Laureation Address: Billy Kay
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters
Laureation by Professor Peter Mackay, School of English
Wednesday 1 July 2026 – afternoon ceremony
Chancellor, it is my privilege to present for the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Billy Kay.
As a writer, broadcaster, poet, playwright, producer, and director, Billy Kay has been one of the most eloquent, passionate and influential advocates for the Scots Language, and for a fuller understanding of Scottish history and culture. His work celebrates Scots as boasting one of the brawest literatures in Renaissance Europe, and as a rich, evocative language of over 1.5 million people today; it challenges the long-standing denigration of the language; and it has given a voice and validation to generations of Scots speakers in ways that are, in the words of James Robertson, “life-affirming, emotionally and intellectually liberating”. In the Edinburgh Review,
Brian Holton wrote, “Whole new tracts of Scotland have been opened up for broadcasting thanks to him… and he has shown us that we can and do speak naturally and easily in a language of grace, dignity and power. Much of his work has been moving, delightful, even inspiring.”
Born in Galston, Ayrshire, and educated at Galston High School, Kilmarnock Academy, and Edinburgh University, Kay is – like Robert Burns before him – a lad born in Kyle and a gifted linguist, who speaks French, German, and Portuguese as well as his native English and Scots. As a producer for the BBC, he created the acclaimed ‘Odyssey’ series, recording the oral history of the Scottish working class, as well as many radio documentaries on Scottish culture. He has presented TV programmes on ‘The Mother Tongue’ and ‘Miners’, a schools’ documentary series ‘Haud yer Tongue’, written plays for radio and the stage, and the hugely influential books Scots: The Mither Tongue, The Scottish World and his celebrated love-letter to Ayrshire, Born in Kyle.
His radio programme ‘Fresche Fragrant Clairettis’ won the UK Wine Guild Houghton Award, he co-authored the book Knee Deep in Claret with Cailean Maclean and he’s an honorary member of two wine confraternities in Bordeaux. He has also won a Heritage Society Award and an Oliver Award for his promotion of Scottish identity, and the Sloan Prize from the University of
St Andrews. He is a keen campaigner for Scottish independence, and has frequently represented Scotland overseas, winning the Mark Twain Award from the St Andrews Society of the State of New York.
Writing in The Mither Tongue in 1986, Kay argued that “there is no philological reason why Scots should not rise, like Icelandic or Norwegian, from being regarded as a provincial dialect to becoming a full-blown national language, regarded as such the world over… All that is lacking here is the will. For the moment, though, Standard Scots as an official language of Scotland is a million miles away”.
Well, last year Scots did become ane of the official leids of Scotland, and the work – and will – of Billy Kay has played a crucial role in making that possible. Chapeau.
Chancellor, in recognition of his major contribution to Scottish culture and the Scots language, I invite you to confer the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, on Billy Kay.