16 Facts About Tom Nairn

Thomas Cunningham Nairn was a Scottish political theorist and academic.

Tom Nairn was an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University.

Tom Nairn was known as an essayist and a supporter of Scottish independence.

Tom Nairn was born on 2 June 1932 in Freuchie, Fife, the son of a primary school headmaster.

Tom Nairn attended Dunfermline High School and the Edinburgh College of Art before graduating from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Philosophy in 1956.

Tom Nairn was awarded a British Council scholarship in 1957 to the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, where he stayed for some time.

Tom Nairn came to national prominence as a lecturer at Hornsey College of Art during 1968, where he became involved in a student occupation.

Tom Nairn was then absent from secure university posts for three decades.

Tom Nairn was at the Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, from 1972 to 1976, but resigned when his efforts to steer it towards becoming a pan-European thinktank failed.

Tom Nairn then worked on and off as a journalist and TV researcher before a year at the Central European University with Ernest Gellner and then setting up and running a Masters course on Nationalism at the University of Edinburgh.

Tom Nairn left in January 2010 when in his late 70s.

Tom Nairn was considered one of the key thinkers of the British New Left, although he expressed dissent with what he saw as its generally nationalist nostalgia.

Tom Nairn lived in Scotland with his long-term partner Millicent Petrie, and had two stepchildren.

Tom Nairn died on 21 January 2023, at the age of 90.

In 2009, Tom Nairn was elected a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

Tom Nairn has written many articles for the London Review of Books and contributed regularly to openDemocracy as well as other publications.