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Andy Stewart - The Man Behind the Kilt

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Mr Andy Stewart! APPLAUSE

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# When the pipes are ringing and the kilts are swinging

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# And your heart is singing as you gaily march along

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# You hear the story that is brave and roary

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# In the tunes of glory of an old Scots song

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# If you're standing near them and you ever hear them... #

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Andy Stewart is arguably Scotland's greatest ever entertainer.

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He was the...biggest thing... in Scottish music after Harry Lauder.

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He just was a complete Scottish minstrel.

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Entertainer in Scotland? Numero uno.

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# ..In the tunes of glory! #

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Hey-hup!

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Andy Stewart was born in Glasgow in 1933

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and moved to Arbroath aged 12.

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Well, we were a very close family.

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You must remember that I was seven when the war began,

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and it was like living in a bubble, four of us together.

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We were very close, a very, very close family.

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My father was a...a musician

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and, er...he was a bit of a show-off as well.

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We all had a bit of the histrionic touch.

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We had no inhibitions right from a very early age.

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He enjoyed singing and performing, and my father encouraged him.

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Even at school,

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Andy showed that he had a talent for entertaining and mimicry.

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I was only belted three times at school,

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and twice it was for doing impressions.

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I can remember being caught

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doing an impression of our mathematics teacher.

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And he it was whom I heard doing the classic,

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"Now, boys, this is a very difficult proposition,

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"watch the board while I run through it."

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LAUGHTER

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Andy's parents supported his ambition to perform,

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and in 1951, he went to the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art,

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where he met a fellow student called John Cairney.

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He was a wee cheeky fellow from Arbroath,

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and I was a skinny element from Parkhead,

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but funnily enough we got on well right from the start.

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We met at drama college,

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and it was one very late night we were going home,

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and he was standing at one side of the street,

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and I was standing at the other,

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and that was the first time ever I heard Andy sing,

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and he sang The Bonnie Lass Of Ballochmyle.

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I think she was my girlfriend first, Sheila, and he stole her from me.

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Andy married Sheila in 1955

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after they had both graduated from drama college.

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Despite being trained as a serious actor, Andy fell into the role

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of an entertainer and mimic on stage and radio.

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LOUIS ARMSTRONG SINGS

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HE MOUTHS

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# Be-bop-a-lula, she's my granny

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# Be-bop-a-lula She's my mammy's mammy... #

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-(AS BRUCE FORSYTH)

-Good evening and welcome to Sunday Night At The London Palladium.

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He was essentially an actor and he acted the part of a comedian.

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While working on a radio show at BBC Scotland,

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Andy had a chance meeting that would change his career for ever.

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I was booked for The White Heather Club in the gents' toilet here.

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The gentleman who was producing, Iain McFadyen,

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was producing me in radio,

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and he said, "I'm starting this show called The White Heather Club,

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"and I'm afraid there's no place in it for you."

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I was an impressionist at that time.

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He said to me, "I know you do comedy voices and all the rest of it -

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"what we're looking for is somebody who can do bothy ballads."

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Now, I know there are all these apocryphal stories,

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when you go for a part in a Western, they say, "Can you ride a horse?"

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And whether you've never seen a horse in your life, you say yes!

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But I, in actual fact, with a great deal of veracity,

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said, "Well, I can sing some bothy ballads."

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He said, "Sing one for me now."

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And my goodness me, there were people in cubicles

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who had forgotten what they went in there for.

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And I sang a wee...perhaps unsuitable for a gents' toilet,

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I sang a song called The Muckin' O' Geordie's Byre.

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LAUGHTER

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Whereupon we passed around the shovels and the sawdust,

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and I got the job.

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Good evening and welcome to the opening of The White Heather Club.

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I'm quite sure, if you'd care to stay with us, you'll enjoy it too.

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So come on inside and hear Ian Powrie and his band

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playing The Gay Gordons.

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Come on in!

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We would like to pinpoint a town or district in Scotland.

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I'll give you a clue.

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Have you guessed? Ha-ha, Arbroath!

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And we'd also like to pinpoint a personality from Arbroath,

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and here he is, Andy Stewart.

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# When I want tae lauchin' I think on the scene

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# When a'body roun' cam' ower tae clean

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# And clairted themsel's richt up tae the e'en

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# At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre

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# Wee Robbie the Rockie and Willie the Doo

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# The auld wife herself and Teeny McCrew

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# And a'body else that could labour the pleugh

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# At the muckin' o' Geordie's byre... #

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After only a year, the now kilted Andy took over as host

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and turned The White Heather Club into a hit network show,

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drawing millions of viewers.

