Earliest memory of Glasgow? Playing kick the can on summer nights, raking the middens for ginger bottles…
Which street did you live on? I was born in 1949 in a Govanhill tenement, 38 Batson Street.
Describe your house: We lived in a third floor room and kitchen, all six of us. The landing had a room and kitchen on each side, with a single end in the middle, where Mr Waitman lived. He had exclusive use of the cludgie. We were lucky – we had a bathroom. My mum and dad often said they regretted moving to a ‘corpy’ house later on.
What school did you go to? I went to Victoria Primary, which was a big red sandstone building. The headteacher was a serious man, always in a three-piece suit. I remember after my 11-plus exam, he told my mother my writing was terrible. ‘His compositions are excellent, but the script is awful,’ he told us…