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Is Peter Capaldi the Greatest Glaswegian? (No, Really)

John Smith, Johann Schmidt, Prisoner 101, Sweetie, The Oncoming Storm, The Sandman, and now possibly the greatest Glaswegian in history.

The Doctor, or Peter Capaldi to be precise, is in the running in a competition ran by local paper Evening Times to name the greatest Glaswegian, filtering through 50 of the top artists, celebrities, competitors, politicians, scientists, and time travellers that has put the Scottish city in the spotlight (for the right reasons, obviously).

Capaldi was born in Springburn in the inner city, and studied at Glasgow School of Art. His professional career in acting was kickstarted by Bill Forsyth (Local Hero), but it was in film directing where he received international acclaim by winning an Oscar for his 1993 short Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life.

He remained mostly in acting thereon, picking up awards for his role as foul-mouthed spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and The Loop before taking up roles in the Doctor Who universe.

His first was as Lobus Caecilius in Series 4 story The Fires of Pompeii in 2008, then John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth in 2009 and eventually the Doctor himself from 2013 to 2017.

Facing off against the Twelfth Doctor is Muriel Robertson, a pioneering scientist in the first half of the 20th Century. Her work on tropical diseases, a career she could only pursue after fighting through a male-dominated academic sphere, has saved countless lives and still influences work in her field today.

After being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society post-war, she officially retired but lectured into her ninth decade of life. Remarkably, she has never featured in Doctor Who in any medium.

Now that all 50 have been revealed, it’s over to you – you can vote for your favourite to be crowned Greatest Glaswegian of all time.

Ida Wood

Is Peter Capaldi the Greatest Glaswegian? (No, Really)

by Ida Wood time to read: 1 min
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