Robin Anderson
Born: January 26, 1931;
Died: June 29, 2023
Robin Anderson, who has died aged 92, was a former figure skating champion of Scotland and a theatre manager who became vital force in Scottish Ballet. He was instrumental in building its commercial success and influence and attracted stars such as Margo Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev.
He was born in Dunfermline to father James and mother Irene. He was the eldest of three brothers, Alistair and Ian following four and 14 years later, respectively. Robin and Alistair attended Canmore Primary and Dunfermline High Schools.
Robin suffered a serious accident when he was 12 while riding his bicycle in Dunfermline and in the recovery process learned to ice-skate as part of then forward-thinking physiotherapy. He persevered with this until at the age of 21 and while attending Herriot Watt University studying pharmacy he became the figure skating champion of Scotland and was invited to join a renowned touring ice-dancing company.
Sadly, after two weeks of rehearsal, Robin collapsed on the ice, his earlier injuries preventing him from following his dream to become a professional ice-dancer.
Robin then spent almost 20 years as a pharmacist in London and Edinburgh before taking the plunge and starting a new and late career in theatre management. Obtaining a bursary from the Arts Council he worked in several venues in England including the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester before getting the call to interview for the administrator post at the newly-formed Scottish Theatre Ballet, which had developed from the Western Theatre Ballet and, under director Peter Darrel, relocated to Glasgow under its new title in 1969.
As a vital force in the company, now renamed in 1974 simply as The Scottish Ballet, Robin was instrumental in building its commercial success and influence in the theatre arts, inviting Margo Fonteyn to tour with them in Australia and New Zealand, Rudolf Nureyev in Spain and arranging tours throughout the UK along with principal productions at the home base in Glasgow at the Theatre Royal.
He remained in his key post with the Scottish Ballet for almost the rest of his professional life before returning, after a refresher course, to become a locum pharmacist once again as a semi-retirement part-time job.
In later life Robin continued to be a supporter and director of the dance organisation The Margaret Morris Movement along with his long-term partner Scottish dancer and choreographer Jim Hastie, who died in 2010. He also found time, while still physically active, to renew his interest in small boats along with brother Alistair through the Arthur Ransome Society and after Jim's death, to tour around the UK by caravan with close friend Peter Brabender.
Peter became his mainstay and carer in his final years and as huge fans of American musician Todd Rundgren, they organised a fan convention at Kelburn Castle, Largs to celebrate Todd's in-person 70th birthday. It was Robin's final moment in showbiz.
Sadly, Robins childhood injuries were to revisit him and force him to become inactive during the last few years but his intellect and passion for the arts remained undiminished and his friendship and legacy will be remembered by many throughout the Scottish Arts community.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here