Andro Linklater by Robert Gray – obituary

For 24 years Andro Linklater, who died aged 68 on 3 November, reviewed books in these pages. Always an enthusiast, with wide sympathies and of genial disposition, he wanted others to share his pleasures, so that, while he could spot a dud author as well as anyone, he much preferred to dwell on the positive side, in literature as in life.

As the youngest of the four children of the novelist Eric Linklater, Andro might seem to have been born to a life of letters. His father, though, never subscribed to the sensitive school of paternity. ‘Reprimand was unstinted,’ remembered Andro’s sister Alison (‘Sally’). ‘My father never lifted a finger to punish us physically, but his tongue was formidable. His favourite threat was “I’ll beat you to within an inch of your life!” and when he was really angry this became “I’ll beat you to an inch of your life with rusty barbed wire.” ’

‘Look at the boy,’ Eric Linklater proclaimed, observing the young Andro across the breakfast table, ‘you can see the light through his ears.’ Of course, there was a strong element of self-parody in all this; and when Eric Linklater was in sunny mood the children basked in his brilliance. Nevertheless, Andro did not find himself as a writer until his father died in 1974.

His mother, in her prime an actress of great beauty, was also formidable, but far less complicatedly affectionate. In many ways Andro’s childhood was blessed. When he was three, the family moved from Orkney to a large house and garden on the sea outside Tain, where the children were encouraged to roam at will, sailing, climbing and fishing with a proud disregard for safety.

So Andro developed a keen sense of independence, along with a zest for travel and adventure well supported by valour.