Tower and Town, December 2025 (view the full edition)My Footprints To MarlboroughAngus MacLennan, manager of The White Horse Bookshop, answers ten questions from Matt Gow. 1. Where were you born and where did you grow up? I was born in Scone, Perthshire (home of the Stone of Scone which sits under the Coronation Chair). 2. What was your early life like? I was sent off to boarding school aged 7. Make of that what you will. Ours was an army family so most of my childhood was spent on army camps in Germany. I then went to Fettes College in Edinburgh. 3. What kind of work or passion have you followed in life? From the age of 14 I decided that I wanted to be an actor (an admirably early decision but perhaps I should have waited) and I managed to be one for about six years performing on stage and on screen but I stopped after being in London for a few years. I had already started working in a bookshop and then went on to manage five shops in various chains. 4. Had you ever heard of Marlborough before moving here? I had heard of it but had no idea beyond that. 5. What first brought you to Marlborough and when? It was a circuitous route, involving rumour and chance, but I came for the White Horse Bookshop at the start of 2014. 6. What were your first impressions of the town? I remember the first time I drove up onto the High Street and it is a view that never gets old or tired, and that was on a dark, wet January day. 7. Why did you decide to stay (or return) and make it home? I don't live here but the fact that I am willing to drive 60 miles each way every day does show some sort of commitment. 8. How has living here changed or shaped your life? Running the White Horse Bookshop has been the most rewarding job I've ever had. I genuinely believe I'm the luckiest bookseller in the world. Every day I get to listen to people being effusive about my shop. Self-serving, I know. 9. What do you appreciate most about the Marlborough community? Well , a great amount of the people I care most about are here and I do love the fact that all day, every day, people are talking to each other in the street or in my shop or others. Lunchtime visits to Waitrose can take a while. 10. What would you say to someone considering moving to Marlborough? Do it. I would (and might, one day). Angus MacLennan and Matt Gow |