Writer and broadcaster. Born at Harray (Orkney), the son of author Eric Linklater (1899 - 1974). Linklater was brought up in Easter Ross and educated at Nigg, Dunbar, Eton and Cambridge, spending time in France and Germany. Making a career in journalism, he has worked for The Daily Express, Observer and Sunday Times and served as Editor of The Scotsman (1988-94). Linklater was appointed Chairman of the Scottish Arts Council (1996 - 2001). He continues to write for newspapers and has been the author of several books, including The Falklands War (1982), Massacre - The Story of Glencoe (1982), Not With Honour - The Inside Story of the Westland Scandal (1986), For King and Conscience - John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee (1989), Anatomy of Scotland (1992), Highland Wilderness (1993) and People in a Landscape - The New Highlanders (1997).
He holds honorary degrees from Napier University (1994) and the Universities of Aberdeen (1997) and Glasgow (2001), and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Linklater lives in Edinburgh.