Jim MacLeod - obituary
by Various
From John Laurie (London RSCDS)
It is our intention to do an in depth article about Jim MacLeod and his long career in Scottish music in the very near future, however for now his friends and admirers tell of their memories of ‘Gentleman Jim’.
Jim MacLeod was born on 28th January, 1928. I am pretty certain that is the correct date. He was in the same year as my eldest brother in McLaren High School in Callander, and they both finished at the end of fifth year in 1945. The Scots Magazine article has him aged 48 in 1978, which is clearly incorrect. I am sure Robbie would know. I once heard him mention that Jim and Jimmy Shand shared the same birthday and that Jim was 20 years younger. Jimmy was born on 28th January, 1908.
His very first broadcast was on ‘Down at the Mains’ on Children’s Hour. They began in 1951 with Jim, Alex MacArthur and Willie Tervit. They were known as The Arthur MacLeod Trio. The programme had stories and songs interspersed with dance music, a sort of radio forerunner to ‘The Kilt is my Delight’ without the dancers. Tommy Ford took over from Alex about 1955 and has played accordion at every gig and every recording throughout Jim’s career.
The first record was a 78 on the Parlophone label in 1958, Eva Three-Step and a Scottish waltz. There were a number of 78s and EPs. The first LP on which the band played was titled ‘The Kilt is my Delight’ issued in 1963 with country dance tunes and songs from Moira Anderson, Duncan Robertson and The Glasgow Phoenix Choir.
This was followed in the same year with an LP of country dances. The band made 29 LPs and Jim played on three others including two of The Fiddle and Accordion club at Dunblane Hydro in 1974 and 1975.
In recent years the band with various guests have recorded 11 videos.
In 1979 to celebrate its Golden Jubilee and again in 1989 for its Diamond Jubilee the London Branch of the RSCDS produced books of new dances with specially composed tunes. On both occasions Jim’s band recorded the music for these and other selected dances, in 1979 on LP and cassette and in 1989 on LP, cassette and CD.
Jim MacLeod was in show-business and he succeeded in this without being too ‘show bizzy’. He loved people and he took every opportunity to make time to those who attended his dances and shows. He had a great gift – he remembered people he had met years before and who they were and where they came from. He will be much missed by all who ever had the pleasure of knowing him but also by the hundreds who knew him only by hearing his music and seeing him on TV.
From Jack Cooper
I first met Jim MacLeod in the mid-1950s when his band played for my demonstration team of Scottish Country Dancers in The Caird Hall, Dundee.
Due to the slippery floor we had difficulty fitting in the proper phrasing of the jigs and reels so I asked Jim to slow down the tempos – to our amusement he replied that a team of our calibre should be able to perform to the tempo of someone banging nails into the floor.
In 1979 I organised the first of many NAAFC Weekend Gatherings and Presentation Lunches in Dunblane Hydro Hotel honouring the greats in the world of Scottish dance music. Coping with over 400 guests was a daunting task made much easier with the help of the hotel’s Entertainment Manager – Jim MacLeod.
From John Carmichael
I met Jim and the Band for the first time when, as a student, I was driving the Baker’s van in Aultbea in 1962. Jim was doing an ‘On Tour’ series at the time for the BBC.
In the 70s and early 80s we met up regularly at Dunblane Hydro, in theatres, on Radio Clyde shows, Thingummyjig TV and various other events.
Jim always had a very gentle manner and was more than helpful on every occasion, always ready with the humorous quip to defuse and anxious, nervous moment (there were always plenty of them on telly shows).
Playing at the Hydro one night during a country dance weekend someone complained (as they do!!) about some of the tempos, especially about ‘The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’. Jimmy McFarlane(the fiddler) said, “You’re not happy with the tempo?” They said, “No, far too fast.” Jimmy said, “We were playing for the Queen last night at Balmoral and it seemed okay for her…..funny that, eh?”
Jim and the Band did a show in the Hydro and a big party from Arbroath were there. Some of them brought along a big bundle of ‘smokies’ for the band members, which they went away without.
