Ian McColl recalls his days working with journalist and editor Clive
Sandground, who died yesterday.
CLIVE Sandground, my friend and right-hand man at the Scottish Daily
Express in the sizzling sixties, was a great journalist and the
liveliest, most restless, larger-than-life character I've known. It is
hard to believe he is gone.
When Clive applied for a job as a sub-editor on the Express in the
late 1950s it fell to me as Night Editor to interview him.
In blazer and flannels and wearing a Hillhead High School FP tie, he
made an instant impression. ''Ah, I see you were at Hillhead,'' I
remarked. ''So was I.'' Clive gave me a quizzical look and with a touch
of hauteur said: ''But obviously not at the same time.''
Cheeky blighter I thought -- but he got the job. He soon made his
mark. Everything Clive did was over the top. The callow youth quickly
sprouted a W. G. Grace black beard -- Clive was a member of the MCC as
was his father before him -- and the blazer and flannels gave way to
heavy green tweed suiting complete with waistcoat adorned with gold
watch chain.
This conspicuous outfit was worn in the hottest of summers. His only
concession to warm weather was to shave off the black beard. He was
often warned that without it he had a two-tone face.
That was Clive the character. There was no nonsense about Clive the
journalist.
When a big story broke it was a joy to see Clive take over a whole
series of pages, issue clear instructions to a chosen team of
sub-editors, select pictures, write the headlines and put the Sandground
stamp on them.
As deputy editor, Clive gathered around him journalists like Jim
Middleton, later to become Scottish Express editor in Manchester, John
Ryan, now deputy editor, Evening Times, Iain Duff, Glasgow editor of the
Scotsman, and Bill Merrifield, who later became a senior executive in
Manchester. They were all involved with Clive in the great stories of
that golden decade -- the Glasgow fire disaster at Cheapside, the
Kennedy assassinations, the Argyll divorce case, the great
Bishops-in-the-Kirk controversy and the Ibrox Disaster of 1971.
Clive was at his most courageous when the Express in Glasgow was beset
with industrial disruption. He point-blank refused NUJ chapel
instructions to join the all-too-frequent mandatory meetings.
His talent and courage were rewarded in 1971 when he was appointed
editor when I was called to London to edit the Daily Express. Two years
later he left the Express to take over the editorship of the Sunday
Mail.
With his undoubted editorial flair, Clive made his new charge the most
talked-about Scottish Sunday newspaper while Express Newspapers
transferred their printing to Manchester and closed down Albion Street.
It was my privilege to know and to work with this most likable and
unforgettable man.
The callow youth quickly sprouted a W. G. Grace black beard . . . and
blazer and flannels gave way to heavy green tweed suiting complete with
waistcoat adorned with gold watch chain.
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