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# Come in, come in It's nice tae see you

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# How's yoursel'? You're looking grand

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# Tak' your ease We'll try tae please you

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# Man, you're welcome Here's my hand

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# In the land called Caledonia

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# There are certain words you say... #

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In his other TV shows of the time, Andy was able

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to show off his skills as a mimic and character actor.

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Three and a half hours late.

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Maybe she's missed her bus.

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I've never been in here afore.

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It's fine, but strange to see

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and no' at all the way it looks when you see it on TV.

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I met Andy on The White Heather Club.

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# The sweetest hours that e'er I spent

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# Were spent among the lasses-o... #

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That's what I was hoping you'd say.

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Andy was a very introspective person as well, you know.

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He was very well-read, Andy, and very erudite and he...

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Because he knew I was interested in books as well, we had conversations,

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but he amazed me, first of all, with his knowledge of Burns.

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As sure as three times three maks nine

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I see by ilka score and line

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This chap will dearly like oor kin'

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So leeze me on thee, Robin.

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Poetry was never far from Andy's mind,

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and he wrote down ideas for songs and poems on his many travels.

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He was always creative.

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I mean, the guy obviously had a really good brain

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and he was creative all the time.

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And he was just writing stuff, you know, lines for songs,

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and scraps and pieces which he would obviously collate later,

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collate at a later date into either a poem or a song.

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In 1960, Andrew began as a recording artist for Top Rank International.

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His first release of Donald Where's Your Troosers?

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didn't sell that well,

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but the follow-up was a very different story.

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Andy Stewart actually got me chucked out a pub,

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because, sadly, not everybody shares my taste in music.

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I went into a pub and I saw one of these digital jukeboxes,

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and joy of joys one of the artistes who was on it,

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next to Chumbawamba and Labrinth or whatever,

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was Scotland's very own Andy Stewart.

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And I just put on his haunting ballad, A Scottish Soldier.

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And, er...if only I could say

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that we all just kind of gathered, arms in the pub,

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and everybody just humming along to A Scottish Soldier.

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Sadly, I got chased out of the place by a guy with a pool cue.

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A Scottish Soldier was not just a hit in the UK.

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It was number one in Canada, Australia and New Zealand

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and stayed in the US top 50 for over a year,

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something that today's recording artists can only dream of.

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I wish I could say

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that that was written somewhere in pensive solitude.

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It was written in a pub in Byres Road,

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and this night I sat down, and the tune of The Green Hills came to me,

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and the line came to me, one can only say an inspiration, I suppose,

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as I think all song-writing is.

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And I wrote down, "There was a soldier, a Scottish soldier,"

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and wrote two verses and sang it the next day.

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# They are not the hills of home... #

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Of course, we were watching the White Heather show,

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and this song came on, Andy singing Scottish Soldier,

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and I remember thinking, "Oh, my God, that's going to be a monster,"

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-and sure enough...

-It was.

-It was phenomenal.

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And it took off not only in the UK but all over the world.

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And what do you think's the secret of this phenomenal success,

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-A Scottish Soldier?

-Oh...

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I think if I could tell you that and you could bottle it,

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we could make a fortune selling it.

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I don't think you can tell what is the secret of success,

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ever, in so many words.

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I think it's an intangible thing.

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He...was fortunate, if you like,

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early on in his career to have the hit record,

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but he was only fortunate because he wrote the thing.

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-Don't you ever get tired of A Scottish Soldier?

-No, no. I don't.

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I hear that lovely money falling all around!

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It's amazing to think that only 25 years ago,

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before the great Puritan revival of 1971,

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certain television performers

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actually appeared on the screen wearing kilts.

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Andy Stewart's naked knees were featured regularly.

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The one time I did Andy Stewart

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was the one with the ever-lengthening kilt,

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and that went down very, very well.

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Arthur Blake at the piano!

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And yes, it was very, very funny, and I think it was the...

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# There was a soldier A Scottish soldier

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# Who wandered far away and soldiered far away

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# There was none bolder with good broad shoulder

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# He'd fought in many a fray

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# And fought and won

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# He'd seen the glory He'd told the story

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# Of battles glorious and deeds victorious

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# But now he's sighing His heart is crying... #

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Yes, that was a wicked take-off, really.

