Groundskeeper Willie hails from Orkneyys

KIRKWALL, Scotland, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Groundskeeper Willie, the red-haired Scotsman who works at Bart Simpson's school, has finally revealed he is a native of Kirkwall in the Orkneys.

Willie lets out his secret in an episode of "The Simpsons" scheduled for broadcast later this month in a conversation with Bart and the bookish Millhouse, The Scotsman reported. He also tells the boys he is the result of a mixed marriage that "tore his family apart" between an Uppie and Doonie, the two sides that fight it out on Christmas and New Year's Day in the Ba Game, a traditional football game played in the street.

Polls have suggested that Willie, a fictional character working at the fictional Springfield Elementary School, is better known as a Scotsman in the United States than Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor and even the country's national poet, Robert Burns.

Bobbie Leslie, 71, a member of the local council and chairman of the Ba Committee, said he hopes Willie's story will bring new visitors to the Orkneys, an archipelago just north of the Scottish mainland. But he hopes they come in summer because the numbers at the Ba Game are becoming "almost unmanageable."

"We're not wanting an influx of blokes coming in just to say they've played in the Ba game," he told the newspaper.