Bon Scott Statue (Scotland)

A bronze statue of Bon Scott stands in the centre of Kirriemuir, the small Angus market town in Scotland where he was born and spent his earliest years before his family emigrated to Australia. The statue, sculpted by David Annand and unveiled in July 2016 on what would have been Scott's 70th birthday, depicts him mid-performance -- microphone raised, mouth open, caught in the exuberance that defined him onstage. It stands near the town centre, a few minutes' walk from the bakery his family ran and the house where he lived before leaving Scotland at age six.

Kirriemuir has embraced Bon Scott fully and without ambivalence, naming the annual BonFest rock festival in his honour and turning the town into a destination for AC/DC fans from around the world each April. The statue is the focal point of this identity. Kirriemuir is also famous as the birthplace of J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan -- making it a town that has produced, at opposite poles of sensibility, both the creator of the boy who never grew up and the man who seemed to embody that spirit in a rock and roll context.

The statue is freely accessible in the town centre and is the starting point for the informal Bon Scott heritage walk that takes in the family bakery on Bank Street, the house where he lived, and the various plaques and markers that acknowledge his connection to the town. Kirriemuir is about 60 miles north of Edinburgh and is most easily reached by car from Dundee.