A Lad O' Pairts

In Darvel today on business and found this memorial to the town's most famous son- Sir Alexander Fleming who is generally identified as the discoverer of penicillin. Fleming himself was always careful to point out that although he discovered the anti-biotic properties of the penicillin mould it was the work of others especially Florey and Chain that purified and stabilised it and made it a practical cure.

In any case Fleming is an excellent example of the Scottish "lad o' pairts". The son of an Ayrshire farmer of modest means , educated at Darvel School and Kilmarnock Academy, he was able by hard work and ability to get to London and receive medical training, later being knighted and being awarded a Nobel Prize.