Tom McGrath (23 October 1940 – 29 April 2009) was a Scottish playwright and jazz pianist.

Career

McGrath was born in

Rutherglen Rutherglen (; , ) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having previously existed as a separate Lanarkshire burgh, in 1975 Rutherglen lo ...

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 ...

.Local and family history: Rutherglen - history in the making

South Lanarkshire Council South Lanarkshire Council is the unitary authority serving the South Lanarkshire council area in Scotland. The council has its headquarters in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, has 16,000 employees, and an annual budget of almost £1bn. Th ...

During the mid 1960s he was associated with the emerging

UK underground The British counter-culture or underground scene developed during the mid-1960s, and was linked to the hippie subculture of the United States. Its primary focus was around Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill in London. It generated its own magazin ...

culture, participating in

Alexander Trocchi Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi ( ; 30 July 1925 – 15 April 1984) was a Scottish novelist. Early life and career Trocchi was born in Glasgow to Alfred (formerly Alfredo) Trocchi, a music-hall performer of Italian parentage, and Annie ...

's ''Project Sigma'', working as features editor of

Peace News ''Peace News'' (''PN'') is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 ...

, and becoming founding editor of the

International Times ''International Times'' (''it'' or ''IT'') is the name of various Underground press, underground newspapers, with the original title founded in London in 1966 and running until October 1973. Editors included John Hopkins (p ...

. During the early 1970s he worked with

Billy Connolly Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish actor, musician, television presenter, artist and retired stand-up comedian. He is sometimes known by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his idiosyncratic and of ...

on ''The Great Northern Welly-Boot Show''. From 1974-77 he was director of the

Third Eye Centre The Third Eye Centre was a contemporary arts centre in Glasgow, founded by Scottish writer Tom McGrath in 1975. It occupied the building at 350 Sauchiehall Street, close to the Glasgow School of Art, originally a warehouse designed around 1865 by ...

(named after the influence of

Sri Chinmoy Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (27 August 1931 – 11 October 2007), better known as Sri Chinmoy, was an Indian spiritual leader who taught meditation in the United States after moving to New York City in 1964.Sauchiehall Street Sauchiehall Street () is one of the main shopping streets in the Glasgow city centre, city centre of Glasgow, Scotland, along with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, Glasgow, Argyle Street. Although commonly associated with the city centre, Sau ...

in Glasgow. During this time, he wrote the popular play ''

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

''. In 1977 he worked with Jimmy Boyle (then recently released from the Special Unit at Barlinnie jail) on the play ''The Hardman''. McGrath's autobiographical 1979 play '' The Innocent'' relates his drug use and addiction during the 1960s. His play ''Animal'', an excursion into the anthropoid substructure of society, featured in the programme of the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

in 1980 and was staged again by the

Scottish Theatre Company The Scottish Theatre Company was started in 1980 under the direction of Dundee-born actor Ewan Hooper who had revived the Greenwich Theatre, London in 1969, but for most of its 8 years it was directed by his successor Tom Fleming. From its prod ...

in 1981.Stevenson, Randall (1981), ''Scottish Theatre Company: First Days, First Nights'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), ''Cencrastus'' No. 7, Winter 1981 - 82, pp. 10 - 13 In 1986 he wrote the script for a short film commissioned by

COSLA The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the national association of Scottish councils and acts as an employers' association for its 32 member authorities. History Formed in 1975, COSLA exists to promote and protect the inte ...

and produced by Glasgow Film and Video Workshop. The film was written as a comedy-drama and toured Scotland on a bus after being shown at the

Edinburgh Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

References

External links

Profile
scotlandonsunday.Scotsman.com, April 2005; retrieved 30 August 2017.
Who Was Tom McGrath?
Edinburgh Film Festival, April 2017; retrieved 22 April 2020. 1940 births 2009 deaths Musicians from Glasgow Scottish jazz pianists 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British pianists 20th-century Scottish musicians People from Rutherglen {{Scotland-writer-stub