You can always tell when there's a Macallan in the auction room. The tension suddenly becomes as deep and intense as the whisky itself. Previous lots had whizzed by until the voice attached to the gavel announces: "Lot 176. The Macallan 50 Years Old. A rare and sought after item: lots of interest in this. I'll start the bidding at..."

And a flurry of number-waving hands rise, not bothering to play shy and wait for a reduction on the prelude price which they know will never come.

Usually the bidding is brisk and bloody At the end, for every victor there are countless vanquished. When being outbid on a Macallan, as I have myself, there are no prizes for coming second. Just an empty feeling. And the silent vow: "Better luck next time!"

Those in battle to improve their whisky collections, or simply find a Macallan to savour on special evenings, are a diverse lot and span the four corners of the globe. What they tend to have in common is the belief that the spirit from this cliff-top distillery by the Spey is the embodiment of all that is great about Scotch single malt; that it is the only nectar fit to fill the Holy Grail.

But there are few Macallan aficionados quite in the league of Norman Shelley. He has spent a hefty chunk of his life importing it into Turkey for distribution there and to countries beyond. And rather than go to the auctions he went to the distillers themselves, announced his true and undying love, and for a sum close to £250,000 bought an extensive collection of bottles from The Macallan's very own extraordinary whisky cellar. A move that put him into the Guinness Book of Records and left the world's thousands of Macallan devotees in a state of jealous awe that bordered on unconditional admiration.

Part of the deal is that the collection will be housed at the distillery for the public to come and enjoy, by sight rather than taste. Said Norman:

"I now have Macallans dating back to 1851 but I content myself drinking the 1946 and 1948 Vintages.
Really, I see myself as the guardian of this extraordinary collection, which is some honour."

Image kindly supplied by John Paul Photography

 This goes to show that you can still be a romantic as well as a successful businessman. And Norman's abiding philosophy helps: "Drinking Macallan is, for me, an enormous pleasure—it's fun!"

Fine and noble words from a distant
 relative of Percy Bysshe Shelley, who, with his friend Lord Byron, were the most celebrated poets of two centuries ago.

But for Norman Shelley his poetry is dark, silky and found in a glass. Known to many as The Macallan.

1950 | Charles Schultz's comic strip, 'Peanuts', featuring the puzzled 
Charlie Brown, his bossy friend Lucy, and Snoopy, a romantic, self-deluded
 beagle, was first published. The biggest ever robbery to date occurred at 
Brink Express Co. in Boston, when 8 men stole over $3.7 million in 17 minutes. J. Edgar Hoover and the F.B. I spent $129 million over several years to catch the perpetrators.

1950 | The Stone of Destiny, the coronation stone of Scottish Kings and
 Queens, was taken by Scottish Nationalists from the British coronation throne in Westminster Abbey. The 485Ib stone was later recovered in
April 1951. It had first been removed from Scotland by Edward I 700 years previously, and was finally returned to Scotland in 1996, where it now rests in Edinburgh Castle

1951 | The US Census Bureau got serious with the introduction of the first
 commercial computer, UNIVAC 1. JD Salinger published the famous novel
 'Catcher in the Rye'; it quickly became a classic. Marlon Brando put on a 
T-shirt and starred in Tennessee Williams' ‘A Streetcar Named Desire'. The American automobile manufacturer, the Chrysler Corporation, introduced power steering.

1952 | Londoners said goodbye to an era with the last tram ride. The average
 weekly wage in the UK was £7.58. A vaccine for polio was developed by 
Dr. Jonas Salk. The U.S. began construction of the first nuclear submarine,
the 'Nautilus', whilst Britain developed its own atomic bomb. The missionary surgeon, Albert Schweitzer, won the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

1952 | Teen culture was exploding, as Dick Clark hosted the first American Bandstand, while Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed organised what came to be recognised as the first rock 'n roll concert. The fusion of African-American and
white American musical forms addressed the concerns of teens in a way that no music ever had before.

1953 | Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing became the first humans to
 reach the summit of Mount Everest. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in
 Westminster Abbey. Joseph Stalin died. Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for 
Godot' opened in Paris and Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible', an allegory of the Communist witch hunt, also premiered.

1954 | The Miss America pageant made its network TV debut on ABC; Miss California, Lee Ann Meriwether of San Francisco, was crowned the winner. In a different competition altogether, medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes
 59.4 seconds. Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church, known as the Moonies.

1955 | The timeless word game, 'Scrabble', was introduced. This was a classic
 year for Americana as the sock hop classic, "Rock Around the Clock", was 
released and topped the Billboard chart in the US. Ray Kroc bought out a hamburger franchise from the McDonald brothers and launched an empire of golden arches. Harland Sanders also began his Kentucky Fried Chicken" franchise.

1958 | In 1958, the world famous Hope diamond was donated to The Smithsonian. Also, the quintessential child's toy, Lego^TM, was introduced.
The United States established NASA (the National Aeronautics and
 Space Administration) to coordinate its own efforts to reach space. America's first satellite was released this year. Both the computer modem and the laser were invented.

1959 | One of the most famous dolls, Barbie, went on sale in 1959. A doll
 of a different sort, Marilyn Monroe, starred in 'Some Like it Hot' with 
Jack Lemmon. Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. Louis Leakey found the
skull of 'nutcracker man' in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, suggesting that human evolution began on the continent of Africa, not Asia.

Written by Jim Murray

The text is an excerpt from "The Definitive Guide to Buying Vintage Macallan" (pp. 56 - 67), First Edition, published 2003 by Macallan Distillery Ltd.