Later in the week there was a terrible smell in the Band area and the Environmental Health were brought in to find the offending ‘drain’. After floorboards etc were lifted the ‘smokies’ were found in the piano stool.
We had a lot of fun and many laughs working together recently on recordings and in the Jim MacLeod’s Biggest Scottish Dance Band Jim will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
From Robbie Shepherd
Having worked closely with Jim throughout my broadcasting career I am delighted to be asked to add a word or two to the many, many tributes I have mentioned on air including those from staunch members of the band.
Jim and I went back a long way and I recall with great pleasure our informal chats discussing the whole entertainment scene over the years, having appeared as a guest many a time on his various shows and cabarets as well as radio work.
He had not a hint of malice or jealousy in him but was aye keen to see the good side of our music and was ever anxious to further the good old fashioned entertainment we both held so dear.
His work for charitable causes cannot go unmentioned either.
Yes, he was indeed Gentleman Jim and will long be remembered as such.
Box and Fiddle
August 2004
From 'The Stage' by Gordon Irving
One of Scotland's best known musicians, the bandleader and radio favourite Jim McLeod, died on May 24 aged 73.
Born in Dunblane in 1931, McLeod was a lover of popular and traditional Scottish music since his boyhood days and he will be remembered for introducing thousands of people - tourists as well as radio listeners - to the music of Scotland when they stayed at the Dunblane Hydro Hotel, the popular Stirlingshire gateway to the Highlands. There, inspired by hotel owner the late Reo Stakis, he featured Scottish entertainment in after-dinner shows.
A band highlight for nearly 30 years was the Hogmanay Live broadcast from his hotel base, produced by BBC2's Ben Lyons and featuring many well-known artists. The programmes presenting McLeod and his loyal band of music men were transmitted live over the midnight hour on New Year's Eve and won great popularity throughout the UK and overseas. Lyons, who produced hundreds of shows featuring McLeod and his musicians, said: "He lived for, and loved, Scottish music and song."
While McLeod continued his work with radio on programmes such as Scottish Dance Music, On Tour, Radio 2 Ballroom, Friday Night is Music Night and Take the Floor, the popularity of television was growing and he and his band graduated to appearing on programmes such as The Kilt is My Delight and The White Heather Club.
As the only son of the local postman and milliner in Dunblane, McLeod never forgot his humble beginnings. He was as relaxed conversing with the Queen during his 30 years of music-making for the annual Ghillies' Ball at Balmoral as with Willie the woodcutter, who decorated his living room with the sleeves of McLeod's LPs. In an extensive recording career his first records on Parlophone were produced by George Martin who, ten years later, went on to produce The Beatles.
In the seventies, viewers voted him Grampian's TV Personality of the Year. He worked also for Radio Clyde in the eighties and Central FM in the nineties. In between, and on occasion during his holidays, he entertained guests on the Canberra for almost a decade until 1994, and, on several occasions, at Stone Mountain Games in Atlanta, where he was accompanied by the Caledonian Airways Pipe Band.
A likeable musician and broadcaster, McLeod gave much good Scottish music, song and dance to a public far beyond his popular resident stance at the Dunblane. McLeod's music remains with us and, as Donald McDonald, his former associate at the Dunblane Hydro, said, "the smile of his friendship will also live long in many, many memories".
In his endless charity fundraising work McLeod's most outstanding effort was a contribution of £28,000 for a scanner at Stirling Royal Infirmary. Two tributes of which he was immensely proud were the Provost's Civic Award in Stirling in 2001 and the MBE in 2002.
He is survived by Kathleen, his wife of 51 years, his daughter Fiona, his sons Colin and Kenneth, and his daughter-in-law Pat.
