Writer behind comic’s’ famous patter
the more his respect for Sandy grew. He said: “Sandy knew everything there was to know about Glaswegian, and English. His insightful grasp of language is the reason that these stories work as comedy.
“It takes a gifted writer to paint stature, looks, personality and life history in just three or four words. Yet that is what he does in these stories.
“These are stories of their time, of course. They are as much social history as they are comedy. The world has changed but this is what tenement life looked and sounded like.
“Sandy was intimately aware of his audience. He knew that people reading his Little Stories would easily recognise the type of people he was weaving stories around. They walked the Glasgow streets, drank in the corner pubs, and went out to the city’s dance halls. “Sandy could describe one man but encompass thousands more. It is the quality of his writing that allowed him to do that. In a pale mimicry of Sandy Mitchell’s Parliamo genius, I have attempted to translate some of the colourful patter into the common tongue – Anglish, I have called it, as I feel English doesn’t quite cover the fact that, quite apart from southerners,
ieven other parts of Scotland might need a hand with some of the slang.”
Sandy died in 1990, aged 84, and despite his best efforts, Steve could not track down his family to let them know about the book.
He said: “Sandy retired in 1971 and no one left in The Post or Weekly News knew much about his family. His wife Mary died before him, and they had a daughter, Jay. Try though I did, I couldn’t find Jay or any further family.
“I feel Sandy deserves more recognition. He was a comic genius.”