Robbie Glen
Robbie Glen has a dry Scottish wit, timing and an ability to read an audience which makes him one of the finestUKafter dinner speakers you are ever likely to hear. He has a rare gift for making people laugh and is a great favourite on the after dinner circuit.
Sired by an Ayshire man out of a Renfrewshire lady, Robbie was reared in Lanarkshire. He was educated atHamiltonAcademyandStrathclydeUniversity. He taught for one year in Blantyre before joining the Prison Service as an Assistant Governor in 1969.
Robbie, a fellow of theInstituteofManagement, was Governor of Castle Huntly Young Offenders Institution – Dungavel prison where he was Deputy and Acting Governor – along with Barlinnie Prison, Glasgow. He had the pleasure of being Governor of Cornton Vale, which isScotland’s only female establishment. He finally retired from the Scottish Prison Service in 1996.
William McIlvaney based his story “The Prisoner” in his book of short stories entitled “The Walking Wounded” on him after he visited Robbie at Dungavel.
In his youth he played junior football professionally but his career was cut short tragically at an early age due to lack of ability. He still holds the Lanarkshire Schoolboy 440 yards record, because it’s now gone metric!
Robbie is married with two daughters, the younger of whom is profoundly handicapped. Robbie developed a walking aid for her with his staff and prisoners in 1981 and it is now being used in 41 hospitals and schools in Scotland to teach handicapped children how to walk.
