogspot.com/ From the Beatcroft, Shetland Isles - Tom Morton's blog]
* [http://www.tommorton.eu/ Tom Morton central website]
* [http://activetravel2sciennes.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/sciennes-mentioned-on-the-radio/ Tom's radio show mentioned on activetravel2sciennes web site]