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Another show breaking new ground at the time was Tonight.

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Good evening. One of the big awkward questions which everybody...

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The Tonight programme, for those who can remember it,

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was THE magazine programme,

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and it set standards, I think, which have never been surpassed.

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And now, let's finish up with something a bit brighter,

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Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor, Football Crazy, I think.

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# Oh, you all know my wee brother... #

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Robin and I sung on it five nights a week for about four years,

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and we used to sit in the green room,

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The White Heather Club would be on, we'd turn the sound down.

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The Tonight programme was run

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by really highly sophisticated people, all Oxbridge,

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and absolutely top-notch journalists.

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They'd come from paper journalism into television.

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And they just thought The White Heather Club was a big joke.

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They thought it was so couthie and old-fashioned and archaic and comic.

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And they used to sit in the green room with the sound switched off

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and kind of have a giggle

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at Andy twirling his kilt and stuff, stuff like that.

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And I have to confess that Robin and I joined in.

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# There's the swirl of the kilt and the skirl of the pipes

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# And the lilting accordion... #

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Andy eventually gave up hosting The White Heather Club

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to concentrate on touring,

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giving Jimmie Macgregor an awkward decision to make.

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Andy had become really big,

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and suddenly we were offered the job as hosts!

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Of The White Heather Club,

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of this programme that we had been sitting giggling about.

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But it was a tremendous gig, The White Heather Club.

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I mean, it had huge viewing figures in England,

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and when it was off the air in the summer,

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we took it out as a touring variety show

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and we filled theatres from Brighton to Shetland it was fantastic.

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Incredible support it got.

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After the success of The White Heather Club,

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in spite of me, it was a success,

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and I was asked down to London to make some programmes.

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# I've just come down from the Isle of Skye

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# I'm no' very big and I'm awful shy

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# And the lassies shout when I go by "Donald, where's your troosers?" #

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As his television career made him a household name in the UK,

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it was his touring that made him a global star.

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The massive Scottish diaspora, many of whom were desperately homesick,

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flocked to see Andy's sell-out shows all over the world.

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In 1964, Andy bought the business of White Heather tours

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and turned impresario,

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as well as still being a regular performer himself.

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He ran the hugely successful touring shows for 18 years,

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hiring Scottish artists such as Joe Gordon and Sally Logan,

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the Alexander Brothers and Stanley Baxter.

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The last time I saw Andy, I was working for him.

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He had taken over the White Heather tour,

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and I had decided to do my final tour of Canada and America,

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largely because I heard that we'd be playing Carnegie Hall.

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And I thought, "Oh, that I've got to do."

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So when Andy turned up, I said, "What are you doing here?"

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He said, "Well, I run The White Heather Club now."

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I said, "Oh, you've done awfully well."

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Later that year, while performing

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in a run of shows at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen,

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Andy hit the headlines when he and Sally Logan agreed to perform

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at the World's Fair in New York.

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Wonderful experience, outdoors, thousands of people there.

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And we went for a day, basically.

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A car came for us to the theatre in Aberdeen

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after the show on the Saturday night

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and drove us to Prestwick.

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We arrived at the airport, I think it was called Idlewild Airport,

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-and I think it became JFK.

-JFK.

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We were then taken by car to the venue,

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and I did about 20 minutes of an act,

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and Andy went on and did an hour of an act.

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Then he came offstage, and everything was packed for him,

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and we just got in a car again and drove to the airport,

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back on the plane and arrived at Prestwick.

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The car took us to Aberdeen, and we were on stage that night.

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I do remember feeling quite odd when I was on stage that night.

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I think it was about '64, '65, we did the tour in North America

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with Andy, and he was so good to us, because he allowed us

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to close the first half, which is a prime spot, you know.

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And the business was phenomenal.

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-He was so huge.

-Och!

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He was so well liked, you know, unbelievable.

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We played the Carnegie Hall two nights, complete sell-out.

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Andy was...

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He was on top of the world, really,

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because he was touring New Zealand

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and he had to come back and do Canada and America.

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He was on the road, he wanted to go...

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He loved meeting people, he loved going to the different countries.

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# Oh, Campbeltown Loch I wish you were whisky

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# Campbeltown Loch, och aye

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# Oh, Campbeltown Loch I wish you were whisky

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# I would drink you dry... #

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Andy had frequent health issues,

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which were often picked up in the press.

