Alasdair was brought up near Inverness, and studied at Aberdeen University, the Free Church College in Edinburgh, and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He has pastored in a country setting, at the village of Muir of Ord in the Highlands, and has also ministered in an urban situation, at Leith in Edinburgh. He is married to Cathy, a nurse, and they have two grown-up daughters, Maureen and Kathryn. Alasdair is a fan of the English Premier League, the TV series "24", crime novels, and coffee shops.