A.S. Thomson

  • X is for Durty Fillums

    First of all, I hope you all appreciate the amount of research I had to do for this post. My poor innocent soul will never be the same again. During the Bum-chicka-wow-wow heyday of the 1970s and 1980s, there were several porn cinemas in Glasgow. The one I am most familiar with – because my…

  • W is for Windaes Twa Thoosand.

    I can’t claim any credit for this one. But it makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope you enjoy it too. ***** Micro$aft ‘Windaes Twa Thoosan’ ® (‘Glesga Edishun’) Hoaw, by the way! Micro$oft wants to help YOU in Glesga. Dinnae be forced tae use confusing Englified software apps. Due to be…

  • V is for Variety

    The Glasgow Empire Theatre is renowned as being the place where comedians went to die. In common with many cities, music hall and then variety were popular pastimes for working people. After a week of hard toil, if a Glaswegian paid a few shillings he’d expect to be entertained, and his standards were high. Add…

  • U is for University

    The University of Glasgow was founded by a Papal Bull from Pope Nicholas V in 1451 making it the 4th oldest university in the English speaking world. Instruction was first given in the chapterhouse of Glasgow Cathedral before moving to the “Auld Pedagogy” in Rottenrow. In 1563, Mary Queen of Scots gave the university 13…

  • T is for Train Stations

    Glasgow has two main train stations: Queens Street, which has trains to Edinburgh (spit!) and the North, and Central Station which has trains to the south. Central Station is the larger of the two. It opened in 1879 but by 1890 it was extended slightly only to be found to be inadequate again by the…

  • S is for Saint Mungo

    Saint Mungo is the founder and patron saint of Glasgow. His early clerical life was spent as an evangelist in the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde under King Rhiderch Hael. He built his church beside the Molindinar Burn, not far from the site of Saint Mungo’s cathedral. Mungo is said to have performed 4 miracles during…

  • R is for Rottenrow

    Rottenrow is a street in Townhead which dates back to medieval times. There is some disagreement over the origins of its name. Some say it is because there was a ‘row’ of rat infested cottages there; others that it was names after the route of the king – Rat-an-righ in Gaelic. By the mid-20th century…

  • Q is for Queenslie

    As I mentioned in E is for Easterhouse, I grew up in the greater area of Easterhouse, but my particular wee part of hell was called Queenslie. Queenslie was a small scheme of only four streets built primarily to house the workers at the adjoining industrial estate. I lived on the top floor of a…

  • P is for Panopticon

    In 1857 Glasgow’s Trongate was no longer the wealthy and desirable locale built by the tobacco lords who had headed over to the west end of the city. Trongate was an area of dubious reputation with over 200 shebeens and 130 brothels crammed into a street no more than one eighth of a mile. So…

  • O is for Grand Ole Opry

    What is the first thing that springs to mind when you think about Glasgow? Gangs? Violence? Witty banter and a certain sense of style? I bet it isn’t country and western music but Glasgow, in common with many working class cities, has a long tradition of cowboys. There is even a shop with the risqué…

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