Donald Macleod
Donald explores in depth the life and works of a composer each week in Composer of the Week.
Donald Macleod was educated in Glasgow and at St Andrew's University where he studied psychology. His musical education is fairly rudimentary: his piano teacher gave up on him at the age of 8, telling his parents that he was wasting their money! Listening to Radio 3 became a habit early on.
Donald had envisaged a career working with an assortment of exotic creatures in the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ’s Natural History Unit, but they wouldn’t have him. An alternative path opened up when he got a job at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ creating often outlandish sound effects in plays for the Radio Drama department. Never imagining that he would find himself rubbing shoulders with his broadcasting heroes, he began his career as a presenter in 1982 on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3 and for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1's 60 minutes as a TV reporter and newsreader.