13 photos which tell story of Glasgow school and its famous ex-pupils

Glasgow Times

3 days ago

Famous ex-pupils of Whitehill Secondary in Dennistoun include leading lights of stage and screen, medicine, science and sport.
The school opened in 1891 on Whitehill Street, replacing a building which had once housed the private school Dennistoun Academy, later renamed Whitehill Public School for Girls.
Whitehill Secondary in the 1970s (Image: Glasgow City Archives)
The first headmaster was James Henderson. In 1902, Whitehill became a Higher Grade school and in 1967 it became a comprehensive.
In 1977, the school moved to its present site on Onslow Drive and the original building was demolished.
(Image: Newsquest)
In 2009, YDance officially launched its Free To Dance Project at Whitehill Secondary in a bid to encourage girls to get involved in dancing as an alternative to PE and other sports.
A group of teenage pupils involved in the project treated fellow students to a performance.
(Image: Newsquest)
In June 1971, the principal prizewinners accepted their accolades – left to right, Brian Williams, 16; George Smith, 16; Fiona McIvor, 18; Ian Raitt, 17; Robert Livingston, 16; Robert Walker, 16; and Bashir Mohammed, 18.
(Image: Iain Munro)
Times Past reader Iain Munro shared photos of the old Whitehill Senior Secondary school magazine recently. Iain went to Whitehill from 1959 until 1963.
READ NEXT:
'At the time, I lived in Riddrie with my parents, in close proximity to Barlinnie jail where my dad worked as a prison officer, and I travelled to and from Dennistoun by public transport, usually the 106 trolleybus,' says Iain, who now lives in the Wirral on Merseyside.
'The magazines are a fascinating reminder of my time at Whitehill.'
(Image: Newsquest)
Glasgow's first female Lord Provost Jean Roberts, pictured here with Princess Margaret, was a pupil at Whitehill.
Trailblazer Jean was also the first woman to become convener of the electricity committee, first to be deputy chairman of the corporation, first to be city treasurer, and the first to be leader of the Labour group.
After school, she initially trained as a teacher, and worked at Bishop Street Elementary School.
(Image: Newsquest)
Senior pupils in 2011 arrive by stretch limo for the Whitehill school prom. It was the early days of US-style high school proms becoming more popular in the city.
(Image: Newsquest)
Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, who was born in Dennistoun in 1948, was always getting into trouble for singing during lessons at Whitehill Secondary.
It paid off, however, as Marie became global singing superstar Lulu, with a string of hits to her name.
(Image: Newsquest)
In the 1950s, girls and boys still studied different subjects at high school. This domestic science class in 1952 was just for the girls, while the boys studied technical courses such as woodwork.
(Image: Newsquest)
Artist and author Alasdair Gray was a pupil at Whitehill Secondary, where he received prizes for art and English. He attended Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957 and went on to make his living from writing, painting and teaching.
(Image: Newsquest)
Rangers and Aberdeen footballer Jim Forrest, who died in 2023 aged 79, was born in Townhead and educated at Rosemount Primary School in Royston and Whitehill Secondary School in Onslow Drive, Dennistoun.
(Image: Newsquest)
Ronald Cresswell, who died in 2021 aged 86, was a Scottish scientist who was at the forefront of the development of several groundbreaking drugs, including AZT, which is used to prevent and treat HIV.
His initial interest was history but it was one of his teachers at Whitehill Secondary who got him interested in chemistry. Ronald also developed the statin, Lipitor, which helps reduce cholesterol. It was once the best selling drug in the world.
(Image: Newsquest)
Barry St John, who died in 2020 at the age of 76, was a famous backing singer for the likes of John Lennon, Pink Floyd and Elton John in the 1970s.
She was born Eliza Janet Thomson in the Gallowgate and went to Whitehill Secondary School in Dennistoun. She is pictured here with American DJ Emperor Rosko in November 1968, the year he signed her.
(Image: Newsquest)
Dr June Almeida, pictured here at an electron microscope, was a pioneer of medicine, whose work led to the identification of the first human coronavirus.
Some of the techniques used in the 2020 pandemic hark back to her work in the 1950s. She was born in 1930 and lived in a tenement near Alexandra Park. Her interest in biological science was sparked by the sad death from diphtheria of her six-year-old brother in 1940.
June won the science prize at Whitehill Secondary School, but had to leave school in 1947, the family having no funds to send her to university. She went to work as a laboratory technician in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, which enabled her to study the microscopic examination of tissue samples at which she excelled.