Jimmy was born in Auchenheath, Lanarkshire, Scotland on April 23rd, 1921. It is fitting that someone who loved words so much, and who had such an extraordinary vocabulary should have shared Shakespeare’s birthday. The only child of Martha and George Barr, he developed leukaemia aged 3 but recovered and enjoyed an energetic and healthy childhood. He and Martha would head to Church each Sunday by walking across the moor at first, then running, and walking briskly through Coalburn- as Jimmy said, ‘There was no doubt mother could handle herself!’