It Started in a Cupboard by Kenneth Calman sampler

it started in a cupboard
lack of it: 5ft 3¾ins is the tallest I’ve been) meant that I was a natural
pick as a hooker. In those days, the rules for scrums were different,
and hookers were allowed to swing forward and into the opposition
pack to retrieve the ball. I was reasonably good at this, though I did
have some accidents, and my nose was broken twice. While I was
struggling with my rugby, my cousin Jimmy Docherty (JT Docherty)
was being picked to play for Scotland. In 1955, in his second match,
he scored a drop-goal in the 14-8 victory over Wales at Murrayfield. 7
His father, another Jimmy, who married my father’s sister, had the distinction
of playing football for both Rangers and Celtic. Like my own
father, my cousin died much too young.
Even before I went to Allan Glen’s, at weddings and other family
gatherings, I’d often be dragged out to sing songs such as ‘Over the
Sea to Skye’ or ‘If I Can Help Somebody’. I also became interested
in folk music, both Scottish and American, and decided to learn the
guitar. I couldn’t afford to buy one, so I made one from a kit. I played
skiffle music with a group at the Boys’ Brigade and expanded my folk
repertoire by cutting out and learning the learning the songs published
each week in the Glasgow Bulletin newspaper. My hero was Lonnie
Donegan.
What with music, sport, the Boys’ Brigade and homework, my
teenage years at school were satisfyingly busy. But as I moved into my
last year, I still hadn’t got a clear idea of what career path I should be
aiming at. And here my memory, normally so clear, lets me down. All
I remember is that the Calman cousins were having one of our regular
get-togethers when the subject came up. I can’t remember who was
there, or whose house we were in, only that I told them I was thinking
about studying engineering.
‘Really?’ said one of my older cousins. ‘What about medicine?
Have you ever thought of that?’
Everyone else in the room seemed to think it was a good idea. Why,
I don’t know. It wasn’t as though there were any doctors in our family
and I didn’t even know anyone who was one. Against that, at Allan
Glen’s I’d had as good a secondary education as any working-class
Scot could hope for. I’d worked hard and conscientiously. So why not?
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