A FORMER-Black Watch war hero has left almost £9 million in his will.
Captain John Neil Baillie-Hamilton was a leading member of the Perthshire farming community and owned over 12,000 acres of prime agricultural land near Callander.
Capt Baillie-Hamilton served as an officer in the Black Watch and saw service in India, Germany and in Cyprus during the Suez crisis.
The officer, who owned the large Cambusmore Estate near Callander, Perthshire, passed away on February 15, 2009, aged 82.
His final bequest of £8, 994, 761.21 is largely made up of cash, shares and land.
The wealthy landowner has left the bulk of his estate to his children and wife, but has also gifted his local church a generous £20,000.
A SCOTTISH cake maker is hoping to mix it with millionaires with a “revolutionary” take on the wooden spoon – which he insists is NOT a spatula.
But Dragon’s Den won’t be seeing an appearance from “Spon” inventor Neal Robertson – he’s worried they’d laugh at him for being “too wacky.”
Instead, the 51-year-old Fife tearoom owner is sending his double-backed spoons to celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson in a bid for the baking big time.
“Proud as punch” with his creation, Neal said: “It took me 12 years of making cakes to come up with this – I’m just annoyed I didn’t think of it sooner.
“It’s heavier than a spatula, so it’s not a spatula, neither is it a spoon – it’s a Spon.
“Scotland gets enough wooden spoons in sport – I’m just doing something useful with them.”
Fed up scraping cake mix out of wooden spoons, Neal’s Eureka moment came two years ago.
The Spon has two flat sides, and as well as solving the problem of clogged up cake mixture, its inventor says produces a smoother mix resulting in lighter cakes.
Now he’s got it patented and manufactured in China, and has 18,000 to shift.
He said: “Cakes look and taste a million times more professional when you use a Spon.
“Now sieving flour is history – just chuck everything into the bowl at once and you can mix it all in one go.”
Ikea’s quirkily named products inspired the Spon’s name, and it’s already proven popular with customers.
He took his first delivery on Monday and already has 120 advance orders – most of which are for bulk batches of Spons, selling at £5 each.
So far his customers have mostly been “women’s rural types,” but the Tannochbrae Tearoom owner hopes to win over a younger market.
He added: “When you tell people they can cut down on washing up, they perk up.
“You can use it on anything from browning mince to porridge, soup and scrambled eggs, and none of it will get stuck in the spoon.”
Fame isn’t Neal’s game though, saying he’s happy to leave that to celebrity chefs.
“As long as they use my Spon I don’t care if I make a million from this or not.
“There was a while where I wondered if the idea was a bit too wacky and I thought Dragon’s Den guys would probably laugh at the idea.
“But now I think it’s a brilliant idea, because it could revolutionise the way we bake, cook and wash.
“I’ll send some to Nigella, Nick Nairn, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver and see what happens.
“I’ll make my investment back with these orders, so anything else is a bonus.”
A SCOTS evangelist who won a top American military honour for bravery during WWII has left over £1 million in his will.
Adam McLean passed away in April, aged 92, and his recently published estate has revealed the true extent of the retired car mechanic’s wealth.
Mr McLean was born in 1916 and was a respected member of the community in Edinburgh, Fife and also in Macduff where he and his second wife had retired to in 2001.
Included in his legacy is the family home valued at an estimated £200,000, cash and savings worth just over £900,000, along with £3000 worth of furniture and personal effects.
The devout Christian was known for his ability to turn his hand to almost any project and in his spare time he built himself a small cinema, a darkroom, telescopes, gyroscopes and even a large boat.
And McLean’s bravery was rewarded in 1942 when he was awarded a Purple Heart by the American government.
Born in Musselburgh in 1916, Adam McLean was the son of a coal miner and his wife, who were both devout Christians.
He soon became an expert mechanic, and it was during this time he began to devote his life to Christianity after developing a friendship with his boss, Sam Reid.
The former US infantryman also penned a book about his conversion to Christianity called ‘Whatever Next?’.
Mr McLean’s daughter Elisabeth said: “My father had left school at 14 and started first of all as an apprentice in a drawing office but that soon fell through. He really wanted to be an engineer and was lucky enough to land a job with Sam Reid, who was a bit of a local hero.
“Mr Reid introduced dad to Christianity, and it had such an effect on him that after helping himself to some oil from the garage for his motorbike a few months earlier, he confessed all to his boss. It was a big turning point in his life.”
In April 1939, McLean was part of a group of a dozen Scots who travelled to Canada after an invitation from a group of provincial and city leaders who had asked for a team of Moral Re-Armament (MRA) from Scotland.
In 2001, the MRA changed its name to Initiatives of Change.
During his spell as a US infantryman, Mr McLean was badly wounded by a German mortar bomb as he took part in the battle for Italy.
When he woke in a Florence hospital the following day, he found a copy of the New Testament on his bedside with a small box placed on top.
He opened the box to find a Purple Heart – America’s decoration for bravery – displayed neatly inside.
Elisabeth said: “He didn’t really want to talk about his efforts during the war, but I feel he was secretly quite proud about being honoured with the Purple Heart. He always played his role down and never glorified it at all.
“He wasn’t a pacifist, but he knew war is an evil thing. But he always said sometimes the other option to war is worse.”
During his time in Italy he fell in love with Swiss law graduate Elsbeth Spoerry, and the couple married in Caux, Switzerland in 1952.
After Elsbeth passed away from ovarian cancer in 1999, McLean, aged 85, married Toni Millar, an old family friend, and moved to Macduff, Aberdeenshire.
Elisabeth added: “After my mother died he contracted pneumonia and was told by the doctor that he could either go into a home or get himself remarried. Fortunately, he chose the latter.
“So in 2001 he married Toni, an old friend of the family, and they settled up in Macduff. It was quite an event as both of them were in their 80’s at the time.
“He contracted skin and bladder cancer, and although he fought against them valiantly he eventually succumbed. He was incredibly brave about things and never complained.”
Mr Mclean who left an impressive total of £1,172,728.19 in his will, passed away at Aberdeen’s Royal Infirmary on April 23 2008 after a short illness.
He is survived by wife Toni, his daughter Elisabeth, three grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Deadline Press & Picture Agency 