James Hogg was born on 9 December 1770 in Ettrick Forest in Selkirk, Scotland. He worked as a shepherd and taught himself how to read and write before being introduced to Sir Walter Scott who helped him begin his literary career. His first collection of poems, The Mountain Bard, was published in 1807 and this was followed by The Queen's Wake in 1813.He went on to work for Blackwood's Magazine and published his most famous work, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, in 1824.James Hogg died on 21 November 1835.
Date: 2013-08-06
Having researched comedy since his mid-teens, James Hogg started writing in 2005. His first book, the biography of James Robertson Justice, What's the Bleeding Time, Sir? was published in 2008. He also collaborated with Robert Sellers on Little Ern! The Authorised Biography of Ernie Wise. After an eight-year stint at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, James now devotes his time purely to writing and researching.
Robert Sellers is the author of more than ten books on popular culture, including the bestselling Hellraisers series, as well as the definitive book on the genesis of the Bond franchise, The Battle for Bond and the true history of Handmade Films, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. His latest book is the authorised biography of Oliver Reed.
James Hogg (1770-1835) led a troubled life as a writer. Originally a shepherd, he taught himself to write and finally achieved recognition for his epic poem on Mary, Queen of Scots, The Queen's Wake, and was invited to write for the best-selling journal Blackwood's Magazine. However, Hogg soon became a figure of fun and ridicule in the magazine's satirical 'Noctes Ambrosianae', in which the crude and absurd 'Ettrick Shepherd' was openly modelled on him. It is debated whether this was a source of pain and humiliation to the increasingly ostracised Hogg. His masterpiece, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, only achieved recognition some 100 years after publication, but is now one of the most important novels in the Scottish canon.
