The Scots inventor's legacy that's being kept alive
Vintage sets have become much sought after, and this Sunday collectors will be able to get their hands on seven vintage sets at an unusual boot-sale taking place in Glasgow.
The 'rare and collectable' sets, some of which are in a poor condition, will go on display at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre in Kelvindale, where they are currently stored. They need to be disposed of because of the start of building works aimed at expand the centre's facilities.
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The sale has piqued the interest of Iain Logie Baird, the grandson of John Logie Baird, the Helensburgh-born engineer who is renowned as the 'father of television'.
The disposal of the TV sets comes 100 years after John Logie Baird achieved a significant breakthrough by transmitting a television picture of a human subject, in a Soho attic in October 1925. Seven months earlier, he had demonstrated an early 'in the rough' version of his television system three times a day for three weeks at the London department store, Selfridge's.
Iain Logie Baird, who with his father, Dr Malcolm Baird, runs the website bairdtelevision.com, said that all of the Glasgow sets are post-war, the oldest being a Cossor TV dating from 1946-47. A.C. Cossor was a British electronics company whose history dates back to 1859.
Malcolm Knight, founder of the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre at Kelvindale, Glasgow pictured in the large store at the centre. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Mr Baird acknowledged that it would be sad if some of the sets were unable to be repaired and had to be thrown onto the scrapheap. 'Few remain, and production numbers did not even reach six figures until 1949', he told The Herald. 'Many of these sets can be made to work if the picture tubes are still functional; however, this work is certainly not for the amateur."
Mr Baird, asked whether he would be interested in acquiring any of the sets, said: 'I would have been interested if one of them had been a pre-Second World War set or a pre-1950 Baird-branded set, or a mechanical TV made for the 30-line system, but I don't collect many TVs on this side of the pond at this time. The Cossor is the one I would have been most interested in. I am about to purchase a 1947-48 Baird Garrick that is quite similar."
The vintage TV sets, which were manufactured between 1946 and 1960, were amassed by the Scottish Industrial Preservation Trust, which has not been operative since the death of its founder and director, Steven Raeside, in May 2014.
It is understood that some of the sets were featured in 'TV Is King', a 1994 BBC TV documentary about Michael Bennett-Levy, a leading collector of early technology items including television sets.
Attempts have been made without success to find a new home for them in the guise of a museum or individual who could preserve them.
Chris O'Kane, Scotland Co-ordinator for the Projected Picture Trust, said: 'Steven collected a number of things in his time and we ended up with these television sets. Exactly where they came from, we're not sure, but they ended up in storage at the Mask and Puppet Theatre because Malcolm Knight, who runs the centre, is one of the trustees of the Preservation Trust. Malcolm knew Steven quite well.
'They've been sitting there, and over the years we've not been able to do anything with them and we've had no interest from other museums. It seems to be the case that nobody has any money to do anything with them and nobody has any room for them.
'They have deteriorated a bit and we have to get them out now. I don't think they would work, and I wouldn't recommend switching them on, but they would be okay in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing. It is possible that some of them could be restored. They will be up for offer on Sunday to anyone who can make use of them, either for display or whatever."
Malcolm Knight, founder of the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre at Kelvindale, Glasgow pictured in the large store at the centre. (Image: Colin Mearns)
As to the potential hazards that await anyone seeking to restore old televisions, he cautioned: 'Old TVs are significantly more difficult to restore than old radios, and have even higher voltages, meaning electric shocks are potentially fatal. There are sometimes some hazardous materials in the sets, such as Chrysotile asbestos panels or coatings--a risk to be aware of and to seek professional consultation on.
'Finally, the cathode ray tubes all appear to be still under vacuum, which are usually covered by safety glass at the front, so there's no issue there, but if the chassis is out of the cabinet, then there will be no safety glass, cabinet, or back panel protection. If the tubes have been 'necked' at the back, they will not be functional, but replacement tubes can be found from a donor set with patience and effort."
