Writer and broadcaster Billy Kay was born in Galston, Ayrshire in 1951, and educated at the local High School, Kilmarnock Academy and Edinburgh University. He has his own Independent Company, Odyssey Productions, for which he has presented and produced an average of ten new features per year for BBC Radio Scotland. In 2006, Mainstream Publishing issued a brand new edition of his classic "Scots: The Mither Tongue" while his new book "The Scottish World" was launched at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2006. Billy also gives talks and hosts Scottish cultural events at home and abroad.