D'oh!

It's been nearly three months since we moved back into Larbert and it's definitely starting to feel like home again. The town has changed since we were last here. When we first moved here from Glasgow in 1997 it was still a small heavy-industrial town with several foundries dotted around its conveniently situated railway station. Now it is a fairly sizable residential area with most of the heavy industry gone and the railway station being the main attraction to new developments. Only the toffee factory and bus builder give away any sign that this was an old industrial town. Although I like the place, it's one of those backwaters that I can't imagine anyone of worldwide renown actually coming from or going to. For that reason it seems odd that we received a visit from the Queen this week.

The reason for the Queen's visit was to officially open the new hospital. In fact, the hospital has been open for quite a while - I attended the physiotherapy clinic in February and March this year following my broken arm. However, the hospital has been slowly building up to full functionality. The casualty unit is about to move there so it's nice to have an official opening before that mayhem arrives and to have the head of state make a visit is quite an honour. However, this did get me thinking: How many people of world renown have actually come from Larbert?

There have been quite a few industrialists from the town which does match up to its manufacturing past: Robert Dobbie and James Jones amongst them. Also of note was the explorer James Bruce who discovered the source of the Blue Nile and was one of the first European explorers to map Ethiopia. However, one of the oddest natives of Larbert to become internationally famous is Homer Simpson. Yes, he of The Simpsons fame!

It's actually a bit of a stretch but Homer's famous D'oh! expression was actually inspired by the comic actor Jimmy Finlayson, a native of Larbert, who appeared in many of Laurel and Hardy's films. In fact the expression started out as a more drawn out Dohhhhhhh! which Finlayson had fashioned as a more acceptable version of the expletive Damn! Dan Castellaneta who plays Homer picked this up but Matt Groening encouraged him to speed up the phrase to suit the animation and hence D'oh! was born.



In a way it's a pity that Jimmy Finlayson is now best known for this as he was a very funny character actor. Nevertheless, he still came from Larbert.