Jack House
Encyclopedia
Jack House (John House) was a prolific and popular Scottish
writer and broadcaster, with a significant attachment to the City of Glasgow
.
, then technically outside of the Glasgow city boundaries. This, together with the fact that neither of his parents was born in Scotland, would come as a surprise to those who knew him as "Mr Glasgow", so thoroughly did he identify himself with the culture and people of that city. He felt that Glasgow was a fairly autonomous "city state". That his father, also John, was a prosperous Company Secretary and Jack himself trained as an accountant would only add to the surprise, given Glasgow’s "red Clydeside
" reputation.
The family rapidly moved to Dennistoun
where Jack (and subsequently his four brothers and three sisters) attended Whitehill Secondary School
. At his father's insistence he began training as an accountant. Accounting did not suit Jack’s temperament, nor did it challenge his abilities, which lay towards writing, spinning yarns and acting.
, where he was involved in a number of sensational stories – including a tragic blaze at the Glen Cinema in Paisley
in which 80 children had perished. He also attended an early demonstration of the new-fangled television by John Logie Baird
. Meanwhile, he continued to act – mostly light parts (in the Scottish National Players as well as for BBC
Radio). He worked also for the city`s other papers the
Evening News and the Evening Times
, being the last of the city`s three evening papers, and contributed to The Bulletin , Glasgow Herald and the Scottish Field.
and David Niven
).
He was well connected with the media classes of both Glasgow
and Edinburgh
,. He was also active politically, standing unsuccessfully in a 1962 by-election for Liberal Party
in the Glasgow Woodside
constituency, where he then lived. He also campaigned against the Glasgow Inner Ring Road
and the construction of Glasgow's peripheral housing estates, such as Easterhouse
and Nitshill
, which resulted in the decline of traditional inner-city districts, a phenomenon known as Counter urbanization.
He produced other substantial works closer to his personal interests, such as Heart of Glasgow. However, one of his biggest successes was Square Mile of Murder
. In this he described and analysed several notorious 19th century murders, and miscarriages of justice, in the middle class districts in the west of the city. Among these were the cases of Madeleine Smith
, (played, like the rest of the cast, with a perfect English accent), by Ann Todd
in David Lean
's 1949 film Madeleine) and Oscar Slater
.
He tried his hand as a novelist in House on the Hill, with limited success (although it was later dramatised by Scottish Television
). However, his sparkling journalism never went out of fashion – despite the fact that he had always warned that he never let a concern for facts get in his way if there was a good story to be told. His "'Ask Jack" column in the Glasgow Evening Citizen gave lively answers (most of them true) to readers’ questions on all aspects of the City. He was often on television, with STV and BBC Scotland, and formed a winning partnership with Sir James Fergusson in the long running radio series, Round Britain Quiz.
Pavement in the Sun is an attempt at autobiography.
still hanging over his habitual table. The restaurant was close to Jack’s last home – a flat in a classic Glasgow tenement. His substantial Edwardian flat in Beaumont Gate, was in Dowanhill
, where he had always aspired to stay. This, like his birth and childhood homes was of striking red sandstone – a Glaswegian architectural/visual code for "extremely well-off".
Appropriately, he was awarded the St Mungo Medal, Glasgow’s top honour, in 1988 , and Glasgow University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.
He died in Glasgow Western Infirmary
on 11 April 1991.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
writer and broadcaster, with a significant attachment to the City of Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
East end
He was born in TollcrossBraidfauld
Braidfauld is the 45th Ward in the City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bounded on the south by the River Clyde and on the north by Tollcross Road. Its western boundary is the west wall of the old Belvidere Hospital carried on roughly northeastwards to Tollcross Road, and its eastern boundary is...
, then technically outside of the Glasgow city boundaries. This, together with the fact that neither of his parents was born in Scotland, would come as a surprise to those who knew him as "Mr Glasgow", so thoroughly did he identify himself with the culture and people of that city. He felt that Glasgow was a fairly autonomous "city state". That his father, also John, was a prosperous Company Secretary and Jack himself trained as an accountant would only add to the surprise, given Glasgow’s "red Clydeside
Red Clydeside
Red Clydeside is a term used to describe the era of political radicalism that characterised the city of Glasgow in Scotland, and urban areas around the city on the banks of the River Clyde such as Clydebank, Greenock and Paisley...
" reputation.
The family rapidly moved to Dennistoun
Dennistoun
Dennistoun is a district of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated north of the River Clyde in the east end of the city. It is made up of a number of smaller districts - Milnbank to the north, 'The Drives' in the centre of the area and Bellgrove below Duke Street to the south. In a 2004...
where Jack (and subsequently his four brothers and three sisters) attended Whitehill Secondary School
Whitehill Secondary School
Whitehill Secondary School is a Scottish non-denominational comprehensive secondary school located in the suburb of Dennistoun in Glasgow, Scotland...
. At his father's insistence he began training as an accountant. Accounting did not suit Jack’s temperament, nor did it challenge his abilities, which lay towards writing, spinning yarns and acting.
Journalism
In 1928, he got a job as a reporter on the Glasgow Evening CitizenEvening Citizen
The Evening Citizen, first published in 1877, was the first of three evening newspapers to be printed, published and sold in the Glasgow area of Scotland...
, where he was involved in a number of sensational stories – including a tragic blaze at the Glen Cinema in Paisley
Paisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
in which 80 children had perished. He also attended an early demonstration of the new-fangled television by John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird
John Logie Baird FRSE was a Scottish engineer and inventor of the world's first practical, publicly demonstrated television system, and also the world's first fully electronic colour television tube...