Creating a picture on the sets was another issue if got working, he added. 'This can be done with a 625-line VCR played through a 625-405 line standards converter. The latter are not easy to find as they were made in very small numbers, aimed at hobbyists.
'It is an enjoyable hobby, but not for the faint of heart. The 1950s sets generally are easier to get working again than the 1940s models, and have a better picture. I would say a good option is to purchase only one set and focus on restoring one, as restoring five or six would get expensive unless you are an electronics technician with a minor in cabinet restoration.
'A collector may be happy enough to restore the cabinets only and clean up the chassis without getting them working. That is generally what I have done myself and what most museums do'.
Mr Baird said he has been working with a group in Helensburgh that hopes to stage a local exhibition about his grandfather's childhood and early life, covering the breakthrough in October 1925 and the first public demonstration in January 1926.
* The car boot sale takes place between 10am and 4pm on Sunday at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre, 8-10 Balcarres Avenue, Kelvindale, Glasgow, G12 0QF. There will also be puppet shows - Looking for Nessie, by Talking Heads Puppets, at 11am and 2pm, and a Family Fun Day. https://www.maskandpuppet.co.uk/
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Daily Record
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Scottish Sun
3 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
I just knew one day people would finally get Nick Drake, says legendary producer Joe Boyd
Drake died aged 26 in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants, never enjoying commercial success in his lifetime, never knowing how much he would be appreciated. TROUBLED SOUL I just knew one day people would finally get Nick Drake, says legendary producer Joe Boyd Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) 'I REMEMBER the moment I first saw Nick. He was very tall – but kind of apologetically tall.' Legendary producer Joe Boyd is casting his mind back to January 1968, to the day 'very good-looking but very self-effacing' Nick Drake dropped a tape off at his London office. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Nick Drake died aged 26 in 1974, never enjoying commercial success in his lifetime Credit: Getty - Contributor 'He stooped a bit, like he was trying not to seem as tall as he was. 'It was wintertime and there were ash stains on his overcoat. He handed me the tape and trundled off. 'My first encounter with Nick's music was, most likely, that same evening or possibly the following one.' Boyd, an American who became a central figure in the late Sixties British folk-rock boom, was 25 at the time. Drake was 19. He cut a striking figure — lanky with dark shoulder-length hair framing his boyish features. Through his company, Witchseason Productions, Boyd came to helm stellar albums by Fairport Convention (with Sandy Denny), John Martyn, Shirley Collins and The Incredible String Band. But there was something indefinably mesmerising about those three songs passed to him by the quiet teenager who studied English Literature at Cambridge University. As Boyd switched on his 'little Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorder', he was captivated by Drake's soft but sure tones, allied to his intricate fingerpicking guitar. 'I think the songs were I Was Made To Love Magic, Time Has Told Me and The Thoughts Of Mary Jane,' he says. 'From the first intro to the first song, I thought, 'Whoa, this is different'.' I'm speaking to Boyd to mark the release of a beautifully curated box set, The Making Of Five Leaves Left, a treasure trove of demos, outtakes and live recordings. Rounding it off is the finished product, Drake's debut album for Chris Blackwell's fabled Island Records pink label. Bob Dylan biopic is an immaculate portrayal of the grumpy singer's rise to fame - shame his women feel like complete unknowns In 2025, the singer's status as one of Britain's most cherished songwriters is assured. A troubled soul, Drake died aged 26 in 1974 from an overdose of antidepressants, never enjoying commercial success in his lifetime, never knowing how much he would be appreciated. But Boyd, now 83, had no doubts about the rare talent that he first encountered in 1968. He picks up the story again: 'Ashley Hutchings, the Fairport Convention bass player, saw Nick playing at The Roundhouse [in Camden Town, North London] and was very impressed. 'He handed me a slip of paper with a phone number on it and said, 'I think you'd better call this guy, he's special'. 'So I called and Nick picked up the phone. I said, 'Do you have a tape I could hear?'. He said, 'Yes'.' Boyd still didn't hold out too much hope, as he explains: 'I was very much a blues and jazz buff. I also liked Indian music. 