Glasgow memories: Children's Hour, picture houses and The McFlannels were all the rage

Taggart, for one, and Rab C Nesbitt. More recently, perhaps, Two Doors Down and Chewin’ the Fat.

Back in the day, says Ken Lawton, who grew up in Drumchapel village, radio was all the rage.

Ken, who now lives in East Kilbride, was prompted to get in touch by our recent feature on popular wartime radio show The McFlannels, about a group of Glasgow families.

“My parents listened to it,” he recalls. “I also remember Tammy Troot, read by Willie Joss on Children’s Hour, which was on between 5pm and 6pm each evening.

“Many years later, I met Willie Joss, who by then had retired - although actors never retire, their parts just get smaller….”

BBC’s Children’s Hour was broadcast from its former premises on Queen Margaret Drive in the west end, says Ken.

“If Aunty Kathleen or Uncle Mac, who were in charge, wanted a young child to read a poem, they would would telephone the nearest school which was my school, Hillhead High, on Cecil Street,” he smiles.

“I remember two who appeared were Stanley Baxter and Gordon Jackson - and look where they ended up….”

In a year like no other, most of us have deeply missed going to the theatre and cinema.

Ken recalls: “I remember going to the Gaumont (Ascot) picture house at Anniesland Cross, especially its film club on a Saturday morning where we saw series set in the Wild West and cartoons. We also went to the Vogue in Knightswood and La Scala in Clydebank. It stood on its own surrounded by bomb sites. While all the tenements around it were decimated in the 1941 Clydebank Blitz, it escaped.”

Dan Harris, originally from Maryhill and now living in East Kilbride, also recalls some of Glasgow’s great cinemas.

“Before we were Americanised, Glasgow cinemas were picture hooses,” he laughs.

“The main movie was officially labelled A, and the supporting movie was labelled B. We called them the big picture and the wee picture.

“There were nine local cinemas within walking distance for me. During my childhood matinee days, the Astoria and Magnet were my favourites. The Astoria was a modern building. The Magnet was under a tenement. The entry fee for the matinee was 3d. It was 6d for the Astoria.”

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He adds: “The exit door for the Magnet was on a lane. If it had been a cowboy film, the boys would run out onto the lane shooting everybody in sight, with their imaginary guns.

“One of my favourite memories of the Astoria is going to see Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.

“This was the only performance where it was mandatory to leave the building after the main film. I enjoyed the film so much, I hid in the Gents toilet. When I came out of the Astoria, my mother was waiting for me. I was marched home and put to bed. I was seven…”

Dan also remembers going to see the film Tom Sawyer at the Phoenix.

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“The usherettes walked up and down the aisles, spraying disinfectant over the top of our heads,” he smiles. “My mother was appalled when I got home and banned me from ever going back.

Dan and his wife Marion had their first date at the George Cinema near Charing Cross in November 1948.

“Above the entrance was a model Forth Railway Bridge, complete with a working model train,” he recalls.

“Some years later when we were married we went to the Gem cinema on Great Western Road. The Bertie restaurant was next to it. For a wee treat we would go there first.”