Born in Langholm, Christopher Murray Grieve was one of the most influential Scots of the twentieth century. He was a prolific poet and essay writer, a founding member of the Scottish National Party, a Marxist and the leader of the Scottish literary renaissance. He revived and renewed Scots as a poetic language and used half a dozen pen names before settling for Hugh MacDiarmid, the name by which he is best known. This captivating illustration of MacDiarmid was made for 'The Radio Times’ with the title perfectly describing the scene - ‘Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle.’