Bruce Seton (later Sir Bruce Lovat Seton of Abercorn, 11th Baronet) trained as a military officer but after a brief stint in the Black Watch he resigned his commission to take up acting. He appeared in the theatre and in a number of films – including the classic Ealing comedy, *Whisky Galore!* (1949), which describes how a ship carrying thousands of cases of whisky is shipwrecked near a ficticious Scottish island, to the delight of the natives –, but perhaps his most significant role was as the title character of the groundbreaking BBC crime series, *Fabian of the Yard* (1954–56).

Seton learned to play the pipes during his time in the military and was considered to be reasonably competent although he reputedly wasn't very good at writing down his compositions.