Gordon Irving
From The Glasgow Herald 4th June 2004
Jim MacLeod Television and radio musician and a committed charity fundraiser
The crofts in Harris had just been connected to the national grid and, while still in short trousers attending the local primary school, two of my weekly highlights while sitting by the light and heat of the peat fire flame were to listen to Wednesday evening's Children's Hour radio programme Down at the Mains, presented by Kathleen Carscadden and featuring the music of the Fozziewell Juniors, and the Scottish Dance Music programme broadcast from the Scottish Home Service on a Saturday night.
Little did I then know or dream that Jim MacLeod, one of the Fozziewell Juniors who also featured regularly on the Scottish Dance Music programme, would, some 14 or so years later, become a lifelong and very close friend and colleague.
Jim had started off his musical career at the age of 16, playing the organ at Braco Church. It was during his national service with the RAF that he first played in a band. That was at Pitreavie Castle in Fife, and this led to him forming his own band at the age of 22: it played its first engagement at Forest Hills Hotel, Aberfoyle, in 1950. Jim supplemented his radio income by leading this band - of which some remained members until very recently - around the village halls of the west coast and the north-east counties of Scotland.
He was also employed as resident pianist by the pre-Reo Stakis ownership of the Dunblane Hydro. There, Jim's band played afternoon matinees for tea dances, and guests came from as far afield as the north of Scotland and the Midlands of England.
It was in the early 1960s, after Jim had spent 10 or more years working for Scottish radio and entertaining in local halls, that his career really began to blossom with Reo Stakis's purchase of Dunblane Hydro. It was a relationship which was to prosper for more than 40 years, and Jim often said he was extremely grateful for Reo's vision of holidays, business conferences and professional entertainment going hand in hand. Reo Stakis saw in ''Jimmy'' (as he fondly referred to him) a character who was in many ways a mirror image of himself; one who conducted his business life in a totally orderly and extremely professional manner, balancing this with a strong family and religious ethic.
''The Hydro'' gave Jim - by then aged 35 and with a wife and three children to look after - a platform on which to expand his music business while enjoying a consistent income and the privilege, as he always saw it, of entertaining several hundred hotel guests and local residents every week.
The loyal members of the band included Tommy Ford, Alex McMullan (who himself passed away two days before Jim), Alex Doig, John Sinton and Robin Brock - now living in Monaco. They were later joined by Jim Cleland.
In his endless charity fundraising - a commitment throughout his working life - his most outstanding effort was a contribution of £28,000 for a scanner at Stirling Royal Infirmary.
While Jim continued his work with the radio on programmes such as Scottish Dance Music, On Tour, Radio 2 Ballroom, Friday Night is Music Night and Take the Floor, the popularity of television was growing and Jim and his band graduated to appearing on programmes such as The Kilt is my Delight and the White Heather Club.
A band highlight for nearly 30 years was the Hogmanay Live broadcast from The Hydro, produced by the famous Ben Lyons and featuring many well-known artists.
As the only son of the local postman and milliner in Dunblane, Jim never forgot his humble beginnings. He was as relaxed conversing with the Queen during his 30 years of music-making for the annual Ghillies' Ball at Balmoral, as with Willie the woodcutter, who decorated his living room with the sleeves of Jim's LPs.
An interesting feature of Jim's extensive recording career was that some of his first records on Parlophone were produced by George Martin who, 10 years later, went on to produce The Beatles.
In the 1970s, viewers voted Jim Grampian's TV Personality of the Year. He worked also for local radio - Radio Clyde in the 1980s and Central FM in the 1990s. In between, and during some of his holidays, he entertained guests on the Canberra for around 10 years until 1994 and, on several occasions, at Stone Mountain Games in Atlanta, where he was accompanied by Caledonian Airways Pipe Band.
Two of the greatest accolades for his achievements, tributes of which he was immensely proud, were bestowed in 2001 when he was awarded the Provost's Civic Award in Stirling and the MBE in the Queen's birthday honours list, the latter presented to him by Prince Charles in February, 2002.
Jim is survived by Kathleen, his wife of 51 years, his daughter, Fiona, his sons, Colin and Kenneth, and his daughter-in-law, Pat.
The marvellous sounds of Jim MacLeod's music remain with us, and the smile of his friendship will also live long in many, many memories.
