Tales From the Back Green by Bill Paterson
Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99
TRUE to the tradition of the great Gerald Wiley, Bill Paterson assumed the name of Tulloch Cameron when he submitted a short story about his early life in Glasgow to BBC Radio Scotland. Some days later the phone rang and there was a BBC producer explaining they had received this terrific short story and they wanted him, the actor Bill Paterson, to read it on air. And so, from that most serendipitous of beginnings, is born this slim book of reminiscences of a vanished world.
Paterson, from Dennistoun in Glasgow’s East End, tells us of the lost river Molendinar, the ruthless destruction of Anderston, the apocalyptic end of the city’s much-loved tram system, and of what beauty now lies beneath Cumbernauld New Town, as well as the far-reaching consequences of a boy’s love for Airfix construction kits.
Tales From the Back Green is as cosy and as comforting as hot buttered toast on a cold winter’s morning, and none the worse for that. This unashamedly nostalgic collection is a fine and gentle piece of work.
Paul Spencer-Thompson
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