Painter, graphic artist and teacher. After studying at Glasgow School of Art, 1964–6, Birrell worked in Canada and America as a graphic artist for two years, returning to Glasgow where he graduated in drawing and painting in 1970. He went on to teach in a secondary school in the city. Birrell’s pictures were figurative, but had a Surrealist tinge. He showed at Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, and in group shows in Markham Gallery in Toronto at Galerie d’Art Moderne in Geneva, in 1983, and at International Contemporary Art Fair at Olympia. He showed at Compass Gallery, Glasgow, in the New Generation Show in 1970, then participated in a three-man show there and had solo exhibitions in 1977 and 1988. His work is in extensive private collections in Britain and overseas.