Andrew Nicol was born in July, 1949 at Birse, Aberdeenshire, the son of Lt-Colonel J. W. Nicol of Ballogle. Andrew's great grandfather, Lt-Colonel W. E. Nicol, commanded The London Scottish during the 1880's.

From Rugby, Andrew went on to Aberdeen University where he took his BSc in Forestry, and hopes to become a Land Agent and Woodland Manager. However, the Scottish has firmly got him for the moment and we gather that he is already on his third job since joining us, on a farm in Oxfordshire.

His military interests manifested themselves early. For in 1963 he joined the Rugby School CCF Pipe Band. Four years later he was Pipe-Corporal on the occasion of HM The Queen's visit as part of the School's Quarter centenary Celebrations. He rose to the rank of Sergeant, and on arriving at university joined the OTC. That was in July, 1970. In the following March, Andrew was commissioned into 51 Highland Volunteers and joined D (Gordon) Coy of the 2nd Bn, in Aberdeen, as Rifle Pln Commander.

He came south in 1973 and transferred to The London Scottish Coy. Just over a year later, at Hallowe'en 1974, he was promoted Captain and appointed Coy 2IC. He says that his finest hour yet was to command the Guard of Honour at The Queen Mother's Review of the TAVR in Hyde Park in April, 1975.

Andrew's interests are many and varied and it is difficult to see how, with his job down in Oxfordshire, and The Scottish as well, he can find time for many of them. They are, he tells me, piping, Scottish country dancing, Scottish history, 18th Century highland dress, Scottish architecture, Scottish heraldry, Scottish whisky, pubs, survival of rural communities in the north of Scotland. There are also shooting, fishing, driving land-rovers, soccer, tennis, squash, hockey and you name it . . . . After that impressive list which, no doubt, Andrew will wish he had never divulged, we shall all have our pet subject to buttonhole him about. When he next appears in the Canteen a long and learned queue will form respectfully before him, some to talk of pressures flory-counter-flory, others on obscure military engagements, or how many tassels on so-and-so's sporran, or on pele towers, or the influence of France on Scottish window tracery. They will all have whisky in common, of course.

One thing does not come out though, and that is his ambition. No doubt, it is to follow in the footsteps of his great grandfather and command The London Scottish, even though it is now but a Company and not a Battalion. Well, time will tell and it certainly is something very well worth aiming for.