Tourette’s activist and subject of one of the top films of 2025, John Davidson, paid a visit to a Perth pub earlier this week.
John grew up in the Borders town of Galashiels in 1971 and soon had to battle the challenges of the condition, which was not widely recognised or understood during that time.
At the age of 16, John took part in a BBC documentary ‘John’s Not Mad’, seeking to shed light on Tourette’s and appeared in several other programmes about his life as the gradual understanding began to grow.
It was a more relaxed night for John as the campaigner was welcomed at the Maltings Pub and Grill in Perth on Saturday evening.
A post on the pub’s social media page, alongside a picture, read: “Sam and Lauren were delighted to welcome a very special visitor for dinner tonight at The Maltings.
“Thank you for choosing the Maltings for your gathering!
In 2019, he was appointed an MBE in recognition of “his efforts to increase understanding of the condition and helping people deal with it across the country.
But John’s profile grew even larger after a film biopic on his life, ‘I Swear’, was filmed in 2025, starring young actor Robert Aramayo in the role of John and other characters in his life played by Scottish acting royalty in Peter Mullan and Shirley Henderson.
The film vaulted into the national consciousness after Aramayo scooped the BAFTA for Best Actor ahead of acting stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothee Chalamet.
There was also controversy after John’s verbal ticks forced him to shout a racial slur towards the cast of the movie ‘Sinners’ as they were on stage collecting an award of their own.
Perthshire born actor Alan Cumming has criticised the “bad leadership” behind the BAFTA film awards, saying he wouldn’t want to return as host ever again.
At this year’s ceremony on February 22, Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson was heard shouting a racial slur while Sinners star Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage presenting an award.
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Davidson later said he was “deeply mortified” by what happened, an incident that sparked intense backlash after the BBC failed to censor the slur during the broadcast, despite it airing on a two-hour time delay.
Alan, who hosted the ceremony, told The Sunday Times that he viewed the controversy as an “international scandal”.
He stated: “It was bad, bad, bad, bad leadership. Bad people who weren’t doing their jobs properly, who really had not prepared and let people down.”