'White middle-class guys with guitars were never that interesting to me — Bob Dylan being the exception that proves the rule. 5 John Boyd holding The Making Of Five Leaves Left, a treasure trove of demos, outtakes and live recordings 'But Nick was something else. He wasn't really a folk singer at all.' Boyd describes Drake as a 'chansonnier', a French term for a poet singer who performs their own compositions, often drawing on the themes of love and nature. He says: 'I'm always a bit bemused when I go into a record store — one of the few left — and see Nick filed under folk. He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures.' To Boyd, Drake's enduring appeal is also helped 'by the fact that he didn't succeed in the Sixties'. 'He never became part of that decade's soundtrack in the way Donovan or [Pentangle guitarist and solo artist] Bert Jansch did. 'So he was cut loose from the moorings of his era, to be grabbed by succeeding generations.' Drake was born on June 19, 1948, in Rangoon, Burma [now Myanmar], to engineer father Rodney and amateur singer mother Molly. His older sister Gabrielle became a successful screen actress. When Nick was three, the family moved to Far Leys, a house at Tanworth-in-Arden, Warks, and it was there that his parents encouraged him to learn piano and compose songs. I'm always a bit bemused when I go into a record store — one of the few left — and see Nick filed under folk. He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures. Joe Boyd Having listened to the home recordings of Molly, Boyd gives her much credit for her son's singular approach. He says: 'When you hear the way she shaped her strange chords on the piano and her sense of harmony, it seems that it was reverberating in Nick's mind.' When Drake gave him those three demos, recorded in his room at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Boyd 'called the next day and said, 'Come on in, let's talk'.' During the ensuing meeting, Drake said: 'I'd like to make a record.' He was offered a management, publishing and production contract. Just as importantly, he had found a mentor in Joe Boyd. What you hear on the box set is the musical journey leading up to the release of Five Leaves Left in July 1969. The set was sanctioned by the Estate Of Nick Drake, run on behalf of his sister Gabrielle by Cally Callomon, but only after two remarkable tapes were unearthed. His first session with Boyd at Sound Techniques studio in March 1968 — found on a mono listening reel squirrelled away more than 50 years ago by Beverley Martyn, a singer and the late John Martyn's ex-wife. A full reel recorded at Caius College by Drake's Cambridge acquaintance Paul de Rivaz. It had gathered dust in the bottom of a drawer for decades. Boyd says: 'I have never been a big enthusiast for these endless sets of demos and outtakes — so I was highly sceptical about this project. 'But when my wife and I were sent the files a few months ago, we sat down one evening and listened through all four discs. 'I was tremendously moved by Nick. You can picture the scene of him arriving for the first time at Sound Techniques. 'This is what he's been working for. He's got his record deal and here he is in the studio. I was stunned.' 5 Five Leaves Left was released in 1969 In pristine sound quality, the first disc begins with Boyd saying, 'OK, here we go, whatever it is, take one.' Drake then sings the outtake followed by some of his best-loved songs — Time Has Told Me, Saturday Sun, Day Is Done among them. It's just man and guitar, recorded before musicians such as Pentangle's double bass player Danny Thompson and Fairport Convention's guitarist Richard Thompson (no relation) were drafted in. Boyd continues: 'The trigger for those recordings, that first day in the studio, was wanting our wonderful engineer John Wood to get a feel for Nick's sound. 'Nick was wide awake and on it. He was excited about being in a studio and he wanted to impress.' All these years later, one song in particular caught Boyd's attention — Day Is Done. 'He takes it more slowly than the final version. This gives him time to add more nuance and the singing is so good.' Back then, as Five Leaves Left took shape, Boyd witnessed the sophisticated way Drake employed strings, oboe and flute. Inspired by subtle orchestrations on Leonard Cohen's debut album, Boyd had drafted in arranger Richard Hewson but it didn't work out. 'It was nice, but it wasn't Nick,' he affirms. When Drake suggested his Cambridge friend Robert Kirby, a Baroque music scholar, everything fell into place. Boyd says: 'Nick had already been engaging with Robert about using a string quartet but had been hesitant about putting his ideas forward.' SUBTLE ORCHESTRATIONS The producer also recalls being 'fascinated by the lyrics — the work of a literate guy'. 