Archibald Macpherson (born 1934) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

commentator and author. He has been commentating on Scottish football, on

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

, for over four decades.

Early life

Macpherson was born and raised in the

Shettleston Shettleston (, ) is an area in the Glasgow#East End, east end of Glasgow in Scotland. Toponymy The origin of the name "Shettleston" is not clear and, like many place-names of possibly medieval origin, has had a multitude of spellings. A papal bu ...

area of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. His father had played as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

for

, Dalry Thistle and Largs Thistle. He achieved a BA in Education and was a teacher in North Lanarkshire in the late 1950s.

Broadcasting career

Macpherson has worked for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, STV,

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

, Setanta Sports, Radio Clyde and

Talksport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

although he initially struggled to gain a foothold in broadcasting. His first job was as a teacher where he supplemented his income by getting short stories published in local newspapers. Such efforts paid off and helped him gain his initial big break at the BBC. He continued to work as a teacher until 1969 when he joined the BBC on a full-time basis and remained with the corporation until 1990. Macpherson has made his own personal appearances within Scottish popular culture. He once appeared on Rikki Fulton's '' Scotch and Wry'' (a prominent comedy sketch show screened by

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

) being mistaken for former

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

host

Bamber Gascoigne Arthur Bamber Gascoigne (, 24 January 1935 – 8 February 2022) was an English television presenter and author. He was the original quizmaster of '' University Challenge'', which initially ran from 1962 to 1987. Early life and education Gasc ...

. In the

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

's cult novel '' Trainspotting'' he re-voiced his commentary of

Archie Gemmill Archibald Gemmill (born 24 March 1947) is a Scottish former footballer. During his career, he won the European Cup and three English league titles, and captained his national side. Gemmill scored the third Scotland goal in a 3–2 win again ...

's famous goal for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

at the 1978 World Cup as a sex scene unfolded at the same time, both pieces of action climaxing simultaneously. He was also a regular figure of the BBC TV network's sport coverage. He appeared on

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

to round up the Scottish football league results and presented some sports bulletins for '' Breakfast Time'' when Bob Wilson or David Icke were off. He also occasionally commentated on matches in England for the network, especially when the television rights to the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

in 1988–90. His popularity saw him elected as Rector of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

in 1985, defeating

Teddy Taylor Sir Edward MacMillan Taylor (18 April 1937 – 20 September 2017), known as Teddy Taylor, was a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) for forty years, from 1964 to 1979 for Glasgow Cathcart and from 1980 ...

Margo MacDonald Margo Symington MacDonald (''née'' Aitken; 19 April 1943 – 4 April 2014) was a Scottish politician, teacher and broadcaster. She was the Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Govan from 1973 to 1974 and was D ...

and Richard Demarco. Macpherson was recognised at the 2005 Scottish

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

ceremony, picking up a prize for a "Special Contribution to Scottish Broadcasting". His last regular role was commentating on STV's coverage of

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

matches involving Scottish teams. Archie also became famous for his appearances on STV's '' Scotsport'', which aired highlights from the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

(SPL) on Monday nights during the football season, until its axe in 2008.

Writing

Macpherson has written a best-selling biography of Scottish football manager

Jock Stein John Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He was the first manager of a club from a Northern European country to win the European Champio ...

, and ''Flower of Scotland?'', about his own trials and tribulations whilst following Scottish football for the past four decades. ''A Game of Two Halves: The Autobiography'' followed in 2009, and in 2014, he turned to fiction with the adventure novel ''Silent Thunder''. In 2020, Macpherson's book ''More Than A Game: Living with the Old Firm'' was published by Luath Press. Two years later, Macpherson published his latest book on sport: "Touching the Heights: Personal Portraits of Scottish Sporting Greats", which was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2022.

Works

* ''Jock Stein: The Definitive Biography'' * ''Flower of Scotland?'' * ''Action Replays'' 1991 * ''A Game of Two Halves: The Autobiography'', 2009 * ''Silent Thunder'', 2014 * ''More Than A Game: Living with the Old Firm,'' Luath Press, 2020, *''Touching the Heights: Personal Portraits of Scottish Sporting Greats,'' Luath Press, 2022.

References

External links

Archie Macpherson Luath Press Author's PageArchie Macpherson Tribute websiteArchie MacPherson YouTube Tribute channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Archie Journalists from Glasgow Scottish association football commentators Scottish sportswriters Rectors of the University of Edinburgh 1937 births Living people Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Shettleston