BORN on Hogmanay 1954, Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond grew up on a council estate in Linlithgow, the second of four children.

His father was a Labour voter who turned to the SNP after a reported row with a Labour canvasser on his doorstep.

His son stayed with the party at St Andrews University, where he studied medieval history and economics. He got involved in student politics but reportedly grew disillusioned with Labour's commitment to the Union.

Now 59, he told the Guardian in 1991 that he had "a blazing row with a Labour-supporting girlfriend from Hackney and she said 'if you feel like that - go and join the bloody SNP', so I did,"

According to David Torrance's 2010 biography Against the Odds, Alex Salmond and a friend went to the AGM of the university branch of the Federation of Student Nationalists the following day and were elected president and treasurer.

Asthma restricted his footballing efforts - but not his affection for Heart of Midlothian FC - and he got his lifelong love of golf from his father.

Six months after leaving St Andrews, he started work as an economist in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, in Edinburgh.

It was there that he met his wife Moira, 17 years his senior.

Mr Salmond eventually left the civil service for a role as an economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland, specialising in oil and energy markets.

His rise to prominence in politics came after Margaret Thatcher's 1979 Conservative election win, when the SNP's 11 MPs were cut to two.

He won the Westminster seat of Banff and Buchan in 1987 - and was banned from the Commons chamber for a week after interrupting a Budget speech in protest at the poll tax in Scotland.

He won the leadership post in 1990 and had devolution firmly in his sights.

The party failed to win the first Holyrood election in 1999. After a decade as leader, Mr Salmond quit in 2000 and returned to Westminster, raising his profile by appearing on Question Time and Have I Got News for You.

John Swinney took over as leader for four years but resigned following criticism.

Mr Salmond famously ruled out a return to his old job.

Then he made a surprise reappearance, with a simple: "I changed my mind."

Mr Salmond led the SNP to victory at the 2007 Scottish election and, in 2011, the party won by a landslide win. He made history by being first minister in a majority Scottish Government and an independence referendum was finally on the table.