first Norse king of Dublin, was killed in a battle fought at Dollar around 874, when Constantine I was the king of Scotland. David Taylor (1817–1867) illegitimate poet in the Scots tongue born in Dollar James Legge, Scottish sinologist Dollar Academy was founded in 1818 with a bequest from a Dollar native, Captain John McNabb, who had allegedly made his fortune in the slave trade. Amongst the many notable pupils at the academy are James Dewar, the inventor of the vacuum flask; the grandsons of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia; the second Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the Scottish Parliament, George Reid; BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston; and political journalist for The Scotsman, the News of the World and The Spectator magazines, Fraser Nelson. Lavinia Malcolm, Provost of Dollar between 1913 and 1919, was both the first lady provost and first female town councilor in Scotland (see Dollar Town Council 1891–1975). Alan Longmuir, of Bay City Rollers fame, lived just east of Dollar and owned and operated the Dollar Arms public house for a time. In the late 1990s, Michael Kulas and Saul Davies, musicians in the English rock group James, also resided and worked out of the old Tea House Cottage, now known as Brewlands, next to Castle Campbell. The Scottish author Iain Banks studied at the nearby University of Stirling and, in an interview for The South Bank Show in 1997, spoke about using the landscape above Dollar as inspiration for his novels (in particular A Song of Stone''). The biologist Alan Grafen The artist Patrick Syme Internationalist footballer, Steven Caulker's eligibility to play for Scotland is from his grandmother Jessie hailing from Dollar Rev James Aitken Wylie, minister of the Secessionist Church in Dollar from 1831 to 1843 Jazz pianist Fergus McCreadie lived in Dollar while growing up. Education Dollar Academy is a fee paying school. Sport Dollar is home of the Dollar Glen Football Club, an 18-hole golf course (notable for its steep inclines and lack of bunkers), a tennis club, a squash club, a bowling club, and a cricket club. The Ochil Hills that overlook Dollar provide opportunities for mountain biking. Religion There are three churches, one Church of Scotland, one Scottish Episcopal Church and Ochil Hills Community Church which meets in the Civic Centre. Twin towns Dollar is twinned with the French town of La Ville-aux-Dames, which lies just outside Tours in the Loire Valley.