Glasgow is an extraordinary city. Famed for its landmarks, its style and most of all, its people.
And with the people comes a humour that is vibrant and unequalled.
Even the accepted formality of plaques marking major events gets the Glasgow treatment, as here in the Trongate, in a dedication to Wee Willie Winkie.
Yes, as you stroll along the Merchant City you are reminded we just don’t take ourselves that seriously.
Wee Willie Winkie, the scamp, used to run through the town, upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown.
You’re already ahead of me, so here goes:
Tapping at the window and crying through the lock,
Are all the children in their beds, it's past eight o'clock?
He was created in 1841 by the east end writer, William Miller.
He was a part-time writer who had yearnings to be a surgeon, but ill health beset his dream and he became an apprentice wood turner.
William Miller wrote Willie Winkie for his son, Stephen.
It has been translated into countless languages and has become the greatest known and one of the best-loved nursery rhymes around the world.
William Miller died in poverty in 1872 but is remembered for this timeless rhyme.
The public paid for a memorial at the Necropolis (Eye Spy passim).
It is easy to find, on the main path across the footbridge from Glasgow Cathedral.
And as for that blue plaque? You’ll find it halfway along the block between the Tron Theatre and Saltmarket.
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