From CD Booklet " The Best of Charlie Allan"

Charlie Allan is a Lad o' Pairts.He was born in Stirling, brought up in Aberdeenshire, got some of his schooling in Devon and went to Aberdeen University. There he led the pack at rugby,captained the basketball team, batted number six, putt the shot, high jumped and anchored the relay team, while playing Junior football for Rosemount and senior for Deveronvale (twice) and edited the student magazine.

Then he taught economics at Glasgow, St Andrews and Strathclyde Universities, where his academic writings were translated into Japanese and Spanish and included such exciting titles as The Demand for Herring - a Single Equation Model. Charlie also wrote a book on the Scottish Highland Games, having been a world Caber Champion in 1972 and travelled the world as a professional athlete.

In 1974 he gave up academic life to keep the family farm going. It was then , as a farmer, that he began to suffer, despite showing champion cattle at the Highland Show and the Calgary stampede, and topping the famous Perth and Edmonton bull sales.

These recordings were part of his desperate attempts to make a living at Little Ardo in the face of his inadequate husbandry. He also took a job on Radio Scotland, where for five years he produced the daily Scottish Farming News.