Political Impact of the Year in 2012 and Debater of the Year in 2013. In parliamentary debates, she was perceived by commentators such as The Scotsmans Andrew Whitaker as being an effective opponent to First Minister Alex Salmond, but others, including Richard Seymour of The Guardian, criticised her for clumsiness during television interviews. Early life and teaching career Johann MacDougall Lamont was born in the Anderston district of Glasgow on 11 July 1957. Her parents, Archie and Effie, were both Gaelic speakers from crofting families on the Inner Hebridean island of Tiree, who met after both had moved to Glasgow. Archie was a carpenter employed by the Scottish ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne, working on the Mallaig to Skye route. He took part in the Seamen's Strike of 1966. The family were Presbyterians, and Lamont's mother was influenced in her faith by the American evangelist Billy Graham. Her first experiences of public speakers was listening to the preachers her mother took her to see as a girl. Lamont's childhood was divided between Glasgow and her mother's family home on Tiree, where she and her brother David spent their summer holidays. She attended Woodside Secondary School, having declined to take scholarship exams for selective education. Like her parents, she was a Gaelic speaker, but she did not believe she spoke it well enough, and she dropped it at school in favour of French and German. It was also at school that she first developed an interest in politics, once entering a Daily Mirror competition with a politically-themed short story. The tale, whose central character discussed her intention to demand a pay rise and was finally revealed to be the Queen, won Lamont third prize. She studied English and History at the University of Glasgow, graduating with an MA. Joining the Labour Party in 1975, she was active in Glasgow University Labour Club where she was a contemporary of fellow Labour politician Margaret Curran, and was also involved with the women's movement. She trained as a teacher for a year at Jordanhill College, gaining a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, and afterwards joined Rothesay Academy, as a teacher in 1979. She taught at Springburn Academy in Glasgow from 1982 to 1989 and at Castlemilk High School, also in Glasgow, from 1990 to 1999. Lamont taught English and worked with social workers and educational psychologists attempting to tackle instances of school truancy. Continuing to be