Para Handy
Encyclopedia
Para Handy, the anglicized Gaelic nickname
of the fictional character
Peter Macfarlane, is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro
in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News under the pen name of Hugh Foulis.
Para Handy is the crafty Gaelic skipper of the Vital Spark
, a Clyde puffer
(steamboat
) of the sort that delivered goods from Glasgow
to Loch Fyne, the Hebrides
, and the west coast highlands of Scotland in the early 20th century. The stories partly focus on his pride in his ship, "the smertest boat in the tred" which he considers to be of a class with the Clyde steamer
s, but mainly tell of the “High Jinks” the crew get up to on their travels. He had at least one crossover with Munro's other popular character, Erchie MacPherson of Erchie, My Droll Friend. The name is an anglicisation of "Para Shandaidh", which means "Petey son of Sandy", and he is content to describe himself as "Chust wan of Brutain's hardy sons".
The other principal characters forming the four man crew include Dan Macphail the effete (very subtly so) engineer, Dougie the superstitious ship’s mate, The Tar (real name Colin Turner) the lazy deckhand, and The Tar's replacement Sunny Jim (real name Davie Green and cousin to the Tar), as the young squeezebox-playing deck hand. Also featured is Hurricane Jack (real name John Maclachlan), Para Handy’s rather more outrageous adventurer friend. One inconsistency in the stories is that Dougie the mate has the choice of two surnames - Cameron or Campbell. Key points of friction among the crew are: transporting Ministers (bad luck), transporting gravestones (bad luck), the small boats carrying passengers up and down the Clyde in Glasgow called the Cluthas
(in Para Handy’s view, the lowest of the low in Clyde shipping), and Macphail’s taste for bodice-ripping women’s pulp fiction.
The earlier series updated the stories by giving them a contemporary setting. The last series had an inter-war setting.
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
of the fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
Peter Macfarlane, is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro
Neil Munro (Hugh Foulis)
Neil Munro was a Scottish journalist, newspaper editor, author and literary critic. He was born in Inveraray and worked as a journalist on various newspapers....
in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News under the pen name of Hugh Foulis.
Para Handy is the crafty Gaelic skipper of the Vital Spark
Vital Spark
The Vital Spark is a fictional Clyde puffer, created by Scottish writer Neil Munro. As its captain, the redoubtable Para Handy, often says: "the smertest boat in the coastin' tred"....
, a Clyde puffer
Clyde puffer
The Clyde puffer is essentially a type of small steamboat which provided a vital supply link around the west coast and Hebrides islands of Scotland, stumpy little cargo ships that have achieved almost mythical status thanks largely to the short stories Neil Munro wrote about the Vital Spark and her...
(steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
) of the sort that delivered goods from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
to Loch Fyne, the Hebrides
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
, and the west coast highlands of Scotland in the early 20th century. The stories partly focus on his pride in his ship, "the smertest boat in the tred" which he considers to be of a class with the Clyde steamer
Clyde steamer
The era of the Clyde steamer in Scotland began in August 1812 with the very first successful commercial steamboat service in Europe, when Henry Bell's began a passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock...
s, but mainly tell of the “High Jinks” the crew get up to on their travels. He had at least one crossover with Munro's other popular character, Erchie MacPherson of Erchie, My Droll Friend. The name is an anglicisation of "Para Shandaidh", which means "Petey son of Sandy", and he is content to describe himself as "Chust wan of Brutain's hardy sons".
The other principal characters forming the four man crew include Dan Macphail the effete (very subtly so) engineer, Dougie the superstitious ship’s mate, The Tar (real name Colin Turner) the lazy deckhand, and The Tar's replacement Sunny Jim (real name Davie Green and cousin to the Tar), as the young squeezebox-playing deck hand. Also featured is Hurricane Jack (real name John Maclachlan), Para Handy’s rather more outrageous adventurer friend. One inconsistency in the stories is that Dougie the mate has the choice of two surnames - Cameron or Campbell. Key points of friction among the crew are: transporting Ministers (bad luck), transporting gravestones (bad luck), the small boats carrying passengers up and down the Clyde in Glasgow called the Cluthas
Clutha ferry
The Clutha ferry passenger harbour steamers provided a service running up and down the River Clyde in Glasgow, and were collectively known as Cluthas. They were introduced on 12 April 1884, with six boats...
(in Para Handy’s view, the lowest of the low in Clyde shipping), and Macphail’s taste for bodice-ripping women’s pulp fiction.
