Rob Roy

Rob Roy may refer to:

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet with many contemporary readers in Europe, Australia, and North America.

Scott's novels and poetry are still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor.

Although primarily remembered for his extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scott was an advocate, judge and legal administrator by profession, and throughout his career combined his writing and editing work with his daily occupation as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire.

A prominent member of the Tory establishment in Edinburgh, Scott was an active member of the Highland Society and served a long term as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–32).

Biography

Early days

Sir Walter

Sir Walter (foaled 1890 in California) was an outstanding American Thoroughbred racehorse known for his gritty determination which saw him win a number of races by a matter of inches.

Background

Sir Walter was bred by James Ben Ali Haggin at his Rancho Del Paso near Sacramento, California who had imported his sire, Midlothian, from Great Britain. His dam was La Scala, a daughter of the important Nevada/California sire, Joe Hooker.

Sir Walter was purchased as a yearling by the Oneck Stable of Harry K. Knapp and his brother, Dr. Gideon Lee Knapp, who raced him throughout his career. He was trained by Walter Rollins, about whom the New York Times would write that he "was for thirty years one of the most successful trainers of thoroughbred racers in America."

The decade of the 1890s was a time in American Thoroughbred racing when the Kentucky Derby had lost much of its earlier importance and was often drawing a field of just three or four horses. Although there were important races in the state of New Maryland, it was the New York/New Jersey circuit which attracted the best horses from across the United States and the Metropolitan, Brooklyn and Suburban Handicaps were among the top events of the racing season. There were also a number of significant stakes and handicaps on the New York racing calendar at what are today long defunct racing venues such as Morris Park Racecourse, Sheepshead Bay Race Track and Gravesend Race Track. In addition to his Brooklyn Handicap victory, Sir Walter won numerous important races which are now all but forgotten as a result of those track's closure in the early 1900s. His racing career was such that on his retirement in 1898, the New York Times called Sir Walter a "great race horse."

Historical fiction

Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting located in the past. Historical fiction can be an ambiguous term: frequently it is used as a synonym for describing the historical novel; however, the term can be applied to works in other narrative formats, such as those in the performing and visual arts like theatre, opera, cinema, television, comics, and graphic novels.

An essential element of historical fiction is that it is set in the past and pays attention to the manners, social conditions and other details of the period depicted. Authors also frequently choose to explore notable historical figures in these settings, allowing readers to better understand how these individuals might have responded to their environments. Some subgenres, such as alternate history or historical fantasy, insert speculative or ahistorical elements into a novel.

Works of historical fiction are sometimes criticized for lack of authenticity because of readerly or generic expectations for accurate period details. This tension between historical authenticity, or historicity, and fiction frequently becomes a point of comment for readers and popular critics, while scholarly criticism frequently goes beyond this commentary, investigating the genre for its other thematic and critical interests.

Roy MacGregor

Roy MacGregor is a Canadian author of fiction and non-fiction. He was born in Whitney, Ontario, in 1948 and grew up in Huntsville, Ontario. His work tends to focus on Canadian topics; Shelagh Rogers has dubbed him the "heir to Peter Gzowski". He has a longstanding interest in the life of Tom Thomson, and has written both a novel and a biography exploring the artist's life and mysterious death.

MacGregor has also been called "the Wayne Gretzky of hockey writing" and the Washington Post once declared him to be "the closest thing there is to a poet laureate of Canadian hockey." In 2012 he was awarded the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and named the media honouree to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2015 he was named to the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame as winner of the Brian Williams Award. He is also a member of the Huntsville Sports Hall of Fame, Huntsville being the small town where he played competitive hockey, lacrosse and baseball. In 1960, he played - as a second- and third-liner - on the Huntsville team that won the all-Ontario Pee Wee 'A' lacrosse championship.