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Despite this, his schedule would regularly involve

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spring, summer and autumn tours

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of Canada, America, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

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How are you, your health? We heard some strange stories.

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Did you get the latest story from Australia?

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The whole tour was cancelled, that was published in Scotland.

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We phoned the family home about...

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I was taken to Brisbane General Hospital...not the general hospital,

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one of the hospitals in Brisbane, and I had to be...

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I had to have my plumbing temporarily sorted out.

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And the report went back to Britain that I was stricken once again

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and that I wouldn't be probably...

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I'd probably be coming home encased in lead

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or something like that.

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But no, I can't honestly say that I'm 100% certain

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of what my...interior's going to do next,

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but I'm fairly healthy apart from that.

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One way to sort of cut down the wear and tear would be

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to knock off this strenuous touring you seem to go in for?

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That's right, it would be,

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but on the other hand, it's a terribly satisfying way of life.

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Is that the time? Already?

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Well, it must be because that's the song,

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and when you play that song, then it's time.

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Back in the UK, Andy was now synonymous with Hogmanay

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and for over 20 years, he brought in the bells

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with a TV audience of up to 30 million viewers.

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I'm away for a pint.

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Oh, well, I'll join you and then I'll go straight home.

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To me, Andrew Stewart was just part and parcel of growing up.

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As a wee guy, every Hogmanay, I can rarely listen to Andy Stewart

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without almost smelling the froth fae my da's can of Tartan Export,

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because they would be the parties. As a wee boy,

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you'd get a wee fly drink at your da's fresh can of beer,

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and invariably it would be Andy Stewart that was on in the background.

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# And we all gather round the old fireside

0:18:010:18:05

# And the old mother kisses her son... #

0:18:050:18:10

We used to be allowed to go to bed and then get up

0:18:100:18:13

and watch The Hogmanay Show after we'd had a bit of a sleep

0:18:130:18:17

and stay up for a fizzy drink and watch him on television.

0:18:170:18:21

That's probably the earliest memory I have.

0:18:210:18:25

He wasn't really a family man, was he?

0:18:250:18:28

Well, he had a big enough family. I think he had five kids.

0:18:280:18:31

Do you know what I mean when I say that?

0:18:310:18:32

He wasn't one for being with the family all the time.

0:18:320:18:34

Although he was there obviously a few times.

0:18:340:18:38

THEY LAUGH

0:18:380:18:39

Yes, Jack.

0:18:390:18:41

Five daughters and one son. And proud of their dad, no doubt.

0:18:410:18:45

I never really ask them.

0:18:450:18:47

You've heard of Scots love, you know...

0:18:470:18:50

we don't go about asking, "Are you proud of me?"

0:18:500:18:54

Not till they say, "We're proud of you."

0:18:540:18:55

Was he a good dad?

0:18:550:18:57

Yes, when he was there. A lot of the time he wasn't there.

0:18:570:19:01

So, that's not such a good dad. So, there's a balancing out.

0:19:010:19:04

My dad was away all the time - all through our childhood.

0:19:040:19:09

My dad was away from the family home.

0:19:090:19:13

He used to write to us all, and we'd get our blue airmails through.

0:19:130:19:19

It was quite nice, really, because his writing was so bad

0:19:190:19:22

that we had to spend weeks literally deciphering what he said.

0:19:220:19:26

I think it was just what dad did. That was his job.

0:19:260:19:31

People used to ask what it's like having a famous father.

0:19:310:19:35

We didn't know anything different.

0:19:350:19:37

Many of Andy's children

0:19:370:19:38

and grandchildren have followed in his footsteps onto the stage.

0:19:380:19:43

There were five of us within six and a half years.

0:19:430:19:46

There was Tara, Andrew, Debbie, Lindsay and Melanie.

0:19:460:19:49

A big gap of 14 years, and my little sister, Magdalene, was born.

0:19:490:19:54

I think I would have been a dancer whatever,

0:19:540:19:58

because my mother was absolutely determined that was what I would do.

0:19:580:20:03

She decided I was going to be a ballet dancer very early on.

0:20:030:20:07

I wasn't really interested in acting to start with.

0:20:070:20:10

The stage and variety was what I wanted to do first, yeah.

0:20:100:20:15

I used to love singing and I still do.

