The story of Johnnie Walker begins – naturally enough – with the man who gave our whisky his name. The year was 1819 and John Walker’s father had just died. A tough start for a humble farm lad, you might think, but there was always something special about John. A glint in his eye, a fire in his belly, a spring in step perhaps. The world in those days wasn’t the friendliest of places and John knew it.