The ugly truth behind my ancestry

I’M a proud son of Leod, a full-on MacLeod.

Happy to be an “Ugly Wolf” a member of a historic clan with Viking blood coursing through my veins.

MacLeods were a marauding, people who, many centuries ago, decided to ditch the longboat for land, pillaging for a plough and paganism for Christianity.

We didn’t, as most clans of the time did, choose peace and diplomacy over violence, especially when a dispute arose with an equally violent, pigheaded neighbour.

Any excuse and we’d be off into the misty Cuillins looking for a fight.

The term “Ugly Wolf” seems to have nothing to do with having lupine looks, something which I always believed, being the handsome devil that I am, but more to do with my ancestors’ predatory and wicked behaviour.

It turns out that in 1577 on the Isle of Eigg a group of MacLeods were cast adrift by MacDonald clansmen for defiling their women.

When the MacLeods returned with reinforcements, they chased the whole MacDonald clan – nearly 400 of them – into a cave and burned them alive.

But don’t worry, folks, the only MacDonald you will see this ugly wolf burn is when I try and reheat my takeaway.