Office bust riddle solved

THE identity of a mystery bust which has baffled Edinburgh gas workers for nearly 40 years has been solved.

The sculpture has been revealed as William Denny, a famous shipbuilder from Dumbarton.

In August the News told how Scotland Gas Networks (SGN) had exhibited the bust at its old Edinburgh headquarters but could not work out the man’s identity.

But now a Glasgow gas worker has come forward to end the mystery after realising that a duplicate bust sat in Dumbarton’s old county buildings.

Staff had thought it might be William Murdoch, the inventor of gas lighting in 1792, but pictures of Murdoch failed to show any resemblance to the bust.

SGN will now fix a plaque to the bust to ensure his identity is not forgotten again.