A man for all seasons

Olympic swimmer, writer, opera singer, punter, agent to the operatic and sporting stars – Athole Still has packed several lifetimes into his four decades in business

Athole Still pulled off his first negotiation when he was 11-years-old. A smart boy from a two-room tenement in Aberdeen, he was offered a place at the city’s Grammar School. His headmaster was delighted. Young Athole, however, had his eye on the grand gateway of Robert Gordon’s. So when the head urged him to accept the grammar’s offer, he wanted to wait. But, the teacher protested, no place at Robert Gordon’s was on offer. ‘Might there be?’ Athole inquired. Sure enough, the next day, Robert Gordon’s came calling. This is an important episode in the incredible life of Athole Still’s for several reasons. It’s the first flash of the talents that were to become the basis of his career as an opera and football agent. More immediately important, Robert Gordon’s pupils did not play football, at that point his main sport. What they did have was a swimming pool and an expert coach. By the time Athole was 15, he had his first senior cap for Scotland. He continued swimming while he studied modern languages at Aberdeen University, but the sport that he loved was to deliver one of the rare disappointments of his gilded life. Aged 17, he won the 100m trial for the British team to go to the Helsinki Olympics, but his place went to a higher-profile swimmer who had never swum the distance and who was slower in Helsinki than Athole was in the trials. Athole travelled to Helsinki, but as reserve for the 200m team race. ‘I was just so delighted to be in the team and going to Helsinki that I never bothered about it at the time,’ he said. ‘Since then, it has really