'I don't want to sound elitist but Nick was well educated. British public school [Marlborough College] and he got into Cambridge. 'Gabrielle told me he didn't like the romantic poets much. But you feel that he's very aware of British poetry history.' This is evident in the first lines of the opening song on Five Leaves Left — 'Time has told me/You're a rare, rare find/A troubled cure for a troubled mind.' 'When I think about Nick, I think about the painting, The Death Of Chatterton,' says Boyd. 'Chatterton was a young romantic British poet who died, I think, by suicide. You see him sprawled out across a bed.' I ask Boyd how aware he was of Drake's struggles with his mental health. 'It's a tricky question because I was aware that he was very shy,' he answers. 'Who knew what was going on with him and girls?' Boyd believes there was a time when Drake was better able to enjoy life's pleasures. 'When you read of his adventures in the south of France and in Morocco, it seems he was more relaxed and joyful. 5 Drake at home with mother Molly and sister Gabrielle 'And when I went up to Cambridge to meet Nick and Robert Kirby before we did the first session, he was in a dorm. 'There were friends walking in and out of the room. There was a lot of life around him.' Boyd says things changed when 'Nick told me he wanted to leave Cambridge and move to London. 'I agreed to give him a monthly stipend to help him survive. He rented a bedsit in Hampstead — you could do that in those days. 'Nick started smoking a lot of hashish and didn't seem to see many people. I definitely noticed a difference. 'He'd been at Marlborough, he'd been at Cambridge and suddenly he's on his own, smoking dope, practising the guitar, going out for a curry, coming back to the guitar some more. He became more and more isolated and closed off'. Boyd describes how Drake found live performance an almost unbearable challenge. He says: 'He had different tunings for every song, which took a long time. He didn't have jokes. So he'd lose his audience and get discouraged.' 'It still haunts me that I left the UK' For Drake's next album, Bryter Layter, recorded in 1970 and released in 1971, Boyd remained in charge of production. Despite all the albums he's worked on, including REM's Fables Of The Reconstruction and Kate and Anna McGarrigle's classic debut, he lists Bryter Layter as a clear favourite. It bears the poetic masterpiece Northern Sky with its heartrending opening line – 'I never felt magic crazy as this.' Boyd says: 'I can drop the needle and relax, knowing that John Wood and I did the best we could.' However, he adds that it still 'haunts me that I left for a job with Warner Bros in California after that. I was very burnt out and didn't appreciate how much Nick may have been affected by my leaving'. Drake responded to Boyd's departure by saying, 'The next record is just for guitar and voice, anyway'. Boyd continues: 'So I said, 'Well, you don't need me any more. You can do that with John Wood'.' When he was sent a test pressing of 1972's stripped-back Pink Moon, he recalls being 'slightly horrified'. 'I thought it would end Nick's chances of commercial success. It's ironic that it now sells more than his other two.' Then, roughly a year after leaving the UK, Boyd got a worried call from Drake's mum. 'Molly said she had urged Nick to see a psychiatrist because he had been struggling,' he says, with sadness, 'and that he had been prescribed antidepressants. 'I know Nick was hesitant to take them. He felt people would judge him as crazy — a typically British response.' Boyd again uses the word 'haunting' when recalling the transatlantic phone call he made to Drake. 'I said, 'There's nothing shameful about taking medicine when you've got a problem'. I know Nick was hesitant to take them [antidepressants]. He felt people would judge him as crazy — a typically British response Joe Boyd 'But I think antidepressant dosages were way higher in those days than they became. 'Doctors didn't appreciate the rollercoaster effect — how you could get to a peak of elation and freedom, then suddenly plunge back into depression. 'Who knows but it might have contributed to the feeling of despair Nick felt the night he took all those extra pills.' 5 Boyd says of Drake: 'He's unclassifiable and that's one of the reasons he endures' Drake died at home in Warwickshire during the early hours of November 25, 1974. As for Boyd, he made a lasting commitment to the singer who had such a profound effect on him. He says: 'When I left, I gave my company to Chris Blackwell because there were more debts than assets — and he agreed to take on the debts. 'But I said, 'I want it written in the contract that you cannot delete Nick Drake. Those records have to stay. 'I just knew that one day people would get him.'
