Jack McLean (10 August 1946 – 27 December 2023) was a Scottish journalist, and columnist with The Herald.[1] McLean was known as "the Urban Voltaire", a tag given to him by one of his editors.[2]

Career

McLean first began writing columns for The Times Educational Supplement in the 1970s about his experiences as a teacher.[3] From the 1980s he went on to write columns for the Glasgow Herald, with a brief move to The Scotsman in 1998 before returning to The Herald. He also contributed to the Glasgow Evening Times.[4]

A collection of his columns was first published as The Bedside Urban Voltaire in 1990. More Bedside Urban Voltaire followed a year later.[2] These were expanded and supplemented as Hopeless But Not Serious: An Autobiography of the Urban Voltaire in 1996.[5] The City of Glasgow, with photographs by Colin Baxter, was published in 1994. The Compendium of Nosh (An A-Z of Food) appeared in 2007. In 2011 he wrote the preface for a new edition of The Heart of Glasgow (1965) by Jack House.[6]

At the Leveson Inquiry in 2011 he was criticised for his writing about the 1991 murder of Diane Watson by Barbara Glover (both schoolgirls), in which he had portrayed the victim as a bully.[7][8] The Herald later apologised to Watson's family.[9][10]

Personal life

Educated at Allan Glen's School, McLean worked for 20 years as a secondary school art teacher,[11] but was dismissed for assaulting a pupil, as he later recounted in his column.

McLean was a well-known resident of Glasgow's South Side, where he lived for over 35 years, and where he could often be found in the pubs along the Pollokshaws Road.[12]

He died on 27 December 2023, at the age of 77.[1] After his death, tributes were paid by Nicola Sturgeon and others.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Kevin McKenna. 'Jack McLean obituary: Herald writer who captured the soul of Glasgow', in The Herald, 29 December 2023
  2. 1 2 McLean, Jack (21 August 2013). Hopeless But Not Serious: The Autobiography of the Urban Voltaire - Jack McLean. ISBN 9781906000615. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  3. ↑ Biography, The Official Celtic Opus
  4. ↑ 'Glasgow legend Jack McLean - author of The Sporting Urban Voltaire - dies as Nicola Sturgeon pays tribute', in The Scotsman, 27 December, 2023
  5. ↑ 'Jack McLean – The Urban Voltaire', in The Afterword, 28 July 2015
  6. ↑ Jack House: The Heart of Glasgow, Neil Wilson Publishing (2011)
  7. ↑ The Leveson Inquiry: Witness Statement of Margaret Watson, 2 November 2011
  8. ↑ 'Jack McLean, Glasgow's 'Urban Voltaire', in The Times, 28 December, 2023
  9. ↑ "Scottish daily apologises to family of murdered schoolgirl - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage". HoldtheFrontPage. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  10. ↑ 'Leveson inquiry: Herald apologises to Watson family', in The Guardian, 22 November, 2011
  11. ↑ Kenneth Roy. 'Urban Voltaire', April 1990, reprinted in The Best of Scotland on Sunday (1990), pp. 47-51
  12. ↑ Photograph of Jack McLean outside of Heraghty’s Bar in 2021, X
  13. ↑ "Tributes pour in following death of 'legendary' Glasgow writer". Glasgow Times. 27 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
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