0:20:150:20:19

And, when I was 16, he was working at Ayr,

0:20:190:20:24

in Ayr Gaiety. And he asked if I wanted to go along

0:20:240:20:27

and sing a spot. So, I did, just for a couple of shows there,

0:20:270:20:32

and that was really the start of it.

0:20:320:20:34

That's what I really wanted to do, I thought, at the time.

0:20:340:20:37

Quite a few of the grandchildren are entertainers.

0:20:370:20:40

I'm in a band called White Heath.

0:20:430:20:46

I'm not sure if I would say that it's in the blood.

0:20:460:20:49

Some people would say these things are,

0:20:490:20:51

but I think it's probably more to do with the fact that he was such

0:20:510:20:55

a huge presence and sort of influence, in a way,

0:20:550:21:01

as an elder statesman in the family

0:21:010:21:03

that's led to so many of his children and grandchildren.

0:21:030:21:08

There are lots of grandchildren. I think probably half or more

0:21:080:21:11

of them dance, sing, make music, act.

0:21:110:21:17

So, I think that he's sort of paved the way

0:21:170:21:20

for that being an accepted thing to do.

0:21:200:21:22

# Oh, it's nice to be a grandpa

0:21:220:21:24

# When you're getting kind of older

0:21:240:21:26

# For there's bonnie bairns to cuddle and stories to be told... #

0:21:260:21:30

We were all conscious, as time passed, that dad -

0:21:300:21:34

his punishing schedule, which it really was - was taking its toll.

0:21:340:21:39

And often he had spells in hospital.

0:21:390:21:42

But, although he would pay lip service to retiring

0:21:420:21:46

and taking it easy, he only had to be asked to do something

0:21:460:21:51

and he was right there.

0:21:510:21:52

Leaving hospital early often to go start and working again,

0:21:520:21:57

never giving himself a long enough time for recuperation.

0:21:570:22:01

I remembered going to visit him

0:22:010:22:04

and my granny in their house in Arbroath when I was quite young.

0:22:040:22:08

I remembered just spending time with him in the house,

0:22:080:22:11

just chatting and having a laugh.

0:22:110:22:14

And I remember quite often when we went to visit,

0:22:140:22:17

he was in quite poor health. Quite often.

0:22:170:22:21

But I remember being told, "Go and see him upstairs, go and say hi."

0:22:210:22:25

When I went up, he was always... No matter how ill he was,

0:22:250:22:28

he was always completely sparkling and life and soul.

0:22:280:22:31

Just great to be around.

0:22:310:22:33

I did hear that when Andy was very, very ill indeed...

0:22:330:22:40

he was...tubes up his nose, I mean, terribly ill and in hospital.

0:22:400:22:45

And he had a show to do.

0:22:450:22:47

He'd get up, pull out all the tubes and things, and go and do the show.

0:22:470:22:51

That's how daft performers are.

0:22:510:22:54

Andy retired from regular touring in the 1980s and was surprised

0:22:540:22:59

by a public campaign in 1989

0:22:590:23:01

to re-release one of his earliest records.

0:23:010:23:04

'It is the most happening record at the moment. This is Andy Stewart.

0:23:040:23:07

'Donald Where's Your Troosers?'

0:23:070:23:09

# I've just come down... #

0:23:090:23:10

"I just can't believe this," I said.

0:23:100:23:13

"It's quite flabbergasting.

0:23:130:23:17

I said, "My flabber has never been so gasted, in fact.

0:23:170:23:20

"I just can't believe this is happening to me."

0:23:200:23:24

# ..Donald, where's your troosers? #

0:23:240:23:26

I love it because...

0:23:260:23:28

it's the only record of its kind.

0:23:280:23:30

The atmosphere on it is so good.

0:23:300:23:32

It's so funny and it's such an uplifting record.

0:23:320:23:35

# ..Let the wind blow high Let the wind blow low... #

0:23:360:23:40

By the 1990s, despite poor health,

0:23:400:23:42

Andy continued to fulfil periodic concert and charity commitments.

0:23:420:23:47

# Amazing Grace

0:23:470:23:51

# How sweet the sound... #

0:23:510:23:56

One typical occasion was in 1993, when Andy was asked to star

0:23:560:24:00

at a charity event at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh.

0:24:000:24:04

That evening, we sat in our dressing room for ages and ages, talking.

0:24:040:24:08

It was the longest and the deepest conversation I had with him.