Scotsman
4 hours ago
- Scotsman
AC/DC, Edinburgh review: 'euphoric'
Raging against the dying of the light doesn't get much more exciting or vital than this Murrayfield performance from AC/DC, writes David Pollock Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... AC/DC, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh ★★★★★ Many thousands of people, it seems, still have a never-ending appetite for a man who's now hit his 70th year giving it some spirited duckwalking action across the stage in a saltire-blue velvet schoolboy uniform. For Glasgow-born guitarist Angus Young, the last remaining founder member of AC/DC, this just about counted as a homecoming gig. For everyone else amid the sea of light-up red devil horns in Murrayfield, it was potentially the last chance to experience the live AC/DC juggernaut in action in Scotland. AC/DC at Murrayfield | Tim Craig Mind you, Brian Johnson - Bon Scott's near ever-present vocal replacement of the last 45 years and a man seven years Young's senior - is still hammering away with a vigour that would put men with 20 years on him to shame. In black denim and slate grey flat cap he prowled the stage, his signature shriek for the most part a picture of good vocal strength and training. "F***in' hell," he permitted himself after one audible splutter early in the set - although he'd just torn through a ferocious, stomping Back in Black, after which thrill any artist would deserve some slack. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad AC/DC at Murrayfield | Tim Craig Now onto its second leg since last year, the Power Up (or PWR/UP) tour is happening in belated celebration of 2020's 17th studio album of the same name, which was composed by Angus with his brother Malcolm when he was still alive. It's a greatest hits set by any other name - but still, when the muscular descending riff of Demon Fire appeared, with bassist Cliff Williams adding vocals textures to Johnson's lead, or Shot in the Dark lit up, these Power Up songs sounded like they could have been recorded on Johnson's first day in the studio with the band. AC/DC at Murrayfield | Tim Craig Everything else was surely all the crowd hoped it would be. The stage design was predictably huge, with seven screens providing near-surround detail on every one of Young and Johnson's movements, and forgivably corny. As the band entered, a roaring red muscle car raced through generic, just about adequately animated streets apparently intended to double for Edinburgh (or so the signs told us). At a mention of fire, digital flames licked around the images of the band. During the predictably mighty Thunderstruck - the one song whose pace appeared to defeat Young as it went on - bolts of lighting flashed across them. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad All the way through, Young and Johnson's chemistry was combustible. Like the rebellious kid smoking behind the bike shed, Young's jacket was off by the early arrival of Have a Drink On Me's swaggering groove, its lyric demanding "don't you worry 'bout tomorrow," a perfect mantra for this band. After a euphoric communal roar through Highway to Hell, the tie went with it for Sin City, scratched across his fretboard just as he and Johnson seemed to hit their second wind. The sun was down by now, the volume of Young's guitar and Phil Rudd's drums apparently blasted even higher, and Johnson's voice was undefeated by a thunderous Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, a coruscating High Voltage, the euphoric You Shook Me All Night Long, and on into Whole Lotta Rosie, a defiantly, almost antagonistically endless Let There Be Rock and a burst of Loch Lomond to open the encore. Raging against the dying of the light doesn't get much more exciting or vital than this.
