Sporting legend on the stars and his inspiring teacher
OVER his 50 years in broadcasting, Glasgowborn commentator Archie Macpherson has been impressed and inspired by many sporting personalities.
In his new book, Touching the Heights, he collects the 13 who have had the biggest effect on him, for a fantasy dinner table.
He also recalls the Shettleston primary school teacher who inspired “sports zealotry” in him, sparking the interest which led to his successful television career at the heart of Scottish broadcasting.
In the prologue to his book, which is being officially launched at the Scottish Football Museum in Hampden on November 22, Archie explains: “Friday afternoon was that magical time I have always associated with the emergence of the Scottish hero.
“Just after two o’clock on those days, our teacher in the primary school in the East End of Glasgow, Miss Paton, would tell us to sit back, put everything away and just listen.
“One day she told us a tale from this russet- coloured book about Eric Liddell and the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924. It thrilled and puzzled me.”
Later he adds: “I realised I was in debt to Miss Paton.
“For she had brought a sportsman into the classroom where previously her history stories were about kings and queens, knights and battles.
“She had given sports its proper place in the forefront of our appreciation of the past. So I can claim to trace my sports zealotry back to the Liddell story.”
The list of fantasy dinner guests Archie has conjured up for this book includes footballing legends like Tommy Docherty, Jock Stein and Sir Alex Ferguson, boxer Jackie Paterson, runner Sandra Whittaker and rugby commentator Bill McLaren.
Some are well- known, others less so, but all shaped both their sport and the lives of many of those who watched their careers unfold.
From football to golf, boxing to athletics, Touching the Heights celebrates the breadth of Scottish sporting achievement.
The stories – the boy who acquired new shoes by stealing them from the local baths, or the distinguished medical scientist at the centre of sporting transgender debates – are moving, funny and informative.
Archie was born and raised in Shettleston and he was headteacher of Swinton School in Lanarkshire before he began his broadcasting career at the BBC in 1962.
It was here that he became the principal commentator and presenter on Sportscene. He has since worked with STV, Eurosport, Talksport, Radio Clyde and Setanta, and has commentated on an array of key sporting events including three Olympic Games and six FIFA World Cups.
In 2005 he received a Scottish BAFTA for special contribution to Scottish broadcasting and he was inducted into Scottish football’s Hall of Fame in 2017.
In the book, Archie explores not only what made these individuals so special, but also how they encapsulate what sporting greats can teach us about life beyond the pitch, track or ring.
He uses his years of expertise as a commentator and interviewer to illustrate the breadth of Scottish sporting achievement, introducing the reader to a wide field of talent, which also includes Jim Baxter, Jimmy Johnstone, Jim McLean and Graeme Souness.
“In addition to football players and managers,
I found myself courting boxing, athletics, golf and even rugby personalities,” says Archie.
“Some are well known, others less so.
“They all excited and inspired me by how they fought their corners in their private lives, and taught me something about how to survive in their harshly competitive world.”