Earliest memory of Glasgow? I was born and grew up in a tenement one up, a room and kitchen, in Anderston, where I lived with my mum and dad, three brothers and two sisters.
Describe your house: My parents slept in a recess bed in the kitchen and we slept in two double beds head to toe…my father also bred canaries, who lived in four cages screwed to the wall of our bedroom.
What school did you go to? Our windows faced the boys’ gate of Finnieston Primary, which all of us kids and my mum attended. My mum’s first teacher was Duncan McCrae, famous for Whisky Galore. A famous pupil was Gordon Jackson who starred in many films and TV series. I remember one day after school being sent to the chemist by my mother for some ‘Ipecacuanha Wine’ – an old tonic. I couldn’t pronounce it, so the chemist sent me home to ask my mother to write it down, and by the time I got back, after stopping to blether to my pals on the way, he had shut for the night. That was one slap on the lugs I did deserve…