It is our intention to do an in depth article about Jim MacLeod and his long career in Scottish music in the very near future, however for now his friends and admirers tell of their memories of ‘Gentleman Jim’.
Jim MacLeod was born on 28th January, 1928. I am pretty certain that is the correct date. He was in the same year as my eldest brother in McLaren High School in Callander, and they both finished at the end of fifth year in 1945. The Scots Magazine article has him aged 48 in 1978, which is clearly incorrect. I am sure Robbie would know. I once heard him mention that Jim and Jimmy Shand shared the same birthday and that Jim was 20 years younger. Jimmy was born on 28th January, 1908.
His very first broadcast was on ‘Down at the Mains’ on Children’s Hour. They began in 1951 with Jim, Alex MacArthur and Willie Tervit. They were known as The Arthur MacLeod Trio. The programme had stories and songs interspersed with dance music, a sort of radio forerunner to ‘The Kilt is my Delight’ without the dancers. Tommy Ford took over from Alex about 1955 and has played accordion at every gig and every recording throughout Jim’s career.
The first record was a 78 on the Parlophone label in 1958, Eva Three-Step and a Scottish waltz. There were a number of 78s and EPs. The first LP on which the band played was titled ‘The Kilt is my Delight’ issued in 1963 with country dance tunes and songs from Moira Anderson, Duncan Robertson and The Glasgow Phoenix Choir.
This was followed in the same year with an LP of country dances. The band made 29 LPs and Jim played on three others including two of The Fiddle and Accordion club at Dunblane Hydro in 1974 and 1975.
In recent years the band with various guests have recorded 11 videos.
In 1979 to celebrate its Golden Jubilee and again in 1989 for its Diamond Jubilee the London Branch of the RSCDS produced books of new dances with specially composed tunes. On both occasions Jim’s band recorded the music for these and other selected dances, in 1979 on LP and cassette and in 1989 on LP, cassette and CD.
Jim MacLeod was in show-business and he succeeded in this without being too ‘show bizzy’. He loved people and he took every opportunity to make time to those who attended his dances and shows. He had a great gift – he remembered people he had met years before and who they were and where they came from. He will be much missed by all who ever had the pleasure of knowing him but also by the hundreds who knew him only by hearing his music and seeing him on TV.
From Jack Cooper
I first met Jim MacLeod in the mid-1950s when his band played for my demonstration team of Scottish Country Dancers in The Caird Hall, Dundee.
Due to the slippery floor we had difficulty fitting in the proper phrasing of the jigs and reels so I asked Jim to slow down the tempos – to our amusement he replied that a team of our calibre should be able to perform to the tempo of someone banging nails into the floor.
In 1979 I organised the first of many NAAFC Weekend Gatherings and Presentation Lunches in Dunblane Hydro Hotel honouring the greats in the world of Scottish dance music. Coping with over 400 guests was a daunting task made much easier with the help of the hotel’s Entertainment Manager – Jim MacLeod.
From John Carmichael
I met Jim and the Band for the first time when, as a student, I was driving the Baker’s van in Aultbea in 1962. Jim was doing an ‘On Tour’ series at the time for the BBC.
In the 70s and early 80s we met up regularly at Dunblane Hydro, in theatres, on Radio Clyde shows, Thingummyjig TV and various other events.
Jim always had a very gentle manner and was more than helpful on every occasion, always ready with the humorous quip to defuse and anxious, nervous moment (there were always plenty of them on telly shows).
Playing at the Hydro one night during a country dance weekend someone complained (as they do!!) about some of the tempos, especially about ‘The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’. Jimmy McFarlane(the fiddler) said, “You’re not happy with the tempo?” They said, “No, far too fast.” Jimmy said, “We were playing for the Queen last night at Balmoral and it seemed okay for her…..funny that, eh?”
Jim and the Band did a show in the Hydro and a big party from Arbroath were there. Some of them brought along a big bundle of ‘smokies’ for the band members, which they went away without.
