Glasgow memories: When Cliff Richard stayed the night in Cowcaddens

“It was called David Duncan’s, on New City Road, and at the time, there were lots of theatrical digs nearby,” he tells us. “A lot of folk who went on to be big stars stayed in them when they were just starting out. We had a customer who ran very well-known and respected digs.”

One day, her daughter came into to get her butcher meat.

“’Who’s your ma got in the digs tonight?’ we asked her,” adds Jim. “She said: ‘Ah can’t tell you. My ma says I’ve to keep it a secret because he’s going to be a big, big star some day.

“Davie Duncan, the boss, was there. ‘You can tell us,’ he said, ‘we won’t tell anyone.’ So she replied – Cliff Richard.”

Jim laughs: “Davie said, ‘och, hen, I saw him on the telly last night and he will never make it….’”

Plenty of Glaswegians disagreed with the butcher, however – the legendary singer might have just been starting out, but he already had a huge following in the city.

When he played the Empire in 1959, the police called on the military to help hold back the crowds. Fans – mainly young women – went wild, stopping traffic outside the venue. Eventually, a jeep-load of the 170 Provost Company, Royal Corps of Military Police, based in Newlands on the city’s south side, turned up and helped the police with crowd control.

Jim also recalls going to see famous crooners Perry Como and Frank Sinatra in Glasgow.

“In the 70s, Perry Como had a new generation of fans, because of his TV show,” says Jim. “I remember a bunch of folk at the end of the show going on to the stage and giving him tartan gifts and bottles of Scotch. His hairstyle was popular with young men at the time. They’d go in to the barber’s and ask for a Perry Como – at which point the barber would usually chuckle and ask: ‘Is that him in The King and I?....only in Glesga.”

The American singer and TV personality had made it known he would not be giving any newspaper interviews when he arrived in London for his first UK tour. Our sister title The Herald’s writer Molly Kelly refused to give up, however, and travelled to London, where she managed to secure a chat with the great man after all.

“At a break in rehearsals, Perry sits next to me and I defy any woman who is treated to his charm at such close quarters not to fall for him like the proverbial ton of bricks,” she wrote, a little starry-eyed, after the encounter.

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Jim Peddie recalls being part of the 50,000-strong crowd who saw Frank Sinatra at Ibrox stadium in 1990, part of Glasgow’s celebrations for its Year as European City of Culture.

It wasn’t the first time he had sung on stage here, of course - back in July 1953, he had performed at the Empire, part of a mini-Scottish tour. The Voice, as he was known then was a huge star but even he could probably not have imagined he’d still be going strong on a Glasgow stage almost 40 years later.

Jim adds: “I remember a black limo picked him up on the pitch and drove him to the airport to his private jet… He was 75 years old but he still had the old magic.”

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