Having Andrew Marr speak at the Edinburgh International Book Festival as his first public engagement since his stroke was a significant coup for the Book Festival. However, he was also here to promote his book, The Battle for Scotland.
Born in Glasgow and a proud Scot, he is known as a prolific writer and broadcaster and returns next month to present "The Andrew Marr Show" on the BBC on Sunday mornings. Gavin Hewitt, who introduced him, added that he also had the distinction of appearing on "Dr Who" - playing himself!
Marr said that as a Scot he was amazed by the lack of knowledge everywhere about independence. Some of the newspapers have good articles, such as The Scotsman, which is very much in support of independence, with headlines like, "Scottish Councils Save the Planet but England lags behind" and "Shackleton's Ship not eaten by Boris" !
He reminisced about the days when there were still 2nd Class sleepers to and from Scotland. He was going for an interview with The Scotsman on a sleeper and found himself in a double sleeping berth with an individual standing in his underpants and chain smoking with a tray of lager. In broad Scots he was asked if he objected to smoking and then to drinking - having replied that he was happy to allow both, Marr said that he arrived in Edinburgh, stinking of cigarettes and beer; he struggled along to the Scotsman offices and found that some of those in the office were in a worse state than he was! He got the job!
Speaking about home rule or independence he reminded the audience that when Home Rule was being discussed for Ireland it was meant to be Home Rule all round to Scotland and Wales and not just Ireland. Subsequently the Tory party under Heath was so keen to promise devolution that he nearly split his party.
In the 1950s, and even later, the Conservative Party was so dominant in Scotland that it appeared inconceivable that all this could be lost, however, the Thatcher experiment completely ruined the standing of the Conservatives north of the border. This, combined with the collapse of the Scottish Labour Party when Tony Blair was Prime Minister gave the SNP the chance they were waiting for and Alex Salmond took it.
Marr said he had known Alex Salmond "when he was thin" which was obviously some years ago! Marr said that Salmond then had a bust of Lenin on his mantelpiece, although Salmond will always deny this!
But turning to the independence vote, Marr asked the audience to consider what kind of Scotland did we want to emerge after the referendum? Whether the vote is 'yes' or 'no' there will need to be an adjustment and the make-up of the country will be different.
The old Scotland produced engineers, scientists, doctors who went round the world with fine university educations based on outstanding teaching at school. We need to get back to this and not engage in meaningless aggressive argument which gets nowhere. Whatever happens, the reality is that we are going to have to live together afterwards.
Marr asked the audience, "is there anyone here who thinks that Salmond does not have a plan?" Not one hand went up - everyone thought that there was a very clear SNP plan for 2014.
Marr thought that if there is a vote for independence then Trident would go, the UK would lose its seat on the Security Council and there would have to be changes in the whole way that the remainder of the UK operated in the world internationally.
Marr said that no one should believe the polls as there were too many who were as yet undecided and it could very well swing Salmond's way. If the economy improves then Salmond will take the credit - as the SNP are already doing. But with the south of England already heading for another boom in house prices, there may well be sustained improvements coming along.
Marr said that there was a lack of understanding about how serious the independence debate was in Scotland and many assumed that the 'no' vote would win. Asked if opening up the vote to younger people might backfire, Marr said that his feeling was that people should have the vote as soon as they understood the problems - unfortunately there were many who were older and who still did not understand the problems!
Asked if the vote was 55/45 would the question be resolved? Marr said that this would not be the end and he expected the process to go on niggling away. There were also signs that English voters wanted only English votes for English laws.
On the subject of the BBC, Marr suggested that the Corporation should remain neutral throughout the debate and campaign.
Finally on the question of which passport he would take, he said it would certainly be Scottish as he is a Scot and has ten generations of Scots behind him.
This was a thoroughly entertaining hour with a master journalist who showed himself to be thoroughly at ease with all matters political.
It was very good to see him able to hold his own after his illness and he received a very warm reception from the audience.