Later in the week there was a terrible smell in the Band area and the Environmental Health were brought in to find the offending ‘drain’. After floorboards etc were lifted the ‘smokies’ were found in the piano stool.
We had a lot of fun and many laughs working together recently on recordings and in the Jim MacLeod’s Biggest Scottish Dance Band Jim will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
From Robbie Shepherd
Having worked closely with Jim throughout my broadcasting career I am delighted to be asked to add a word or two to the many, many tributes I have mentioned on air including those from staunch members of the band.
Jim and I went back a long way and I recall with great pleasure our informal chats discussing the whole entertainment scene over the years, having appeared as a guest many a time on his various shows and cabarets as well as radio work.
He had not a hint of malice or jealousy in him but was aye keen to see the good side of our music and was ever anxious to further the good old fashioned entertainment we both held so dear.
His work for charitable causes cannot go unmentioned either.
Yes, he was indeed Gentleman Jim and will long be remembered as such.
Box and Fiddle
August 2004
From 'The Stage' by Gordon Irving
One of Scotland's best known musicians, the bandleader and radio favourite Jim McLeod, died on May 24 aged 73.
Born in Dunblane in 1931, McLeod was a lover of popular and traditional Scottish music since his boyhood days and he will be remembered for introducing thousands of people - tourists as well as radio listeners - to the music of Scotland when they stayed at the Dunblane Hydro Hotel, the popular Stirlingshire gateway to the Highlands. There, inspired by hotel owner the late Reo Stakis, he featured Scottish entertainment in after-dinner shows.
A band highlight for nearly 30 years was the Hogmanay Live broadcast from his hotel base, produced by BBC2's Ben Lyons and featuring many well-known artists. The programmes presenting McLeod and his loyal band of music men were transmitted live over the midnight hour on New Year's Eve and won great popularity throughout the UK and overseas. Lyons, who produced hundreds of shows featuring McLeod and his musicians, said: "He lived for, and loved, Scottish music and song."
While McLeod continued his work with radio on programmes such as Scottish Dance Music, On Tour, Radio 2 Ballroom, Friday Night is Music Night and Take the Floor, the popularity of television was growing and he and his band graduated to appearing on programmes such as The Kilt is My Delight and The White Heather Club.
As the only son of the local postman and milliner in Dunblane, McLeod never forgot his humble beginnings. He was as relaxed conversing with the Queen during his 30 years of music-making for the annual Ghillies' Ball at Balmoral as with Willie the woodcutter, who decorated his living room with the sleeves of McLeod's LPs. In an extensive recording career his first records on Parlophone were produced by George Martin who, ten years later, went on to produce The Beatles.
In the seventies, viewers voted him Grampian's TV Personality of the Year. He worked also for Radio Clyde in the eighties and Central FM in the nineties. In between, and on occasion during his holidays, he entertained guests on the Canberra for almost a decade until 1994, and, on several occasions, at Stone Mountain Games in Atlanta, where he was accompanied by the Caledonian Airways Pipe Band.
A likeable musician and broadcaster, McLeod gave much good Scottish music, song and dance to a public far beyond his popular resident stance at the Dunblane. McLeod's music remains with us and, as Donald McDonald, his former associate at the Dunblane Hydro, said, "the smile of his friendship will also live long in many, many memories".
In his endless charity fundraising work McLeod's most outstanding effort was a contribution of £28,000 for a scanner at Stirling Royal Infirmary. Two tributes of which he was immensely proud were the Provost's Civic Award in Stirling in 2001 and the MBE in 2002.
He is survived by Kathleen, his wife of 51 years, his daughter Fiona, his sons Colin and Kenneth, and his daughter-in-law Pat.
Gordon Irving
From The Glasgow Herald 4th June 2004
Jim MacLeod Television and radio musician and a committed charity fundraiser
The crofts in Harris had just been connected to the national grid and, while still in short trousers attending the local primary school, two of my weekly highlights while sitting by the light and heat of the peat fire flame were to listen to Wednesday evening's Children's Hour radio programme Down at the Mains, presented by Kathleen Carscadden and featuring the music of the Fozziewell Juniors, and the Scottish Dance Music programme broadcast from the Scottish Home Service on a Saturday night.
