Late Borders rugby commentator Bill McLaren’s archive going online


No fewer than 17 boxes of written material collected from McLaren’s former home in Hawick have been handed over to experts at Stirling University to be recorded digitally so they can be made available on the internet for fellow rugby enthusiasts to consult or study in years to come.
Karl Magee, the university’s archivist, and his team are digitising the late broadcaster’s archives for the Bill McLaren Foundation, a charity set up following his death in 2010 to promote his beloved sport and encourage youngsters to take it up, as well as creating an educational centre making use of the books and programmes he amassed and records he kept.
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Hide Ad“Digitisation brings so many benefits,” said foundation chairman Ross Cameron.
“Not only does it securely preserve the collection for posterity but it will provide online access for rugby fans and scholars throughout the world.”
Richard Haynes, professor of communications, media and culture at the university, is also excited about the project, saying: “This is a rare and valuable collection.
“Bill McLaren was a very special broadcaster, physical education teacher and writer.
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Hide Ad“He also leaves a collection of documents dating from the age he could first write through to the end of life. That timespan is exceptionally rare in archive collections.
“Additionally, his collection is one of the very last put together in the pre-internet age and, as such, will provide a valuable research resource.
“He has left thousands of letters. In recent times, people have used emails or encrypted WhatsApp messages and these are very difficult to archive. Bill was an archivist’s dream – he never threw anything away.”
Local historian Murray Watson has spent years sifting through documents and memorabilia at McLaren’s Burnfoot home to select those to be preserved digitally and he’s delighted to see his work coming to fruition.
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Hide Ad“The documents tell us so much about how Bill’s mind worked and his attention to detail in preparing for his commentaries,” he said.
“There is so much of interest, from his love letters to his wife-to-be when he was hospitalised with tuberculosis to an erudite exchange of letters with his mentor, Jock Wemyss.
“There are letters from celebrities like Spike Milligan and Terry Wogan, as well as thousands of letters, practically all complimentary, from his fans, and a lot more besides.
“I can’t wait for the digitisation to be completed. We will find out so much more about Bill’s life.
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Hide Ad“Already, working with the university is paying dividends. We learned from Professor Haynes’ research into the BBC’s coverage of sport that the first rugby match ever to be televised was the 1938 Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham, and from documents we found, we were able to tell Richard that Bill was in the crowd that day, along with six friends from the Hawick High School rugby team. Now that is what I call a spooky coincidence.”
Once the uni’s digitisation process is complete, McLaren’s documents and other artefacts will be stored at Hawick Heritage Hub and volunteers in his home-town will also add more detailed metadata descriptions to the online catalogue.
McLaren, born in Hawick in 1923, was a television rugby commentator for the BBC from 1959 until 2002, alongside teaching PE until 1987, and his broadcasting career saw him made a Member of the British Empire in 1992, awarded an OBE in 1995 and a CBE in 2003, as well as being inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2001.
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