It was an iron law in Scottish fandom that you could get Banksie to appear at any con, no matter how small, if you were willing to buy him a drink. We used to have him up once a year at the St Andrews SF&F Soc. Years later, just at the end of the last century, my husband and I ended up in the same SF drinking group with him in Edinburgh. My initial impressions of him as a really pleasant bloke were confirmed: a good conversationalist and a smart guy. And though he could have let the fans buy him beers forever, he always stood his round.
It's unlikely he's changed since I was last in that group. His statements in the press right now certainly sound like the guy I drank with. He will be missed, not just by the people who knew him through his books, but also by the people who knew him in the flesh, even in passing.
