1 Songwriter, record producer and music publisher Bill was 10 years old when he wrote his first song. The Govan High School pupil, who was there at the same time as Sir Alex Ferguson, went on to pen hits for a diverse range of acts, from Billy Connolly and Cilla Black to George Harrison and Elvis Presley.

Glasgow Times:

2 Bill was born in Govan in 1938, and he completed his apprenticeship as a marine engineer on the shipyards. This was not the career he wanted, however. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and had trials to become a professional footballer for Partick Thistle (he did play football for Johannesburg Rangers in South Africa). Still, the lure of songwriting continued to hold him and when he came back to the UK, he decided to give it a go.

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3 He started using the name Bill Martin as he thought Wylie MacPherson was ‘too Scottish’ - a decision he says he regretted in later life.

Glasgow Times:

4 Bill’s first record was Kiss Me Now by Tommy Quickly, released on the day JFK was shot - 22 November 1963. In partnership with Tommy Scott, he wrote for a range of acts including The Dubliners, Van Morrison, and Serge Gainsbourg. With Phil Coulter, he wrote hits for, among many others, the Bay City Rollers, George Harrison and Ken Dodd.

Glasgow Times:

5 Bill won five Ivor Novella Awards and he is the only Scottish songwriter to write four UK number one hits for four different acts – Sandie Shaw’s Eurovision triumph Puppet on a String, Cliff Richards’ Congratulations, England World Cup Squad song Back Home and Slik‘s Forever and Ever. In the US, he wrote My Boy for Elvis Presley, and in 1983 he produced the musical Jukebox for London’s West End. In June 2014, Bill received an MBE for Services to Music and Charity in Scotland. He died earlier this year, at the age of 81.