0:24:080:24:12

I really warmed to the guy a lot on that occasion.

0:24:120:24:15

I was shocked by how he looked.

0:24:150:24:17

The Usher Hall came for us to appear at.

0:24:170:24:21

We knew it was Andy who was the star of the show,

0:24:210:24:24

but we didn't know how many people were going to be in the show.

0:24:240:24:27

It was a huge show.

0:24:270:24:28

Of course, we all knew he'd been ill for ages

0:24:280:24:31

and been warned by the doctors to stop touring.

0:24:310:24:34

People used to say to me, "Why does he keep doing that?

0:24:340:24:38

"He's ill, he knows he's ill, he obviously doesn't need the money.

0:24:380:24:41

"Why does he keep to it?" I said, "Because that's who he is,

0:24:410:24:44

"that's what he is."

0:24:440:24:46

There's no way he can just stop. You can't do it.

0:24:460:24:48

But, anyway, we did the show,

0:24:480:24:51

and Andy went on as top of the bill -

0:24:510:24:53

absolutely slaughtered them.

0:24:530:24:56

Absolutely slaughtered them.

0:24:560:24:58

He'd total dynamism and energy - gave 101%.

0:24:580:25:02

We picked up the paper in the morning, and he died a few hours later.

0:25:020:25:05

Went home to bed and died.

0:25:050:25:08

It was quite a shock.

0:25:080:25:10

Performing made him more satisfied than not.

0:25:100:25:13

So, he would have been very frustrated if he couldn't have gone

0:25:130:25:16

and done it when he promised to.

0:25:160:25:18

That's what kept him driven to perform when he said he would, yes.

0:25:180:25:22

It wasn't a complete shock, actually, at all. Far from it.

0:25:220:25:26

It was the end of a long kind of anticipation.

0:25:280:25:33

There was always this sense that we knew

0:25:330:25:35

that his time was limited, really.

0:25:350:25:38

He'd had two bypass operations.

0:25:380:25:41

And nobody really would have presumed to try and tell him

0:25:410:25:46

what to do.

0:25:460:25:49

I was in New Zealand when it happened.

0:25:490:25:51

And it broke my heart, of course.

0:25:530:25:56

Because I was so sorry that his total promise was never realised.

0:25:560:26:02

Of course, his superficial promise as an entertainer

0:26:020:26:07

was immediately recognised.

0:26:070:26:09

His skill as an actor was there, in those performances.

0:26:090:26:13

But he would have given Scotland another dimension

0:26:130:26:17

to the character actor status.

0:26:170:26:19

I know he would have done. And who knows?

0:26:190:26:22

His writing might have extended, and he might have written his own play.

0:26:220:26:26

If he got to my hoary age that I am now,

0:26:260:26:30

he might have written a masterpiece.

0:26:300:26:32

But in himself, he was a masterpiece,

0:26:320:26:36

because he was a total work of art.

0:26:360:26:39

From his wee snub nose to his cheeky little voice, he was a work of art.

0:26:390:26:45

And I'm glad to have known him.

0:26:450:26:49

# I returned to the field of glory

0:26:490:26:53

# Where the green grass and flowers grow

0:26:530:26:58

# And the wind softly sings the story

0:26:580:27:02

# Of the brave lads of long ago... #

0:27:020:27:05

My dad was, I think,

0:27:050:27:09

very much epitomises a particular time in our social history.

0:27:090:27:14

There's part of me that's really proud of that, but part of me

0:27:140:27:18

that wants to defend what is sometimes seen

0:27:180:27:21

as a kind of kilt and heather sort of image.

0:27:210:27:25

Andy Stewart, philosopher.

0:27:270:27:30

Singer.

0:27:320:27:34

Impersonator.

0:27:340:27:37

Comedian. Songwriter.

0:27:370:27:40

Genius.

0:27:400:27:41

We're very, very proud to have known him

0:27:410:27:46

-and to have worked with him.

-Mm-hm.

0:27:460:27:49

-He was just a marvellous entertainer.

-He sure was. Andy.

0:27:490:27:54

Warm, generous.

0:27:540:27:57

Flawed. You know.

0:27:570:28:00

No doubt, I think his drive into the theatre was too encompassing

0:28:000:28:06

to be entirely good for your health.

0:28:060:28:09

# Sleep in peace

0:28:090:28:11

# Now the battle's o'er... #

0:28:110:28:22

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