The streets of Edinburgh just wouldn’t be the same without the many great, colourful characters who walk them.
Since the days of old, the capital, it seems, has always been a place where you’re likely to bump into the kind of generous folk and eccentric itinerants who simply can’t fail in putting a smile on your face.
While many of the city’s most legendary characters are no longer with us, their names and faces will forever remain etched in our collective memories.
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Mr Penny
Easy to spot in his welly boots and tin helmet, ‘Mr Penny’, so-called because he would often sit on a bench outside St John’s Kirk at the West End and leave a penny behind him, was one of the city’s most endearing street characters. Rumour has it that the generous Mr Penny - real name John Smith - was actually rather wealthy and lived on the streets by choice. He died in 1993.
Arthur Williams
Born in the Seychelles, Arthur Williams came to Edinburgh as a young man and became homeless in the 1980s after working at Henry Robb’s shipyard in Leith. Frequently seen around Leith and the city centre, Arthur, who would famously accept food, but rarely money, was nicknamed ‘Rastatramp’ by some on account of his dreadlocks. However, it must be noted that Arthur is not a rasta, nor does he appreciate the moniker.
A mural by local artist Shona Hardie was unveiled in tribute to Arthur Williams during lockdown in Arthur Street, Leith.
Arthur became a resident at a capital care home in 2013.
‘Monkey’ Mary
With her barrel organ and trusty pony, ‘Monkey Mary’, real name Mary Dunlop, was an unforgettable sight on the streets of Edinburgh in the 1950s and 60s.
Both Mary and Smokey the pony walked the streets of the city for years and would entertain local children with a variety of jingles.
Kids called her ‘Monkey Mary’, as she travelled with a third companion for a time: a real capuchin monkey.
Tom Gilzean
There aren’t enough superlatives in the English language to adequately describe what the late Tom Gilzean means to Edinburgh.
Dressed in his trademark Scots military uniform, the inspirational war veteran and former bus driver spent decades collecting more than £1 million for the Sick Kids and other good causes and would be seen in all types of weather in his usual spots around the city centre.
He died aged 99 in 2019 after suffering a series of small strokes and was posthumously awarded an MBE for his charity work.
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Elaine Davidson
Famous far beyond Edinburgh as the Guinness Book of Records-certified ‘World’s most pierced woman’, Brazilian-born Elaine Davidson is definitely no stranger to a bevel-tip needle.
Regularly seen in and around the High Street during the Fringe, Elaine very quickly became a local celebrity in the 2000s.
At the last count, the 57-year-old, who received her first piercing back in 1997, had almost 7,000 individual body piercings. Scarily impressive.
You might not want to get caught behind her in the airport security queue, mind you.
Sam Waylen
The colourfully-dressed Big Issue vendor and street busker Sam Waylen has been putting a smile on our faces for more than 20 years.
Often seen selling the Big Issue outside Waitrose in Morningside Road, the affable and chatty Sam is also a musician and has performed multiple times during the Edinburgh Fringe.
Sam was in hospital at the tail end of last year, but is on the road to recovery last we heard.
Here’s hoping we get to hear his amazing Elizabethan-style rendition of Hendrix classic Hey Joe this summer.
Cowboy Joe
Leith’s most notorious ‘gun-slinger’, Cowboy Joe, was a proper character who left an indelible impression on an entire generation of local bairns lucky enough to have had a showdown with his squirty bottle nozzles.
Generally seen around the Kirkgate area, Joe’s much-missed signature cries of “bang, bang, you’re deid!’, and “stick ‘em up - show me the money!” had Leithers in stitches in the 1990s and 2000s.
Writing on the Spirit of Leithers Facebook page, one local commented: “Remember him standing at bus stops on Great Junction Street shooting anyone and everyone getting off buses. A wee gem.”
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