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Daily columnist vows to go on ‘as long as I can’ after 1,000th piece

Angus WhitsonA regional daily columnist has vowed to continue writing for “as long as I can” after publishing his 1,000th piece.

Angus Whitson has celebrated the milestone for the Dundee Courier, for which he has written a weekly column since 2003.

The ‘Man With Two Dogs’ feature is described as one of the Courier’s “most popular” and offers “whimsical musings on nature, wildlife and tales from the countryside”.

Angus, pictured, explained in an interview with the newspaper how the piece began following a conversation with journalist Chris Hardy.

He said: “A new editor, Bill Hutcheon, had just been appointed. Colin Gibson’s nature diary had been on the go for 42 years and he’d been dead six years.

“The paper was dipping into the archives and pulling out appropriate articles for the time of year.

“Bill said, ‘this can’t go on forever; we’ve got to do something different.’ I suppose I was in the right place at the right moment.

“They were looking for someone to replace Colin with something similar and that’s how it happened. I was very aware I was following in the footsteps of a much-loved contributor.”

Angus has now pledged to keep going with the column. “Man With Two Dogs is non-controversial and non-political and it’s always been like that. Memories serve me well – my own as well as other people’s,” he said.

“But I also rely on people who have what I call a fund of utterly useless information. I thrive on the snippets they put my way and round which I can build a story.

“Over the years I’ve met so many people and done so many things that I’d never have been able to if I hadn’t been the Man With Two Dogs.

“I’m delighted to have passed the millennium mark and expect to carry on writing as long as I can.”