Being appointed Dundee Makar (or City Laureate) implied that Bill Herbert might settle into middle age.
Personal and political roles collided as referenda for Scottish independence and EU membership, then the US elections, signalled that the post-war liberal value system was very much in.
Then within six months his much-loved father died, and that civic idyll was thrown into crisis.
He rented a flat overlooking Broughty Ferry harbour to write about his home town in both its native tongues.
Being appointed Dundee Makar (or City Laureate) implied that Bill Herbert might settle into middle age