Ken Smith's Diary

  • 24 May 2012

    A BEARSDEN teenager was telling his pals yesterday of the magical powers of his parents after they left him home alone at the weekend.

  • 23 May 2012

    THE death of sculptor George Wyllie, of paper boat and straw locomotive fame, reminds architect Tom McKay of the artist's wicked sense of humour.

  • 22 May 2012

    A GLASGOW reader tells us he visited his late-night corner store where he asked the salesperson what time they closed.

  • 21 May 2012

    WE hear of a Glasgow office where the boss was organising a large conference, and sent a member of staff to buy a bundle of the little plastic sticks for folk to stir the cups of coffee they would be offered.

  • 17 May 2012

    GLASS eyes continued. John Sword at Glasgow meat market  remembers his father telling him about catching the no. 2 bus in Stockwell Street with a friend who had a glass eye.

  • 16 May 2012

    JUDE MacLaverty was buying a muffin in a Glasgow coffee shop when the assistant took a deep sniff of the cake before putting it in a bag.

  • 15 May 2012

    A FINAL mistranslation as former colleague Jimmy Watson recalls harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler telling of the time he lived in Paris where he saw a John Wayne western in which the great man swaggered into a saloon and snarled at the barkeep: "Gimme a shot of redeye."

  • 11 May 2012

    VIDAL Sassoon, the celebrity hairdresser who has died, acknowledged the style of Glasgow women by opening one of his salons in Princes Square in the city.

  • 10 May 2012

    AFTER The Herald's story about Tory justice spokesman David McLetchie complaining about 437 addresses in Scotland where ambulance crews have to call for police protection, a former Tory election candidate tells us: "That is about one-tenth of the number of addresses where a Tory supporter would need police protection."

  • 9 May 2012

    THE late, great Irish rocker Rory Gallagher is remembered in an art exhibition at Partick's Mansfield Park Gallery later this month, as artist Alec Galloway was lent Rory's battered Fender Stratocaster to paint it on canvas.

  • 8 May 2012

    WHO could fail to be a fan of Scottish eloquence?

  • 7 May 2012

    A READER catching a late-night bus in Glasgow heard a young woman angrily tell her boyfriend: "You always blame everyone else when things go wrong."

  • 4 May 2012

    DID you remember to vote yesterday?

  • 3 May 2012

    OUR tale of the chap trying to get out of National Service on fallacious medical grounds reminds Frank Miller: "Some of my older colleagues in Glasgow Libraries told of one of their number who tried a similar trick to avoid National Service.

  • 2 May 2012

    WE hear from Kilwinning in Ayrshire where a local lady has had to cancel her plans for a lavish 50th birthday party.

  • 1 May 2012

    OUR occasional stories on National Service remind one older reader of reporting for his stint in uniform when he had to undertake a medical, and the doctor asked: "Can you read the letters on the chart?"