Little did I then know or dream that Jim MacLeod, one of the Fozziewell Juniors who also featured regularly on the Scottish Dance Music programme, would, some 14 or so years later, become a lifelong and very close friend and colleague.
Jim had started off his musical career at the age of 16, playing the organ at Braco Church. It was during his national service with the RAF that he first played in a band. That was at Pitreavie Castle in Fife, and this led to him forming his own band at the age of 22: it played its first engagement at Forest Hills Hotel, Aberfoyle, in 1950. Jim supplemented his radio income by leading this band - of which some remained members until very recently - around the village halls of the west coast and the north-east counties of Scotland.
He was also employed as resident pianist by the pre-Reo Stakis ownership of the Dunblane Hydro. There, Jim's band played afternoon matinees for tea dances, and guests came from as far afield as the north of Scotland and the Midlands of England.
It was in the early 1960s, after Jim had spent 10 or more years working for Scottish radio and entertaining in local halls, that his career really began to blossom with Reo Stakis's purchase of Dunblane Hydro. It was a relationship which was to prosper for more than 40 years, and Jim often said he was extremely grateful for Reo's vision of holidays, business conferences and professional entertainment going hand in hand. Reo Stakis saw in ''Jimmy'' (as he fondly referred to him) a character who was in many ways a mirror image of himself; one who conducted his business life in a totally orderly and extremely professional manner, balancing this with a strong family and religious ethic.
''The Hydro'' gave Jim - by then aged 35 and with a wife and three children to look after - a platform on which to expand his music business while enjoying a consistent income and the privilege, as he always saw it, of entertaining several hundred hotel guests and local residents every week.
The loyal members of the band included Tommy Ford, Alex McMullan (who himself passed away two days before Jim), Alex Doig, John Sinton and Robin Brock - now living in Monaco. They were later joined by Jim Cleland.
In his endless charity fundraising - a commitment throughout his working life - his most outstanding effort was a contribution of £28,000 for a scanner at Stirling Royal Infirmary.
While Jim continued his work with the radio on programmes such as Scottish Dance Music, On Tour, Radio 2 Ballroom, Friday Night is Music Night and Take the Floor, the popularity of television was growing and Jim and his band graduated to appearing on programmes such as The Kilt is my Delight and the White Heather Club.
A band highlight for nearly 30 years was the Hogmanay Live broadcast from The Hydro, produced by the famous Ben Lyons and featuring many well-known artists.
As the only son of the local postman and milliner in Dunblane, Jim never forgot his humble beginnings. He was as relaxed conversing with the Queen during his 30 years of music-making for the annual Ghillies' Ball at Balmoral, as with Willie the woodcutter, who decorated his living room with the sleeves of Jim's LPs.
An interesting feature of Jim's extensive recording career was that some of his first records on Parlophone were produced by George Martin who, 10 years later, went on to produce The Beatles.
In the 1970s, viewers voted Jim Grampian's TV Personality of the Year. He worked also for local radio - Radio Clyde in the 1980s and Central FM in the 1990s. In between, and during some of his holidays, he entertained guests on the Canberra for around 10 years until 1994 and, on several occasions, at Stone Mountain Games in Atlanta, where he was accompanied by Caledonian Airways Pipe Band.
Two of the greatest accolades for his achievements, tributes of which he was immensely proud, were bestowed in 2001 when he was awarded the Provost's Civic Award in Stirling and the MBE in the Queen's birthday honours list, the latter presented to him by Prince Charles in February, 2002.
Jim is survived by Kathleen, his wife of 51 years, his daughter, Fiona, his sons, Colin and Kenneth, and his daughter-in-law, Pat.
The marvellous sounds of Jim MacLeod's music remain with us, and the smile of his friendship will also live long in many, many memories.