. Meanwhile, he continued to act – mostly light parts (in the Scottish National Players as well as for BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio). He worked also for the city`s other papers the
Evening News and the Evening Times
Evening Times
The Evening Times is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland.-History:The paper, an evening sister paper of The Herald, was established in 1876. The paper's slogan is "Nobody Knows Glasgow Better"....
, being the last of the city`s three evening papers, and contributed to The Bulletin , Glasgow Herald and the Scottish Field.
Army, acting, script writing and political activity
During the second world war he attained the rank of Captain in the cinematographic unit, for which he wrote scripts (in the company of Peter UstinovPeter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
and David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
).
He was well connected with the media classes of both Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
,. He was also active politically, standing unsuccessfully in a 1962 by-election for Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
in the Glasgow Woodside
Glasgow Woodside (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Woodside was a parliamentary constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until 1974.The constituency was preceded by the Labour held St Rollox, which was composed of the Glasgow City Council wards of Cowcaddens and Woodside.The seat was extended to...
constituency, where he then lived. He also campaigned against the Glasgow Inner Ring Road
Glasgow Inner Ring Road
The Glasgow Inner Ring Road was a proposed ring road encircling the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. Construction of the roads began in 1965, and half of its circumference was completed by 1972, but no subsequent construction was made and the remaining plans were formally abandoned in 1980...
and the construction of Glasgow's peripheral housing estates, such as Easterhouse
Easterhouse
Easterhouse is a suburb about east of Glasgow city centre, Scotland. It was partially built on land gained from the county of Lanarkshire as part of a boundary expansion of Glasgow before the Second World War. Building began in the mid-1950s by the then local authority, Glasgow Corporation...
and Nitshill
Nitshill
Nitshill is a district on the south side of Glasgow. It is north of South Nitshill, south of Crookston, and southwest of Silverburn and Pollok. Nitshill was originally a coal mining village...
, which resulted in the decline of traditional inner-city districts, a phenomenon known as Counter urbanization.
Author
It is, though, as a writer that he is best known. He published 54 books, and possibly even more. Many of his books had been commissioned and some were obviously meant to be “fun” books. Several others had been commissioned by local authorities or tourist boards with a view to promoting their areas. Large companies – especially builders and whisky distillers – commissioned histories of their success from him, as did the locally renowned “Western Baths”. All of these commissions are testimony to his engaging style, as well as an investigative prowess derived from his journalism.He produced other substantial works closer to his personal interests, such as Heart of Glasgow. However, one of his biggest successes was Square Mile of Murder
Square Mile of Murder
The Square Mile of Murder relates to an area of west-central Glasgow, Scotland. The term was first coined by the Scottish journalist and author Jack House, whose 1961 book of the same name was based on the fact that four of Scotland's most infamous murders were committed within one square mile of...
. In this he described and analysed several notorious 19th century murders, and miscarriages of justice, in the middle class districts in the west of the city. Among these were the cases of Madeleine Smith
Madeleine Smith
Madeleine Hamilton Smith was a 19th century Glasgow socialite who was the defendant in a sensational murder trial in Scotland in 1857...
, (played, like the rest of the cast, with a perfect English accent), by Ann Todd
Ann Todd
Dorothy Anne Todd was an English actress and producer.She was born in Hartford, Cheshire and was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne. She became a popular actress from appearing in such films as Perfect Strangers and The Seventh Veil...
in David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
's 1949 film Madeleine) and Oscar Slater
Oscar Slater
Oscar Joseph Slater was a victim of British miscarriage of justice. He was born Oscar Leschziner in Oppeln, Upper Silesia, Germany to a Jewish family. Around 1893, to evade military service, he moved to London where he worked as a bookmaker using various names, including Anderson, before settling...
.
He tried his hand as a novelist in House on the Hill, with limited success (although it was later dramatised by Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
). However, his sparkling journalism never went out of fashion – despite the fact that he had always warned that he never let a concern for facts get in his way if there was a good story to be told. His "'Ask Jack" column in the Glasgow Evening Citizen gave lively answers (most of them true) to readers’ questions on all aspects of the City. He was often on television, with STV and BBC Scotland, and formed a winning partnership with Sir James Fergusson in the long running radio series, Round Britain Quiz.
Pavement in the Sun is an attempt at autobiography.
Restaurant critic?
He regularly acted as restaurant critic for that paper, where, as usual, his partisanship for the city over-ruled any more nuanced judgements. The view from one restaurant table looked down along the Great Western Road. "Like the Champs Elysées – only better!", was Mr Glasgow’s considered verdict. He spent a great deal of time in the "Ubiquitous Chip" restaurant and there is a caricature of him – buck teeth and all – by Emilio CoiaEmilio Coia
Emilio Coia was a Scottish artist who made his name in the early 1930s as a widely published caricaturist.-Biography:Coia was born on 13 April 1911 in Glasgow...
still hanging over his habitual table. The restaurant was close to Jack’s last home – a flat in a classic Glasgow tenement. His substantial Edwardian flat in Beaumont Gate, was in Dowanhill
Dowanhill
Dowanhill is a district of Glasgow, Scotland, occupying the area west of Hillhead, south of Kelvinside and east of Hyndland.A residential district the area generally contains a mixture of terraced townhouses with private communal gardens, detached villas with private grounds and a number of...
, where he had always aspired to stay. This, like his birth and childhood homes was of striking red sandstone – a Glaswegian architectural/visual code for "extremely well-off".
Final years
He married Jessie Millar, herself an outstanding journalist (who died in 1974). They had no children.Appropriately, he was awarded the St Mungo Medal, Glasgow’s top honour, in 1988 , and Glasgow University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.
He died in Glasgow Western Infirmary
Western Infirmary
The Western Infirmary is a teaching hospital situated in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. There is also a Maggie's centre at the hospital to help cancer patients, as well as the Glasgow Clinical Research Facility....
on 11 April 1991.