Nicola Sturgeon admits 'soft spot' for the Daily Record and reveals paper helped her learn to read
Nicola Sturgeon has revealed her "soft spot" for Scotland's number one newspaper after it helped her learn to read as a young child.
In her new memoir, Frankly, she recalls how her parents would buy the Daily Record each day - and the future first minister would become fascinated by the bold headlines.
Sturgeon also speaks proudly of her family connection to the Record through her late uncle Iain Ferguson, who served as a senior journalist and executive at the paper for many years.
In her book, Sturgeon writes: "My fascination with words started before I even went to school. My parents got the Daily Record, the paper of choice in those days for left-leaning working class Scots.
"Every morning at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, I would point to words in the headlines and ask my mum and dad what they were. By about the age of four, I could decipher basic sentences. What confused me most were words like 'home' and 'done' - I knew what they were, but couldn't grasp why they had an 'e' at the end.
"The Daily Record's role in helping me learn to read, and the fact that in later years my Uncle Iain - one of my mum's brothers - would become an assistant editor, meant that even when it openly backed Labour or encouraged Scotland to vote no in 2014, I still had a soft sport for it."
Sturgeon grew up in the Ayrshire village of Dreghorn. It was while she was attending the University of Glasgow as a student in the late 1980s that she first became involved in Nationalist circles, having signed up as an SNP member at the age of 16.
Her new memoir, Frankly, has generated acres of newspaper coverage in recent days as the veteran MSP lifts the lid on her 40-year political career.
She has previously spoken warmly of her affection for her late uncle Iain, a well-known figure in Scottish journalism.
The journalist turned PR man, known to friends as Fergie, died in 2023. Sturgeon said at the time: 'My wonderful Uncle Iain, known to many in the journalist world, has passed away.
'I hero-worshipped Iain when I was a wee girl and have looked up to him all my life. He and I shared a love of books and constantly texted each other recommendations. I will miss him so much.'
Fergie was known as a tenacious news gatherer, whose contacts spanned the breadth of Scottish political society and the world of sport. He worked on many scoops, particularly during his years as deputy chief reporter at the Record in the 1990s.
For two decades, Fergie was a regular presence at Ayr Racecourse, where he ran the PR operation and was involved with an ownership syndicate.
The much loved and respected figure, who was 69, passed away following a short illness.
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