The Highland Light Infantry

David Niven as a 2nd Lt w/ the Highland Light Infantry (1932) back row far right.

Mar 27

Autobiography Day

Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day

Autobiography Day

The Highland Light Infantry

Today's Musings, History & Folklore

"Now, in an eightsome reel, it doesn’t matter how well the individuals dance the steps if the whole eightsome fails to stay in its allotted position."

~ The Moon's a Balloon, David Niven, 1971

Stories and literature or film mentioning or showing Scottish Country Dance are few, often oblique in reference, and not very detailed ... but thanks to page reader, we can entertain with a detailed description of a bit of trouble with "set migration: during an Eightsome Reel at a Caledonian Ball atteneded by David Niven as humorously recounted in his very amusing autobiography, The Moon's A Balloon, published in 1971.

David Niven was born this month in 1910, Iand although I had read this book with great interest in my much younger years, I had lost my copy and did not remember the following passage which is reproduced here.

🎩 Hat tip: Thank you to Margaret Gibbs for recalling this very fun passage! Thanks, Margaret!

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Before becoming the suave, witty star the world knows, David Niven had a genuine military career, beginning as an officer in the Highland Light Infantry before later returning to serve with distinction during the Second World War.

Paragraphing added for better readability. Salty language alert!❗😮

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Chapter 4 (in most editions)

The next night was the Caledonian Ball held at Grosvenor House, a most colourful spectacle awaited us. Scots from all over the world were present in full regalia and the piece de resistance was always the set reels.

The huge ballroom was cleared and in the middle the Duke of Atholl’s private sixteensome took up position, then around it were placed the eightsomes of the six Highland Regiments, the Black Watch, ourselves, the Gordons, the Camerons, the Seaforths and Argylls.

Trubshawe and I with, luckily, two very special friends, Keith Swettenham and Michael Bell, were the four subalterns selected by TelferSmollett to represent the Light Infantry. The four girls we were to partner wore the sashes of their clans and had been carefully selected by the Ball Committee for their territorial connections with the Regiment and not, we noticed, with some alarm, for their good looks. However, we had just arrived from a riotous dinner in a private room at the Mayfair Hotel which Brian Franks had arranged, so we were not too unnerved when introduced to our horse-faced partners from far-away glens.

Also, the dinner party was there to cheer us on, headed by Margie Macdougall, Celia Tower, David Kelburn, Anthony Pleydell-Bouverie and Brian Franks. The Pipe Major had been polishing up our dancing for days before the big night and we were quietly confident of holding up the good name of the regiment in front of hundreds of pairs of critical eyes.

Now, in an eightsome reel, it doesn’t matter how well the individuals dance the steps if the whole eightsome fails to stay in its allotted position. The unknown girls were expert dancers and it was the dawning look of horror on their faces that alerted me to a very nasty situation … somehow our entire eightsome performing perhaps with too much verve and abandon, had started to creep slowly down the ballroom floor towards the Gordons. A crash was imminent. The ‘Gay’ Gordons turned rather nasty, and hissed oaths came our way. We recoiled and began travelling inexorably in the direction of the Camerons who tried to avoid us and got into a really horrible mix-up with the Seaforths.

Having started the rot and cleared a large portion of the floor for our own use, our eightsome settled down beautifully and never moved again. The other eightsomes were left cannoning into each other and generally behaving like goods trains at Clapham Junction often ricocheting off the Duke of Atholls’s sixteensome in the centre.

Trubshawe observed the Argylls trying to ignore a couple from the Black Watch who were now dancing dazedly in their midst and summed up things – ‘Bit of a fuck-up at the other end of the room, old man.’

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This 32 bar 4 couple jig begins with setting to attention and then continues with mostly straight line figures, leading down and up, and rights and lefts, but ends with a spectacular set and rotate for three couples! Of course, if you have more people handy, you can always try an eightsome reel! 🤪 💙 💚 ❤️ 🕺 💃 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ⚔️

The Highland Light Infantry

David Niven (1910–1983) was a British actor, memoirist, and former army officer whose unmistakable blend of charm, wit, and understatement made him one of Hollywood’s most beloved leading men. Born in London to a Scottish family, he was educated at Sandhurst and first pursued a military career before turning to acting. Niven found international fame in films such as The Pink Panther and Around the World in 80 Days, winning an Academy Award for Separate Tables. Off-screen, he was equally admired for his humor and storytelling, particularly in his memoirs The Moon’s a Balloon and Bring on the Empty Horses, which remain classics of show business writing.

Before his film career took off, Niven served as an officer in the British Army—though not quite in the regiment he had hoped for. Being Scottish on his father’s side, he requested assignment to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders or the Black Watch; then jokingly wrote on the form, as his third choice, “anything but the Highland Light Infantry” (because the HLI wore tartan trews rather than kilts). Naturally, he was assigned to the Highland Light Infantry—and his remark was well known within the regiment. As he later recounted with typical dry humor, this did little to endear him to army life. He served with the HLI for two years in Malta and for a few months in Dover, where he befriended Roy Urquhart, the future commander of the British 1st Airborne Division.

Niven eventually left the army, but returned to service during the Second World War, where he distinguished himself in a different role—combining military duty with morale-boosting work connected to the film industry. Throughout his life, he retained the polished bearing of an officer and the quick wit of a born raconteur, making him as memorable in conversation as he was on screen.

For more on the Highland Light Infantry, click the 1966 dress illustration.

Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!