The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Brucie – a Dundee fan
“In the winter of 1959 audiences at Dundee’s Palace Theatre were introduced to a 22-year-old accordion and banjo-playing song and dance man who would later claim his stay in the city was a life changing experience,” says our quizmaster Fraser Elder.
“He would he would become Britain’s most popular television entertainer – Bruce Forsyth-Johnson.
“In October 1965 as a feature writer with The Courier Features department, I was assigned to track down the star whose rise to fame was the result of his presentation of ITV’s flagship weekend show Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
“At the time Bruce was embarking on a new phase in his career as a serious actor and he invited me to join him for a day during rehearsals in the Teddington studios for ABC TV’s presentation of Oscar Wilde’s classic play The Canterville Ghost.
“At an early stage of the interviews it was obvious that Dundee was close to his heart. He said: ‘It was a big turning point for me when Tommy Morgan, the Glasgow comedian, offered me a spot on his variety show for a week in the Palace Theatre. I had been full-time on stage since I was 14. By the time the Dundee shows came along I had dropped my surname and adopted my middle name Forsyth.
‘Before coming to Dundee the game of golf meant absolutely nothing to me and the fact that the city was covered in snow for most of my time there also meant that would not change my thoughts about the sport.
‘But in the Queen’s Hotel, I met this extraordinary guy who was a golf fanatic and despite the weather he was out every day trying to improve his game!
‘He invited me to join him early one day and to see just how cock-eyed the whole thing was I agreed. He pointed out I would need every scrap of warm clothing and sturdy footwear and there we were on a course just outside Dundee all on our own attempting to play on inches of ice and snow.
To make it even more bizarre. he produced a box of RED golf balls for us to hit. It was freezing and in time I was miserable but I loved everything about it and from that bleak morning 15 years ago in 1950, killing time off-stage was no longer a problem and golf has become a vital and important part of my life.’”