AN accomplished Irvine-based writer and historian has died aged 92.

John Millar passed away at Crosshouse Hospital on Thursday, November 12 following a short illness.

Born in Stevenston, John started his career as an apprentice professional golfer at the old Ardeer Golf Club before the war, with his great plan to become a club professional.

John’s father, Vincentas Stepsis (b.1870), was a Lithuanian freedom fighter, who smuggled banned books and newspapers across the border with East Prussia, defying the Imperial Russian authorities in 1899.

Vincentas was one of many, including John’s uncle Juozas, who risked life and liberty swimming across the Sesupe river under cover of darkness to bring literature - in the outlawed Lithuanian language - to his countrymen.

He did this in spite of the fact he was illiterate himself, and in 1900 was forced to flee when the Russian authorities became aware of his involvement.

He settled in Stevenston, where John - a WWII veteran- was raised, and would often regale his son with the tales of his exploits. When he grew up, John was able to retrace his father’s footsteps and recount his story in a series of articles and books.

His book, ‘The Lithuanians in Scotland’, which tells the story about of how the Lithuanians settled in this part of Scotland, in Lanarkshire and Edinburgh. 

The book is now in The University of Vilnius and is part of the curriculum. For his works, he became the oldest recipient of the Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship which he received from The Duke of Kent at Guildhall, London. 

In April 2014, the Times told how John penned a pair of poems to then-First Minister Alex Salmond in favour of Scottish independence and inspired by his freedom fighter dad.

He said at the time: “A lot of idiots, when I was at school, would say things like, ‘Why don’t you go back to your own country?’ So I used to look around and say, ‘Where? This is my country’.

“There was a period of my life when I thought my father was a hero. I still do, but maybe not as naively as I did when I was younger. But as far as I was concerned, my father was risking two things - being sent to Siberia, or being shot.

“For what? For a piece of paper. But it was his language. And as he said to me once, my father could neither read nor write, and fought for literature."

John was happily married to Una, who pre-deceased him, with three daughters and a son - Ann, Eunice, Marilyn and John. He had five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

A huge Burnsian, John was made a life member of the Largs Cronies, and was well known throughout the district for speaking at Burns Suppers, and wrote many poems. John’s funeral takes place at Dreghorn Crematorium at 3pm on Monday, November 23.