B.C. doctor becomes bagpiping busker

Adam finds out a busking bagpiper’s unexpected past.

VICTORIA – Ken Wilson was just a wee lad, growing up in a Scottish village, when he fell under the spell of the bagpipes.

“I don’t know what the magical wavelength is,” Ken says. “But there’s something about it.”

Appreciating that magic is one thing, learning how to make it is another.

“Well, there are two words for that,” Ken says. “Peer pressure.”

When Ken was 11, his best friend couldn’t have been keener to play the pipes.

“I was a little less enthusiastic,” Ken says. “But his enthusiasm rubbed on to me.”

After signing up for lessons after school, Ken found himself falling in love with the bagpipes.

“I can’t explain it. It’s like a relationship,” Ken says. “The chemistry has to be there.”

It was there and remained there when Ken eventually decided to enlist in the navy.

“The navy doesn’t have bagpipes,” Ken says. “So, I had to go with the army.”

Ken served in Scotland, before moving to Canada to serve here, piping perpetually.

“It’s an instrument of war,” Ken says. “So, we like to let everyone know we’re here.”

Now, Ken is welcoming everyone who visits here, by busking for tourists.

“I’ve met lots of people,” Ken says. “It’s good exercise. Cardiopulmonary is good.”

Ken knows that because he’s also a doctor. He’s worked as a published medical specialist, taught as a clinical medical professor, and now gives back as a philanthropist.

“I’m not [busking] to make a ton of money,” Ken says.

Instead, the doctor is here to prescribe the public something positive.

“It’s the pure enjoyment,” Ken says. “It’s joie de vivre.”

While you won’t find that diagnosis in a medical journal, the wee lad Ken once was learned early that’s an enduring symptom of making magic.