Janey O'Neil Buchan (née Kent), (b. 30 April 1926, Glasgow) was a Scottish Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Glasgow constituency from 1979 to 1994 when she retired from the post aged 67.
Her father was a tram driver, and her mother a domestic servant. She left school at the age of 14, as was typical for working class children at the time, and worked as a typist. In 1946, at the age of 19 she married Norman Buchan, a schoolteacher who later became Labour Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 till his death in 1990 for West Renfrewshire and latterly Paisley South.
She attended commercial college and was a councillor on Strathclyde Regional Council from 1974 to 1979, when she was first elected to the European Parliament in the first elections, in 1979. Whilst an MEP she sat on the European Parliament's Culture Committee as well as being involved in the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Gas Consumers Council.
She is the Life President of the leading Scots gay organisation Outright Scotland.
A lifetime's involvement in the arts resulted in many donations of books and art to most Scottish universities, Glasgow School of Art and The Smith Museum, Stirling. The collection of books, pamphlets and chapbooks of political songs she donated to Glasgow Caledonian University form the core of the collection administered by the university's Centre for Political Song.
Her lifetime of activity encompassed many fields. She helped run the People's Festival in 1949-52 during the Edinburgh festival; the events helped create the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. As a Glasgow city councillor, she organised the first charity Christmas card sales in the UK. As a member of the council's arts committee she was instrumental in providing funding for the first films made by Bill Forsyth, who went on to direct major UK and Hollywood films including Local Hero.
She has one son, Alasdair, editor of Equality & Diversity Professional, four grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Courtesy of Wikipedia.