Television
In addition to the written stories, there have been three television adaptations of the Para Handy tales, all for the BBC:| Character | | Para Handy - Master Mariner (1959 in black & white) | | The Vital Spark (1965-6 in b&w/1973-4 in colour) | | The Tales of Para Handy The Tales of Para Handy The Tales of Para Handy was a Scottish television series set in the west of Scotland, based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. It was a sitcom about a puffer boat and its crew.It ran from 1994 to 1995 on BBC One, a total of nine episodes.... (1994-5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peter 'Para Handy' Macfarlane | Duncan MacRae | Roddy McMillan Roddy McMillan Roddy McMillan was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland television. He also played the lead role in Edward Boyd's private eye series, The View from Daniel Pike.The Glasgow-born McMillan's earliest theatre work began in the... |
Gregor Fisher Gregor Fisher Gregor Fisher is a Scottish comedian and actor.-Early life:Fisher was born in Glasgow and following the death of his parents was brought up in Edinburgh, Langholm and Neilston and attended Barrhead High School... |
| Dan MacPhail | John Grieve John Grieve (actor) John Grieve was a Scottish actor, best known as the engineer Macphail in the 1970s BBC adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, The Vital Spark.... |
John Grieve John Grieve (actor) John Grieve was a Scottish actor, best known as the engineer Macphail in the 1970s BBC adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, The Vital Spark.... |
Rikki Fulton Rikki Fulton Robert Kerr Fulton, OBE , more commonly known as Rikki Fulton, was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside... |
| Dougie the Mate | Roddy McMillan Roddy McMillan Roddy McMillan was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland television. He also played the lead role in Edward Boyd's private eye series, The View from Daniel Pike.The Glasgow-born McMillan's earliest theatre work began in the... |
Walter Carr Walter Carr Walter Carr was a British actor.Possibly his best known role was as the mate Dougie in the TV series The Vital Spark.He played Shooey in Lex MacLean's TV series.... |
Sean Scanlan |
| Davie 'Sunny Jim' Green | Angus Lennie Angus Lennie Angus Lennie is a Scottish actor best known for his film appearance as Steve McQueen's friend Archibald Ives in the 1963 film The Great Escape. He was also known for being in the television soap opera Crossroads.... |
Alex McAvoy Alex McAvoy Alex McAvoy was a Scottish actor, known for his role as Sunny Jim in the BBC Scotland adaptation of Neil Munro's Para Handy stories, The Vital Spark.... |
Andrew Fairlie Andrew Fairlie Andrew Fairlie is a Scottish actor who is most famous for playing the role of Gash Nesbitt in the BBC sitcom Rab C. Nesbitt. He also starred as Sunny Jim in the 1994 BBC Scotland series The Tales of Para Handy.... |
The earlier series updated the stories by giving them a contemporary setting. The last series had an inter-war setting.
Theatre
- The Warehouse in Lossiemouth staged a series of three plays The New Tales of Para Handy in 2007 which are now available on DVD.
- In 2011 Eden Court & Open Book presented a Scottish Tour of "Para Handy - A voyage round the stories of Neil Munro" http://www.parahandytour.co.uk. This tour begins in September 2011, at Eden Court followed by HMT Aberdeen, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Published Collections
Para Handy - First Complete Edition: The collected stories from The Vital Spark, In Highland Harbours with Para Handy and Hurricane Jack of The Vital Spark introduced and annotated by Brian D. Osborne & Ronald Armstrong, published by Birlinn Ltd 1992, ISBN 1-874744-02-5. This has also been released in audiobook format.External links
- The Vital Spark, text version of the following stories: Para Handy - Master Mariner, The Prize Canary, The Malingerer, Wee Teeny, The Mate's Wife, Para Handy - Poacher. The Sea Cook, Lodgers on a House-Boat, A Lost Man, Hurricane Jack, Para Handy's Apprentice, Queer Cargoes, In Search of a Wife, Para Handy's Piper, The Sailors and the Sale, A Night Alarm, A Desperate Character, The Tar's Wedding, A Stroke of Luck, Dougie's Family, The Baker's Little Widow, Three Dry Days, The Valentine That Missed Fire, The Disappointment of Erchie's Niece, Para Handy's Wedding.
- The Neil Munro Society - bibliography
- Gutenberg Australia has several volumes of Para Handy stories
- The New Tales of Para Handy Three new adventures for the crew of the Vital Spark, staged and recorded at The Warehouse Theatre, Lossiemouth, Scotland (available on DVD)