THE FIRST TIME I heard of Clunies- Ross was in the spring of 1976 at the home of the great Gaelic poet Sorley Maclean in Skye. There, a Portree man, David Forsyth, told a far-fetched tale of how he had a claim to the throne of the Cocos Islands because he was descended from the first “king”, a chap called John Clunies-Ross who had settled there with nothing but a bevy of Malay beauties for comfort, in the middle of the previous century! Now, Highlanders rarely let truth get in the way of a good yarn, and I’ll never forget the humorous twinkle in Sorley Maclean’s eye when he suggested that, on Forsyth’s ascent to the throne, he himself could become An Bard Coconagh – the Gaelic bard of the Cocos Gaidhealtachd!
Sorley Maclean – fancied the position of An Bard Coconagh!