UNCLE star David in visit to hotel

An article in the New York Times had an impressive spin-off for a Balquhidder hotel, the Observer of July, 1984 reported.

It came from the pen of American journalist Israel Shenker who had moved to Brig o’ Turk and become a regular at the Ledcreich Hotel, Balquhidder.

Mr Shenker became interested in the history of both the hotel and the village of Balquhidder where outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy Macgregor is famously buried.

The journalist produced an extensive article about his new home and it was printed in the travel supplement of the New York Times, prompting much interest in the area from States-side.

Ledcreich Hotel owner Harry Hilditch received six firm bookings from the USA in the morning after the article hit the streets.

Among those whose imagination was stirred was actor David Mccallum, famous for his appearance in the Man from UNCLE television series. He had stayed at the hotel with his wife and family a week earlier.

The hotel was also contacted by the wife of `Rob Roy’, from Farmington Hills, Michigan, seeking to book a room for the two of them.

As the Observer reported, Mr Rob Roy from the USA wasn’t even a Macgregor. He had been christened Robert Roy and was determined to visit the burial place of his famous namesake.

Mr Hilditch ran the hotel with his sons David and Duncan and Duncan’s wife Anne.

Meanwhile, the warm weather of mid-1984 was posing a headache for Stirling District Council pest control officers.

They were used to being called out to get rid of wasps nests in chimneys, air vents and trees. But the summer of 1984 saw a big jump in the numbers of nests with which they had to deal.

In June, 1984, they responded to 155 calls regarding wasp nests compared with 19 in the same month a year earlier. And In July, 1984,there had been 178 calls, up on the figure of 160 12 months earlier.