17 Facts About Bill Wilkie

William Wilkie MBE was a Scottish musician and businessman.

Bill Wilkie's career spanned five decades, during which he met and performed for several British prime ministers, including Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, Alec Douglas-Home and Margaret Thatcher.

Bill Wilkie's father, a fiddle player, was a self-employed tailor.

Bill Wilkie's mother was a housewife, but during hard times she worked at Paterson's, a music shop in Perth's Methven Street, as a caretaker.

Bill Wilkie joined her periodically, and sometimes they sat and listened to the practicing musicians in the studios above the shop.

Bill Wilkie's mother gave him a mouth organ when he was five years old, and he quickly became an aficionado on it.

Bill Wilkie began playing mostly by ear, but had occasional lessons with a music teacher.

Bill Wilkie drew the attention of stage director Ralph Reader, creator of the Gang Show, and travelled to India and other parts of the British Empire with an ensemble called Just Five, which included Norrie Paramor and a young drummer by the name of Peter Sellers.

Bill Wilkie later formed the Bill Wilkie Dance Band and, with his wife, he established a home teaching studio.

In 2010, Bill Wilkie was awarded the Hamish Henderson Services to Traditional Music Award by the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.

Wilkie's son-in-law Bill Colburn moved the business online, but it has since ceased trading.

In 1940, Bill Wilkie was called up into the Royal Air Force, and completed his basic training at Redcar.

Bill Wilkie was posted to Kinnell, near Friockheim in Angus.

Bill Wilkie was an organist in her father's church, Coupar Angus Congregational, as well as being a pianist in a local dance band.

Ena died in 2003, and Bill Wilkie survived her by fourteen years.

Bill Wilkie died on 1 May 2017, aged 95, at Perth Royal Infirmary.

Bill Wilkie's grandson, Richard Colburn, is a drummer who has played with Snow Patrol and Belle and Sebastian.