Meet the Scone Man Who Has Memorised the Band D Council Tax Rate for Every Council in Scotland and Recites Them at Parties, Whether Asked or Not

By our Local Characters Correspondent

Most people know roughly what their own council tax is. Gordon Fyfe, 66, a retired surveyor from Scone, knows what everybody’s council tax is.

“Perth and Kinross, Band D, around sixteen hundred and seventy-four pounds,” he said, without being asked. “Angus, around fifteen hundred and ninety-eight. Dundee, around two thousand three hundred and eighty-two. I can do all 32 if you like. I’ll do them alphabetically. Or by price. I’m flexible.”

Gordon started memorising the figures in 1993, when council tax was introduced. “I was on a long train journey to Inverness,” he said. “I’d forgotten my book. There was a leaflet. That was that.”

His wife says he recites the figures “at weddings, at funerals and once, memorably, during a christening”. His grandchildren have learned to use it as a party trick. “They say, ‘Grandpa, do Orkney,’ and I do Orkney,” he said. “They clap. It’s lovely.”

Gordon says the talk of a Tayside council merger has been “the most exciting thing to happen to me in years”. “If they merge, there’ll be a new rate,” he said. “A brand new number. I’ll have to learn it. I’ve already started guessing. I’ve got a spreadsheet.”

His wife says she has hidden the spreadsheet. Gordon says he has a backup.

The real story: Tayside council merger idea (The Courier)